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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12732
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12732
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Yeah, mileages do vary, and your friend might just be an oddball reader. Don't worry about it too much. Just write your story the way you want to write it, and see if it works.

That said, it's quite possible that you could get even your friend interested in the story without having to "Watsinate" it. What your friend is expressing concern about is that, if you openly describe your characters as fictional, your friend might end up losing interest in them "since they're only fictional", and might thereby end up uttering the [eight deadly words](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EightDeadlyWords).<sup>[TVTropes again!]</sup>

(One reason your friend may be concerned is that they may have been overexposed to the common technique where fiction within fiction is deliberately presented as [cruder and less realistic](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StylisticSuck)<sup>[yeah, it's that site again]</sup> than the main story, in order to highlight its metafictionality and to differentiate it from the surrounding story. If that's what your friend (subconsciously) expects, it's no wonder they feel like a whole book full of such meta-story would be boring.)

To avoid your friend (and other readers like them) losing interest in your story, you need to get them to identify with the characters _despite_ their acknowledged fictionality. The way to do that is simply to portray the characters as consistent, well-rounded individuals that appear to have a genuine personality and free will, _even if_ they're "stuck in a fictional world." Ideally, your friend should end up feeling that, even if the _world_ in which they live is purely (meta)fictional and subject to authorial whim, the characters still come across as realistic people whose goals and desires matter, rather than merely as hollow avatars of a nebulous author figure.

Of course, that's generally as desirable goal in writing, anyway, so in that sense your situation is in no way unusual. You may just have a bit more initial resistance to overcome, and may need to be a bit more careful with some things, such as if you wish to present the fictional author as directly influencing the characters' thoughts or personalities.

Original score: 7