Being genre savvy

#1
So I am writing a LitRPG and I just reached a scene I hadn't really planned. But the MC starts explaining how funny it is that everything that's happened is so similar to some stories he's read before. The girl he is talking to has no knowledge on the subject and when he mentions that an MC is someone who goes "on a monster killing spree" she asks him if he is an MC. 

I am not sure if this counts as fourth wall breaking but does this sort of conversation being discussed in-story take away immersion or enjoyment for readers? My story is not suppose to be a comment on story tropes or being genre savvy or anything. 

Anyone's thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Frontrunners, a LITRPG set in a modern day apocalypse. 

RE: Being genre savvy

#2
'TheGreatWhiteNortherner' pid='818415' dateline='1479762273' Wrote: So I am writing a LitRPG and I just reached a scene I hadn't really planned. But the MC starts explaining how funny it is that everything that's happened is so similar to some stories he's read before. The girl he is talking to has no knowledge on the subject and when he mentions that an MC is someone who goes "on a monster killing spree" she asks him if he is an MC. 

I am not sure if this counts as fourth wall breaking but does this sort of conversation being discussed in-story take away immersion or enjoyment for readers? My story is not suppose to be a comment on story tropes or being genre savvy or anything. 

Anyone's thoughts on this would be appreciated.

not at all, if done well forth wall breaks can be some of the most funny moments in story telling, you just have to construct it right.

RE: Being genre savvy

#5
This isn't strictly dramatic irony though, since the MC knows about it. Wouldn't be fourth wall breaking either, because the reader isn't being addressed. Either way, it'll be fine as long as you don't make it seem awkward. Maybe inject some humor and then move on. (Don't want to drag something like this for too long)
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RE: Being genre savvy

#8
CONSISTENCY.

That is what separates a good work (say the old ghostbuster movie) from a messy cluster of trash (say the NEW ghostbuster movie :D )

4th Wall breaking, like anything really, should be grounded so it doesnt destroy the suspension fo disbelief.
One might think that one negates the other, but that's definitely not true.


Your Main Character (lets call him "A" ) has external, personal knowledge of something that does not apply to the ruleset of the place where he is right now. And the baggage of verbal expressions and habits that inevitably comes with that knowledge.

The other one is ( lets call this girl "B" ) , on the contrary, woven in this very ruleset.

So if "A" makes an allusion of feeling like an MC, it is credible. If it "talks" to the audience because he feels like he is in a novel, it is credible.

If" B" makes the same thing, it's cringe worthy.
She has NO KNOWLEDGE of what a novel is, or what that phenomena entrails. She cant even know the ACRONYM "mc", due to having existed in a place where such things simply dont exist in that same way. Hell she might not even know what the hell an acronym is.

If you want to have "b" make the comment, she has to use it in the context or form of something where her familiarity with it doesnt straight up piss on the concept of credibility.

Say, "like in the cronichles of xxxxxxxxxxx" , "the old legends me ol' gran used to tell me", "the holy text of whatchamacallit".


It might seem like a small adjustment, but it's really not that small :D