# Authors having characters name check themselves **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2025, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221 "2025-09-20T10:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/1 "2025-09-20T10:42:18Z")
I’m reading _Badlands_, the latest release from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They have written many books together, most of which deal with recurring characters. In this book, one of the characters mentions listening to audiobooks, including “a couple of good thrillers from Preston and Child.” It’s common for authors to name check other authors like this but I don’t recall seeing anyone do it for themselves. An Any other examples you can think of? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/2 "2025-09-20T11:06:59Z")
Stephen King did it for Stephen King while writing as Richard Bachman, which seems worth a quick mention. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/3 "2025-09-20T11:11:19Z")
From the “Scylla and Charybdis” chapter of _Ulysses:_ > — All these questions are purely academic, Russell oracled out of his shadow. I mean, whether Hamlet is Shakespeare or James I or Essex. “James I” obviously means “King James the First,” but it can be also read as “James [Joyce] [is] I” (= “I, [George William Russell](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Russell), am serving as a thinly veiled analogue of the author, just like Hamlet did for Shakespeare.”). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/4 "2025-09-20T11:17:15Z")
Isaac Asimov did this in his BLACK WIDOWERS armchair mysteries, where one of the club members is a writer who — is familiar with his work. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/5 "2025-09-20T11:19:16Z")
Paul Auster does this more or less continuously throughout _City of Glass._ ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/6 "2025-09-20T11:59:23Z")
In the second part of _El Quijote_ (a.k.a. _Don Quixote_), the characters complain that this guy Cervantes got some things wrong about them when he wrote the first part. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/7 "2025-09-20T12:15:04Z")
Which reminds me of the opening lines of _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_: > [@](#): > > You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/8 "2025-09-20T12:16:21Z")
Also, in _Don Quixote_ the listed contents of his library contains _La Galatea_ by Cervantes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/9 "2025-09-20T12:46:05Z")
And also in Murder at the ABA, where Asimov himself shows up briefly as a character. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/10 "2025-09-20T12:58:36Z")
In _Illuminatus!_ Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea included a review of _Illuminatus!_ by a fictional critic who gave the book a really bad review. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/11 "2025-09-20T13:05:46Z")
In _Goodnight Moon_, there’s a copy of _The Runaway Bunny_ visible on a bookshelf. (Do _The Berenstain Bears_ qualify?) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/12 "2025-09-20T13:43:13Z")
Clive Cussler did this excessively in his books. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/13 "2025-09-20T13:47:13Z")
In later books featuring “The Lincoln Lawyer”, he complains about the movie, annoyed by the publicity and claiming he looks nothing like Matthew McConaughey. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/14 "2025-09-20T13:50:19Z")
Actually, I do recall that now. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/15 "2025-09-20T13:50:44Z")
Eugene Ionesco did this in _Rhinoceros_. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/16 "2025-09-20T13:55:42Z")
If stage plays count, Woody Allen does this in _God_ (and even makes a cameo appearance by phone). There’s also a line in Tom Stoppard’s _The Invention of Love_ where the main character mentions a “gauze-stoppered bottle.” ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/17 "2025-09-20T14:44:01Z")
In Trevanian’s novel _The Loo Sanction_ -a character makes a reference to the book _The Language of Film_ by Roger Whitaker and even mention Whitaker’s name. Roger Whitaker is Trevanian’s real name. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/18 "2025-09-20T15:42:59Z")
Heller did a bit of this in _Closing Time._ He also mentions other people, some of whom were still alive at the time, like Kurt Vonnegut. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/19 "2025-09-20T17:29:28Z")
Heinlein refers to himself in “..And he Built a Crooked House” as “the original Hermit of Hollywood” who lives across the street. The house in the story is across from his own house. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221/20 "2025-09-20T17:35:29Z")
Mercedes Lackey wrote a funny short story whee she’s confronted by her characters over all the awful things she’s done to them (she apologizes to Talia for “the foot thing”). One of them, Herald Myste manages to talk them down. After the rest leave, however there’s an exchange like: _Myste:_ “Have they figured out that I’m your self-insert character, yet?” _Mercedes ‘Misty’ Lackey:_ “Not yet.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-having-characters-name-check-themselves/1023221.md?page=2)