The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs, and their subtlety surprises; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought and, though he sometimes admires, is seldom pleased.
I should tell you that honestly, on my honour of a Nearwicked, I always think in a wordworth's of that primed favourite continental poet, Daunty, Gouty and Shopkeeper, A.G., whom the generality admoyers in this that is and that this is to come.
There might be an Easter egg in there that I'm missing [in Timeless], I'll have to look again, but there are pop culture references, for sure. There are a lot of references that you would only understand if you've seen the movie The Untouchables.
I try to make those references. I try to make sure that they're not too obscure. But outside of that, I dare not claim anything in the spiritual realm for my own.
Shay sometimes talked in a mysterious way, like she was quoting the lyrics of some band no one else listened to.
They were strange books. They spoke about mercury, salt, dragons, and kings, and he didn't understand any of it.
I try to make every issue new-reader friendly. I remember being frustrated many times trying to pick up new series that were overladen with baggage. The trick is to make that backstory seem like something compelling that they will want to explore rather than an obstacle course they have to crawl through to get to the story.
I learned over the years that it's easy to appear smart referencing things that people don't know.
I'm also looking for gems that the average reader might have missed.
