Infiction

Infiction is a neologism used in literary criticism to describe a narrative mode in which elements within a fictional work are treated as if they are real or as material to be interpreted outside the story. The term highlights the ontological status of internal texts, documents, or fictional authors embedded in the fiction itself.

Definition and scope: It encompasses devices such as fictional manuscripts, diary entries authored by characters, or found documents presented as artifacts. Infiction often foregrounds the process of story making, inviting readers to question what counts as fiction versus reality, and sometimes to interact with the internal fiction as if it were a separate text.

Techniques and effects: The approach uses nested narratives, inside text authorial intrusions, and media-within-story—emails, letters, or websites—to blur boundaries between the fictive world and the reader's world. It can heighten immersion, provoke critical interpretation, and raise questions about reliability and authorship.

Context and reception: Infiction is most common in postmodern or experimental fiction and in transmedia projects that extend a story across platforms. Because the term is not widely established, scholarly use varies in definition and emphasis.

See also metafiction, metalepsis, found footage, nested narrative.