In novels, characters don’t exist in a vacuum. They watch movies, they listen to music, and they read. When a story references other works, my Media Studies daughter tells me it’s called intertextuality. In my novella, Change of Lifestyle, intertextuality drives the plot.
If you are looking at using pop culture allusions in fiction, here is how I layered different “texts” to turn a simple 20,000 word story into a narrative with depth.
Change of Lifestyle
In Change of Lifestyle, Gabe Shaw is a burnt out London teacher who suffers a very public betrayal. His girlfriend has been using him as her source in a series of “despatches” for an online education site. Humiliated and heartbroken, he quits his job and moves to Jakarta to kick start the writing career he’s dreamed of for years. The story explores various elements of intertextuality to drive plot and character.
Journalism vs. Romance: The Disclosure Dispatches
Change of Lifestyle’s most significant “text within a text” is Michelle’s series of investigative articles, Educational Dispatches from the Frontline of Teaching.
While the main narrative feels like a blossoming romance, these dispatches provide a gritty “social realism” contrast. Excerpts from Michelle’s dispatches show what it is like in “the trenches of frontline education.” They reveal Michelle’s double life: while Gabe thinks he’s on a date, Michelle is “prepping a source.”
By referring to Gabe as “Mr. Jones” – which in itself is the title of his favourite song – in her articles, Michelle creates a fictionalised version of him that eventually forces the real Gabe to confront his burnout and flee to Jakarta.
Espionage as a Metaphor for Life
Gabe views his world through the lens of John le Carré and Graham Greene, authors in genre he aspires to write in. After fleeing London, he uses terms like “asset,” “handler,” and “tradecraft” to navigate his relationship with Michelle.
This intertextuality reaches a peak when Gabe stops reading spy novels and starts living them. He treats his relocation as a “rogue agent” operation, even leaking his location through a friend to test Michelle’s loyalty, a move straight out of a Cold War thriller.
TURNING Reality into Art
How does a writer turn a boring afternoon into a compelling scene? The novella explores this through Gabe’s notebook. He observes an awkward breakup in a Budapest cafe and transforms the participants into a British spy and “Szusan,” a Hungarian asset.
By including the “original” version of this event as a bonus story at the end of the book, readers learn how Gabe turned the mundane reality into art. It shows how Gabe uses fiction to escape his “dull, teacherly exterior” (Michelle’s words).
Favourites Tennis: Cultural Shorthand
Finally, there is “Favourites Tennis”—a game where characters swap cultural favourites like Casablanca, Our Man in Havana, and Bridget Jones.
These aren’t just names; they are shorthand for identity. When Gabe chooses Casablanca and Our Man in Havana, he’s establishing his identity as a “cynical romantic” who appreciates the “funny and wise.”
true identities
Using intertextuality in Change of Lifestyle allowed me to reinforce the theme of “bluff and double bluff.” By layering journalism, spy tropes, and fictional drafts, Change of Lifestyle suggests that our lives are a series of edited narratives. The real challenge—for Gabe, Michelle, and the reader—is finding the “uncensored” truth hidden between the lines.
further reading
Pop Culture Allusions in Fiction
How Teacher Burnout Inspired Change of Lifestyle
10 Reasons to read Change of Lifestyle
Ondel-Ondel: Guardians of Jakarta
WHAT DO THE ISLE OF MAN AND INDONESIA HAVE IN COMMON?
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