Fictionwas

Fictionwas is a neologism used to describe the phenomenon by which fictional narratives or artifacts are produced in or circulated through formats that mimic real-world documents, archives, or media, leading audiences to treat them as factual or historically plausible.

The term blends fiction with was, signaling a past-tense assumption of veracity; it is often discussed in relation to verisimilitude, autofiction, and media misinformation. It is not a formal genre, but a mechanism or effect used across literature, film, and digital media.

Common forms include faux archives (diaries, reports, letters), docudrama techniques, found-footage styles, and social media personas that present invented content as authentic. In fiction, fictionwas can deepen immersion or complicate authorship and the boundary between truth and invention.

In wider culture, fictionwas raises questions about epistemic trust, the ethics of plausibility, and the responsibility of platforms that host invented materials. Critics distinguish fictionwas from deliberate misinformation by intent and transparency; legitimate uses emphasize clearly labeled fiction or clearly identified artifice.

See also: verisimilitude, docudrama, autofiction, found footage, misinformation.