My Metafiction Quest

A while back, I decided I wanted to get really into one specific genre, theme, or trope in fiction, and experience as many stories featuring it as I could. I chose "metafiction," so here we are: my metafiction quest!

What counts as metafiction?

I define it as fiction that calls attention to the fact that it is a work of fiction within the narrative. This is a very broad definition, but I don't mind. It gives me more stories as part of my quest!

Examples of metafiction include Toby Fox's Undertale, Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, and Warner Bros. Animation's the Lego Movie. I've seen a lot of metafiction techniques used in comedy and parody, but it can be used to great effect in other genres, too; horror in particular comes to mind.

Currently, as of end-of-year 2024, my Play/Read/Watch Club is planned to start me off with three works of metafiction in January 2025: Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, House of Leaves, and Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Once I finish those, I'll aim to play, read, watch, or otherwise experience one work of metafiction every month. This is reasonable, right?

As part of my quest, I'm aiming to review works of metafiction I've already experienced, but that might be a little while coming, LOL.

Stay tuned for my metafiction questlog!