View source for Meta Fiction

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[[File:url.png|frame|Self-explanatory, really.]]

Describe '''Meta Fiction''' here.

There you go.

...oh, you wanted more? But that was metafiction right there! Oh, but you want these tropers to explain it to you? Fine. Alright, pull up your chairs close to your computers and settle down. I'll tell you the tale of '''Meta Fiction'''.

Once upon a time, a man named [[Report Siht]] wrote a story. Except he didn't want it to be like other stories. He wanted to ''[[Lampshade Hanging|comment]]'' on other stories with his story. His story included stuff about stories. Thus it was '''Meta Fiction'''. He published it and everyone was happy. Except for the people who wrote the stories he was commenting about, of course, but don't worry, [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|rocks fell and killed them]]. The End.

...wait, you still want more? Okay, fine, be like that.

'''Meta Fiction''' ("meta" meaning "referring to itself") is when a story (or movie or television show) comments upon another piece of fiction or upon its own fictionalism. Yes, that's a word. For example, in ''Hamlet'', the titular prince has the play ''[[Show Within a Show|The Murder of Gonzago]]'' or ''The Moustrap'' put on to [[Catch the Conscience]] of Claudius. Of course, at the time ''Hamlet'' was written, ''The Mousetrap'' was fictional and later on, [[Agatha Christie]] actually wrote a play called ''[[wikipedia:The Mousetrap|The Mousetrap]]'', [[Defictionalization|defictionalizing]] it. Yes, that's a word, too.

For a more recent example, there's the 2002 film ''[[Adaptation]]''. Directed by Spike Jonze and written by [[Charlie Kaufman]], it stars [[Nicolas Cage]] as... Charlie Kaufman and his (fictional) twin brother Donald Kaufman. Charlie tries to adapt the real book ''The Orchid Thief'' by real author Susan Orlean (played by [[Meryl Streep]]), which Charlie Kaufman actually tried to do before getting writer's block and writing ''Adaptation''. Interestingly enough, within the movie ''Adaptation'', the fictional Charlie Kaufman writes ''Adaptation'' and gets Gerard Depardieu to play him, making this an example of [[Recursive Reality|meta]][[Zig-Zagging Trope|metafiction]].

There are various forms of metafiction, all of which can be found [[wikipedia:Metafiction|here]] and [[Metafiction Demanded This Index|here]].

[[The Treachery of Images|By the way, we're not actually having a conversation.]] You're actually reading this on a computer screen. [[Unsound Effect|Metafictioned!]]

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[[Category:Meta Fiction]]
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