I’ve come to my own epiphany about #kidlit #metafiction. The most successful metafiction #pb are ones where the metafiction layer helps resolve the primary story’s conflict. 1/8

It is so fun to have a metafiction book where characters rebel and cause havoc, but if that rebellion basically destroys your original narrative, than the book can easily become a meandering morass. 2/8

The books that do metafiction well harness that additional metafiction layer in service of the original plot. The reader makes sure the pigeon doesn’t drive the bus. The reader is forced to read silly words in the Book With No Pictures. 3/8

The reader relentlessly turns pages and makes Grover face his fears and monster within. Harold realizes his purple crayon can create narrative so he controls his destiny and finishes his own story. 4/8

But if the conflict creates friction between the layers of narrative, then it’s hard to resolve. You’ll be forced to abandon the original plot or pick one of the narratives to be the “real” one. That’s confusing for readers. And the ending won’t be as satisfying 5/8

You can tell when this is happening if your characters (or the narrator) stop the story somehow. Look out for phrases like “stop!”, “hold on a minute”, “you’re telling it wrong”, or “that’s not what happened”. 6/8

I used to do improv and it’s philosophy is don’t negate what’s being created; always say “yes, and...” I think this is good advice for metafiction too! 7/8

So the tl;dr moral is: don’t use #metafiction in #kidlit unless the extra layer enhances your original plot. That’s my new philosophy. What do you think? Do you agree? 8/8