Why is it that so many writers in so many novels or screenplays about writing are trying to write "the Great American Novel?" Why bother? The Great Gatsby has already been written, as have Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Moby Dick. If a character in a work of fiction references the fact that they are/have been/will be attempting to write "the Great American Novel," you can rest assured that they are not in it, and likely never will be.
ANYWAY, I can't remember any specific examples of this cloying device, obviously meant to indicate artistic and literary seriousness on the part of the character, but you know what I'm talking about.
