View source for Metafiction

'''Metafiction''' is a [[literary device]] used to self-consciously and systematically draw attention to a work's status as an [[artifact]].

== Description ==

It poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using [[irony]] and [[self-reflection]]. It can be compared to [[presentational theatre]], which does not let the audience forget it is viewing a play; metafiction forces readers to be aware that they are reading a fictional work.

== Devices ==

Common metafictive devices in literature include:

* A story about a writer who creates a story
* A story that features itself (as a narrative or as a physical object) as its own prop or [[MacGuffin]]
* A story containing another work of fiction within itself
* A story addressing the specific conventions of story, such as title, character conventions, paragraphing or plots
* A novel where the narrator intentionally exposes him or herself as the author of the story
* A book in which the book itself seeks interaction with the reader
* A story in which the readers of the story itself force the author to change the story
* Narrative [[footnotes]], which continue the story while commenting on it
* A story in which the characters are aware that they are in a story
* A story in which the characters make reference to the author or his previous work
* These elements of metafiction are similar to devices used in [[metacinema|metacinematic]] techniques.

This can be related in O'Briens book, "The Things They Carried" in the section called How to Tell a True War Story.

== See also ==

* [[Artifact]]
* [[Literary device]]
* [[Literature]]
* [[MacGuffin]]
* [[Metacinema]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafiction Metafiction] @ Wikipedia


[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Writing]]