Writing in a New Genre

The idea started to form probably a little before I watched The Matrix. I was a small child still, and I didn't fully understand what was going on in the movie, but the concept of questioning reality was not foreign to me. And once I was able to look past the fun fight scenes and CGI of the movie, and understood the deeper message it was trying to portray, I realized the concept that had be growing in my mind was something people had questioned for years. They still are now.

This brings me to today, writing this piece on a sub-genre of fiction I like to call, "Meta-Fiction". What is Meta-Fiction? It's your average fiction tale, whether it be sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, but there is another element added into the mix. An x-factor that changes the story drastically. This x-factor may be seen in similar pieces, but it may not be what drives the story.

I've been dancing around the idea for a while now, but that is mostly a cheap tool writers like to use in order to keep suspense. This x-factor, as cool as that name may be, is simply the idea that one or more characters in the story knows, to some degree, that they are in a story. Instantly you might start thinking of characters like Deadpool, and stories that break what most people call "the 4th wall". However, the difference between your normal piece of fiction that breaks this wall and true Meta-Fiction, is that in Meta-Fiction, the 4th Wall breaks you.

That was another cheap tool writers use to keep a reader invested. Overly poetic and vague, but the truth is, the 4th Wall won't break you, at least it shouldn't. Not always. The real difference is that the breaking of the 4th wall in true Meta-Fiction, is a major plot point, where as other stories that break this wall simply use it as as a comedic tool. I don't believe I've ever seen it use as a major plot point, apart from the movie Stranger Than Fiction. Highly recommend that one.

Going back to The Matrix, the movie makes the audience ask the question, "What is reality?" A great question to ask, which eventually leads to the question, "What is our Universe, and how are we living in it?" But really, these questions are not first asked by the audience, but by the characters written in the story. Neo was blown away once he knew the reality he lived in was a lie, that the Matrix *Spoiler warning* was nothing but a computer program, and that the real world was destroyed by the machines. But, Neo, what if I told you all that was a lie too? What if I told you that your entire life was nothing but a story written for the entertainment of millions of people? That's quite the red pill to swallow. And yet, that's more true than anything mentioned in that movie. How do you think he would react? That's what makes Meta-Fiction so exciting!

Perhaps you disagree. Just telling characters in a story that they're in a story seems like it would get redundant as they would probably take that information and either become lazy, do whatever they want knowing they had no real responsibilities, or just not believe it. But I've been writing some novels in which this is not the only thing that happens. And half the fun is seeing how the characters find out they're in a story. Below are the novels I've been writing:

Playing Cards: A dystopian world filled with individuals with amazing powers and a single individual with the power to stop them. However, mysterious gems are scattered throughout the world that give special abilities, but they also give insight to the ones who survive their touch that they are in a book. It becomes a story where the reader themselves become part of the action from a certain point of view.

Welcome to Our Universe: A dark comedy where the main character finds himself in a predicament where he tries to escape the universe he's in to return home, but the only way he's found to travel to a different universe, is by dying in the current one he's in. And dying hasn't gotten him home, yet.

The 9 Dimensions: Using a whole lot of Quantum Physics with a splash of science fiction, this meta-narrative weaves a theory on our own universe and how it works through the oddly told story following a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough, and an intern just trying to find himself.

Love's Meta: A seemingly typical love story, until the narrator himself breaks a taboo and falls in love with the main character.

I do want these stories to exist in the same universe, but not directly. If it wasn't for Mark Z, I would have called this the Meta-verse. But, not having billions of dollars does put a damper on things.

Maybe if people read this article it will inspire them to make Meta-Fiction themselves, or maybe they'll encourage me to do so. Or maybe, most likely, this article will sit forever unread and build up cyber dust. Either way, I'll continue writing my ideas and question what kind of story I'm a part of.