In the entertainment world there are a lot of fictional stories. Star Trek is but one example of the many millions of new universes that have been created over the centuries. One of the prevailing goals of any fiction writer is to make their story seem real, or at least relatable, so they'll add elements that add depth to their worlds. Dixon Hill, from Star Trek: The Next Generation is a prime example. He is a completely fictional character that was created for the show. But his role in the show is not a character on the show, he's a fictional character inside the show and is known to be fictional by the characters.
I was thinking about coining the term "sub-fictional" and "super-fictional" to more easily distinguish between the roles characters play in respective shows. And these would not be absolute for the character, only the role they serve in a particular work.
Example from Star Trek: The Next Generation
The entire crew of the Enterprise, all the aliens they meet, Star Fleet, Klingons, etc... would be fictional characters. The characters within the show 'know' these beings to be real.
Dixon Hill, those characters part of that program/novel, who are known by the fictional characters as fiction and created specifically for their enjoyment, would be sub-fictional.
Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, who are known to be fiction in Star Trek as well as real life but were added to provide some depth of reality to the audience would be super-fictional.
The key difference between "sub" and "super" would be that the super-fictional character would exist in other works not derived from the setting in which they're mentioned.
