Metafiction is a type of fiction that focuses on its own story structure, reminding readers or viewers that they are experiencing a fictional work. It draws attention to how stories are told, the language used, and the form of the work. Metafiction often uses parody or challenges common storytelling rules to explore the connection between real life and art.

Although metafiction is most closely linked to postmodern literature from the mid-20th century, it has appeared in older works, such as The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1387), Don Quixote Part Two by Miguel de Cervantes (1615), The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz by Johann Valentin Andreae (1617), The Cloud Dream of the Nine by Kim Man-jung (1687), The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759), Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle (1833–34), and Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (1847).

Metafiction became more common in the 1960s, with works like Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth, Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, "The Babysitter" and "The Magic Poker" by Robert Coover, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles, The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, and Willie Master's Lonesome Wife by William H. Gass.

Since the 1980s, contemporary Latino literature includes many self-reflective, metafictional works, such as novels and short stories by Junot Díaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), Sandra Cisneros (Caramelo), Salvador Plascencia (The People of Paper), Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties), Rita Indiana (Tentacle), and Valeria Luiselli (Lost Children Archive).

In Latin America, earlier examples include Débora, an experimental novella by Ecuadorian writer Pablo Palacio, published in October 1927. Techniques used in the book include stream of consciousness and metafiction.

A well-known video game example of metafiction is The Stanley Parable, which examines storytelling in video games and explores the relationship between the creator and the player. It often breaks the fourth wall by directly addressing the audience.

History of the term

The term "metafiction" was first used in 1970 by William H. Gass in his book Fiction and the Figures of Life. Gass explained that writers began using metafiction more often because they better understood the nature of fiction. This new understanding changed how people wrote stories. Stories started to focus more on ideas about fiction itself, leading to more self-aware writing and less certainty about how stories should be structured. Robert Scholes later added to Gass's ideas, describing four types of criticism: formal, behavioral, structural, and philosophical. Metafiction uses these ideas in stories, focusing on one or more of them.

These changes were part of a larger movement, which began around the 1960s. This movement was linked to people becoming more aware of how culture and society shape human experiences, as Patricia Waugh explained. She said this was due to growing interest in how people reflect, create, and interpret their experiences in the world.

Because of this, many writers stopped trying to copy the real world in their stories. Instead, they focused on using language to build imaginary worlds that did not mirror reality. People believed language was a system that created its own meanings and helped explain the world. This led to literary fiction being seen as a way to build "reality" through language, rather than simply reflecting it. Reality itself was no longer seen as something fixed, but as something people create. Metafiction became a tool to explore how people build their understanding of the world through stories.

Robert Scholes said the peak of experimental fiction, including metafiction, happened around 1970. He noted that the lack of popularity and critical praise caused its decline later. The rise of metafiction in postmodern writing caused mixed reactions. Some critics thought it showed the novel was losing its strength and creativity, even calling it the "death of the novel." Others believed the self-aware style of writing helped people understand fiction better and led to new forms of literature, such as the historiographic novel by Linda Hutcheon.

Video games also began using metafiction, especially with the growth of independent games in the 2010s. Games like The Magic Circle, The Beginner's Guide, and Pony Island use techniques that make players question the difference between the story in the game and the real world they are playing in.

Forms

According to Werner Wolf, metafiction can be divided into four pairs of types that can be combined.

Explicit metafiction uses clear signs that show the story is not real, like a narrator talking about writing the story. It points out that the story is made up and can be directly quoted. Explicit metafiction is described as a way of telling a story. An example is a narrator explaining how they created the story they are telling.

Implicit metafiction focuses on the story’s form or its role as a created object, using techniques like breaking normal story rules. It depends more on the reader recognizing these techniques to understand the story’s self-awareness. Implicit metafiction is described as a way of showing, not directly explaining.

Direct metafiction refers to a story within the text being read. In contrast, indirect metafiction refers to stories or ideas outside the text, such as mentioning other books or discussing general artistic topics. Even though indirect metafiction connects to other texts or ideas, it affects the story being read in an indirect way.

Critical metafiction highlights the made-up or fictional nature of a story in a way that questions its reality, often seen in postmodernist writing. Non-critical metafiction does not question or challenge the story’s fictional nature. It might suggest the story is real, like in realistic fiction.

All metafiction deals with how stories are created and told, focusing on their form. In some cases, the focus shifts to whether the story feels real or imaginative. For example, suggesting a story is real (a common technique in realistic fiction) is a type of non-critical, truth-focused metafiction.