History ShowWithinAShow / Literature

** ''Stardust Witch Meruru'', a magical girl show (which clearly parodies both ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' and ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'') of which Kirino is a fan. At one point, she makes Kanako dress up as Meruru for a cosplay contest, and Kanako easily wins.

** In New Testament Vol. 1, Shiage and Rikou go to the theater and watch a film clearly based on ''LightNovel/HeavyObject''.
** In New Testament Vol. 11, a show based on ''LightNovel/TheZashikiWarashiOfIntellectualVillage'' is shown on TV.

* ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' has {{sentai}} show ''Iron Striver''. Nyarlathotep (yes, [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos that one]]) is a huge fan.

* ''LightNovel/{{Oreimo}}'':

* ''LightNovel/LadiesVersusButlers'' has ''Magical Diva'', a MagicalGirl who solves problems with violence and her trusty hammer.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* ''Literature/{{Kane}}'': In ''Dark Crusade'' Erill and Javro get back to Ingoldi, where they find employment with the Theater Guild and take part in the production of patriotic pageant ''The Invincible March of the Sword of Sataki.'' This allows Javro to get into Orted's citadel and talk to his love Esketra, which he's been dreaming of for months [[spoiler: and, since Esketra is an OpportunisticBastard, which brings doom onto Erill and her friends at the Theater Guild]].

* ''Literature/TheRollingStones'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein. Roger Stone's primary source of income is writing a space opera television serial. The rest of the family "helps" with brainstorming plotlines. At one point, Roger turns over writing duties to grandma Hazel and youngest son Lowell.

* Literature/TheRailwaySeries within the books its established that WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends exists in universe, and although the "real" locomotives aren't stars of the TV show their TV likenesses have made them even more famous; and as such the "real" Thomas is invited to an event at the National Railway Museum to celebrate his fame.

* In ''Literature/{{Fangirl}}'' by Rainbow Rowell, the protagonist Cath is a fan of the Literature/HarryPotter-esque Simon Snow books, to the point of writing SlashFic about [[FoeYay Simon and his nemesis Baz]].

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':
** In ''{{Literature/Thud}}'', it's a plot point that Vimes reads book-within-a-book ''Where's My Cow'', a kiddie primer on animals and the sounds they make, to his son at precisely six o'clock. Specifically, when he's separated from his son by plot events, he starts yelling out the words in an attempt to let Sam Jr. hear them. While fighting underground. [[PunctuatedPounding THAT! IS! NOT! MY! COW!!!]]
* In the ''Literature/DrakeMaijstral'' series, Drake's own exploits (like those of most of the top allowed burglars) are the basis of a loosely fictionalized and very popular show. Drake himself doesn't watch the show, which offends the young star who plays him when they finally meet.

!!Characters involved in production)

!!Characters are fans)

In ''{{Literature/Thud}}'', it's a plot point that Vimes reads book-within-a-book ''Where's My Cow'', a kiddie primer on animals and the sounds they make, to his son at precisely six o'clock. Specifically, when he's separated from his son by plot events, he starts yelling out the words in an attempt to let Sam Jr. hear them. While fighting underground. [[PunctuatedPounding THAT! IS! NOT! MY! COW!!!]]

* In ''The Elizas'' by Sara Shepard, main character Eliza Fontaine has written a soon-to-be-published debut novel, ''The Dots'', and for a while the book itself starts alternating chapters that further the narrative with ones that are supposed to be excerpts from ''The Dots''. ''The Dots'' ends up being very relevant to the plot, as Eliza keeps finding parallels between her fictional book and reality, and even finds herself in specific locations she ''thought'' she made up for the book's setting [[spoiler: because her novel actually recounts her own repressed childhood memories]].

!!Examples of type 1 (characters involved in production)

* Several of the stories mentioned in the works of Creator/KurtVonnegut are ones created by AuthorAvatar Kilgore Trout. Several of them, by Vonnegut's admission, were story ideas he had that he either couldn't fully develop or ones that he felt dissatisfied with when he did. ''God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater'' crosses this into Type 2, as one character turns out to be a big fan. In at least a few cases, these also crossed into Type 3 (such as in ''Literature/BreakfastOfChampions'') and Type 4 (such as in ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'').

!!Examples of type 2 (characters are fans)

** Avoiding type 1, a Marilacan production company attempted to hire [[SecretIdentity Admiral Naismith]] as an consultant for a holovid docudrama about the [[GreatEscape Dagoola IV breakout]]. For security reasons, Miles declined to participate.

!!Examples of type 3 (SWAS is plot point)

!!Examples of type 4 (PlotParallel)

* [[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]]: David's writings, especially once [[spoiler: he gets published.]]

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheSecretSense": The martians greatly respect ''portwem'' composer Bar Danin, and will play "Canals in the Desert" while the human character can perceive it.

* In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', it's a plot point that Vimes reads book-within-a-book ''Where's My Cow'', a kiddie primer on animals and the sounds they make, to his son at precisely six o'clock. Specifically, when he's separated from his son by plot events, he starts yelling out the words in an attempt to let Sam Jr. hear them. While fighting underground. [[PunctuatedPounding THAT! IS! NOT! MY! COW!!!]]

* Literature/StoryThieves: A weird version in that Story Thieves is actually a series in the fictional world and you, the reader, are in fact fictional. [[spoiler:Or not, as it turns out that at the end of the last book that James Riley (The real one) publishes the book in the non-fictional world. So there's a 50-50 chance of you being fictional.]]