Meaning & use
metafictional
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Describing a story that openly draws attention to the fact that it is fiction, often by discussing its own writing or characters.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: a metafictional novel. It can also follow be: the film is metafictional.
Patterns
- a metafictional novel
- be metafictional
The novel is metafictional: halfway through, the narrator admits he is making it up.
Critics praised the metafictional twist, in which the hero reads his own story.
She writes metafictional short stories that comment on how stories work.
Common combinations
- metafictional novel
- The metafictional novel keeps reminding readers it is invented.
- metafictional device
- The narrator's asides are a metafictional device.
- metafictional twist
- The metafictional twist surprised the audience.
- highly metafictional
- The play is highly metafictional and full of in-jokes.
- metafictional narrator
- A metafictional narrator interrupts the plot to chat with us.
Synonyms and how they differ
- self-referential
- Self-referential is broader and can describe any work that refers to itself, while metafictional is specific to fiction.
- postmodern
- Postmodern names a whole style or period, and metafictional is just one technique that postmodern works may use.
- self-aware
- Self-aware is more casual and can apply to people, whereas metafictional is a technical term for stories.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: metafictional or fictional?
metafictional vs fictional
Fictional simply means made up. Metafictional describes a work that knows and shows it is made up.
Practice
Which description fits a metafictional story?
Choose one answer.
Metafictional works draw attention to their own fictionality. A story based on real events is nearly the opposite, which makes it the tempting wrong option.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “metafictional”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.