What’s up with pop culture reference in books?
Okay so I’ve noticed some authors, very few of them, write with pop culture references. There is a big number who dont. The beta readers and helpers and collabers say dont use it. Why?
Because it helps readers relate to the work if the character have a Pepsi or something, or talk about their favourite singer. I remember reading jPod and getting so thrilled that the main character’s favourite video game was Chrono Trigger.
Being a parodist, I LIVE on pop-culture reference. The key is that you have to include them in a way so that the reader doesn’t have to completely rely on the reference to get the meaning. If the only way you describe a character is “he looked like Justin Bieber” (someone on this site actually did that), then people who don’t know who Bieber is (lucky) won’t have a clue what your character looks like.
Wynona’s Writing Helper Demo