History Main / LiteraryAgenthypothesis

* ''Series/DoctorWho'''s main [[TheWikiRule fandom wiki]] uses this as an official editorial guideline, as the Whoniverse is a gigantic pile of contradictions even before the ExpandedUniverse gets involved, and the articles are primarily written in an in-universe style. As a result, blatantly contradictory information about a subject will be written about framed in such a way to talk about differing "accounts".

* A surprisingly popular fan theory about the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series (which makes quite a large presence on our very own WildMassGuessing pages) is that the events portrayed are nothing more than an [[LifeEmbellished embellished]] retelling of author Nagaru Tanigawa's actual high-school experience, with all the supernatural happenings just added so that the series is distinguishable from all the other SliceOfLife light novels and anime series out there. Of course, there is no evidence in the novels or anime whatsoever that this speculation is correct; it was probably inspired by the facts that Tanigawa refuses to reveal the real name of his FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator, that the unnamed city in which the events take place is described in just enough detail as to unmistakably be his hometown, and that he was, in fact, in a literature club back in high school.

* ''Film/BuffaloSixtySix'': Encouraged by WordOfGod, the events in the movie were not what "really" happened but is Billy's perception of his own actions. Considering his low self-esteem, it makes sense.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[invoked]] Entry [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4128 "SCP-4128"]] is a man with SuperStrength who displayed his anomalous abilities in front of a young man named [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Jerry Siegel (sic)]] and claimed to be an alien.

* The youtube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/c/oculusimperia Ocuslus Imperia]] is a ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' lore channel, notable in that the videos are framed as in-universe historical documents compiled by an unnamed "Imperial Historator" working for Roboute Guilliman. This becomes quite interesting when he starts looking into areas that would get the attention of the Inquisition, or when a dissertation on the nature of Chaos causes him to begin to GoMadFromTheRevelation. He even justifies his delves into ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' by claiming it as vision-dreams he doesn't know the origin of, but records mostly for the sake of his own sanity.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fandom often postulate the idea (jokingly or not) that ZUN acquires all the necessary information to make the games and [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary material]] from [[http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=294113 conversations with his drinking buddy]], [[RealityWarper Yukari]]. Any contradictions are therefore Yukari being deliberately misleading or ZUN forgetting a detail.

*** ''Perfect Memento'' is a particularly good example of this, as in the Monologue, Akyu outright admits that not only is the [[DocumentaryOfLies entire work a gross exaggeration]], but the Youkai ''actively asked her'' to make them sound scarier: ''"I got a great number of requests from youkai, such as, 'make me sound stronger', or 'what do you think of this power?'"''.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[invoked]] Entry "[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4128 SCP-4128]]" is a man with SuperStrength who displayed his anomalous abilities in front of a young man named [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Jerry Siegel (sic)]] and claimed to be an alien.

Similar notions are DirectLineToTheAuthor (where the ''creator'' is the one claiming the work is a {{Dramatization}} of RealLife), FictionAsCoverUp (where InUniverse fiction is published to cover up the bizarre reality), ATrueStoryInMyUniverse (where ''characters'' are claiming that a previous version of the work is a {{Dramatization}} of InUniverse events), and TheWorldAsMyth (which supposes that all fictional universes are equally real, are accessible to one another via interdimensional travel, and moreover, that our universe is included in this).

This is a thought experiment that occurs in many {{Fandom}}s -- that the work in question is a {{Dramatization}} of real events. The theory goes something like this: While the fan accepts that what they are watching is a television show (or book, etc.), they theorise that [[BasedOnATrueStory events somewhat like it occurred in real life]]. Essentially, the fan surmises that the story is a covert re-telling of real events. Fans will sometimes claim to believe this wholeheartedly, even though it is more often just WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.

* A surprisingly popular fan theory about the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series (which makes quite a large presence on our very own WildMassGuessing pages) is that the events portrayed are nothing more than an [[LifeEmbellished embellished]] retelling of author Nagaru Tanigawa's actual high-school experience, with all the supernatural happenings just added so that the series is distinguishable from all the other SliceOfLife light novels and anime series out there. Of course, there is no evidence in the novels or anime whatsoever that this speculation is correct; it was probably inspired by the facts that Tanigawa refuses to reveal the real name of his FirstPersonNarrator, that the unnamed city in which the events take place is described in just enough detail as to unmistakably be his hometown, and that he was, in fact, in a literature club back in high school.

* This trope has become somewhat of a MemeticMutation. People would jokingly propose "what if X was real", as though either the fictional characters were real or in some form, the story itself is real.

Similar notions are DirectLineToTheAuthor (where the ''creator'' is the one claiming the work is a {{Dramatization}} of RealLife), FictionAsCoverUp (where InUniverse fiction is published to cover up the bizarre reality), ATrueStoryInMyUniverse (where ''characters'' are claiming that a previous version of the work are a {{Dramatization}} of InUniverse events), and TheWorldAsMyth (which supposes that all fictional universes are equally real, are accessible to one another via interdimensional travel, and moreover, that our universe is included in this).

* ''Recap/AsterixAndTheMissingScroll'' concludes with a post-scriptum that implies that the Amorican village truly existed, and the tales of Asterix's adventures are based on stories passed on through the generations by the Gaulish druids who verbally 'recorded' the narrative of Caesar's campaign against the village of indomitable Gauls, which René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo eventually picked up.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* More than one ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' Fanfic speculates that Himaruya ''might'' be doing this.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fandom often postulate the idea (jokingly or not) that ZUN acquires all the necessary information to make the games and [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary material]] from [[http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=294113 conversations with his drinking buddy]], [[RealityWarper Yukari]]. Any contradictions are therefore Yukari being deliberately misleading or ZUN forgetting a detail.
** The various official ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fanbooks are in-universe documents, complete with bias, apocryphal information, and outright speculation. ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red]]'' was written by [[IntrepidReporter Aya]] for her newspaper, ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense Perfect Memento in Strict Sense]]'' is the latest edition of the Gensoukyou Chronicle as written by [[PhotographicMemory Hieda no Akyu]], and the ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/The_Grimoire_of_Marisa The Grimoire of Marisa]]'' is a spellcard encyclopedia [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin written by Marisa]].

* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs was quite fond of this trope. According to the books, John Carter was an old family friend who used various methods to relay his adventures back to Burroughs, Carson Napier telepathically sent his tales to Burroughs. He was Tarzan's literary agent, at least in the early novels, and so on.