Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43443
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43443
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## You do not.

Nowhere in _Green Eggs and Ham_ does Dr. Seuss tell you that the whole thing is written using exactly 50 different words. It's an "Easter Egg" as @Alexander points out in a comment. It's for readers to notice, or learn about from others having noticed.

An Easter egg is fun because the reader has a moment of "oh cool, it really is only 50 different words, I haven't noticed it before" (to continue with the same example). Had Dr. Seuss informed the readers of the constraint, the effect would have been instead "author stroking ego with unnecessary BS".

Discovering that a verse is in fact an acrostic, or that the novel doesn't use a certain letter, or anything similar, is only fun when you discover it yourself, or when a friend shows you and then you go and check for yourself. It's not fun when the author tells you about it, and takes away from you the glee of the discovery. You wouldn't want game developers to publish a list of all Easter Eggs when they release a game, right? They wouldn't be Easter Eggs then. Same here.

Crucial to the Easter Egg effect is that **the piece of literature must be thoroughly enjoyable without ever finding the Easter Egg.** _Green Eggs and Ham_ is fun regardless. The Easter Egg is a nice bonus, it's not the main thing your creation has to recommend itself.

Original score: 41