In-Universe Meta

[wbv2mod]

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We’ve had a few questions about whether particular formats “count” as fic or in-universe meta. It's a fascinating question! These categories can overlap, so we thought this was a useful opportunity to invite some discussion on the topic, in order to help people clarify their ideas, refine their prompts, and decide whether or not they want to offer this media option.

Here’s our starting point, from the rules:

The boundary between "Fanfiction" and "In-Universe Meta" is intentionally somewhat fuzzy: if you are signing up to receive one but not the other and have strong preferences about which side of that boundary you would like your gift to be on, please make that clear in your request.

Some further guidance: Documents written from the perspective of someone in the universe that have a didactic or explanatory purpose are classic in-universe meta. This includes things such as scholarly articles, book excerpts, newspaper reporting, instructional manuals, pamphlets issued by a government or protest group, and the like.

Narrative works involving plot and character development or designed to evoke a particular mood or atmosphere - where the worldbuilding is revealed by implication and is in service to more recognizable story aspects - are more typically considered under the umbrella of fic.

There are some overlapping categories, such as epistolary fic describing worldbuilding aspects, where it could probably go either way: letters between two characters that focus on family drama but include background details of an upcoming wedding might have enough detail to count as exploring worldbuilding around weddings, but not enough to be meta rather than fic. But letters between two characters where one asks the other's advice on wedding traditions and the other sets out various options and what they mean could count as in-universe meta. Or, with the pamphlet example above - a piece of political rhetoric written by a character, used as a vehicle to express their personal opinions, might strike you as being just as much fic as it is meta.

What do you think? Here are some questions; feel free to answer any or all in the comments here (or pose additional questions!), and keep your answers (and those of others) in mind as you construct your requests.

• What do you like to see in in-universe meta? Are there tags in the tag set that are already giving you ideas, whether you plan to offer/request them or not? (Please don't say what you're planning to offer.)
• How have you seen in-universe meta done well in the past?
• If you're interested in in-universe meta but not fic for a request, where do you draw the line?
• If you're interested in fic but not in-universe meta for a request, are there unusual fic formats you would still be interested in?
• Where do you draw the line between in-universe meta and fic?

Comments

[facethestrange]

I'm REALLY easy to please when it comes to this - I want both fic and in-universe meta, or anything in between. So the line is not really important to me and therefore I'm not contributing anything to this discussion, but it is an interesting one! :)

[alchemise]

I think of in-universe meta as anything that you'd want to tag "in-universe documents" or similar. So there's something about it being a particular type of document that matters. Epistolary lies in between fic and in-universe meta, though more on the fic side, for me.

[seal_nonnie]

There's no sharp line for me, personally. I tend to see in-universe meta as any document that's created within the universe of a canon - stuff like schematics, textbooks, and propaganda, but also epistolary. I tend to see fic as written works with a clearly defined plot/narrative, which can definitely overlap with in-universe works.

[silveradept]

I usually think of the line between in-universe meta and fic as having to do with whether the thing itself could be produced using only the knowledge available to a character or characters in the universe. Things that use an omniscient third person narrator are much more likely to be fic than meta, things that show their authorship and where there isn't omniscience tend toward meta over fic. It's not a perfect rule, but it does pretty well for big bucket sorting.