Wikipedia:Notability (fiction)

For articles about books and films, rather than characters and locations therein, please refer to the guidelines Wikipedia:Notability (books) and Wikipedia:Notability (films).

For specific examples where you may be able to help, see Wikipedia:Fiction/Noticeboard.

Wikipedia:Notability (fiction) covers the notability of characters, items, places, and other elements (including individual episodes of serialized works such as television or comic book series) within a work of fiction.

Defining notability for fiction

This guideline is a detailed extension of three excerpts:

From Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#PLOT:

Wikipedia articles on published works (such as fictional stories) should contain real-world context and sourced analysis, offering detail on a work's development, impact or historical significance, not solely a detailed summary of that work's plot. A brief plot summary may be appropriate as an aspect of a larger topic.

From Wikipedia:Notability:

A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.

From Wikipedia:Editing policy:

Whatever you do, endeavour to preserve information. Instead of deleting: try to rephrase; correct the inaccuracy while keeping the content; move text within an article or to another article (existing or new); add more of what you think is important to make an article more balanced; or request a citation by adding the {{fact}} tag. Exceptions include: duplication or redundancy; irrelevancy; patent nonsense; copyright violations; or inaccuracy (attempt to correct the misinformation or discuss the problems first before deletion).

For articles about fictional concepts, reliable sources can cover information such as sales figures, critical and popular reception, development, cultural impact, and merchandise; this information describes the real-world aspects of the concept, so it is real-world content. Fictional content refers to descriptions of the work's plot, characters, location, objects, and other aspects of the fictional setting provided by the work of fiction.

Based on this reasoning and the above excerpts, fictional concepts can be presumed notable if they have received significant real-world coverage in reliable sources. However, notability for individual topics on fiction should be judged on a case-by-case basis with considerations for Wikipedia's core policies of verifibility, no original research and neutral point of view.

This guideline describes how to provide real-world notability for fictional topics and appropriate depth of coverage of fictional information, and how to resolve issues for topics that fail to meet these guidelines. For information on how to structure and write articles on fictional works and topics, please refer to Manual of Style (Writing about fiction).

Demonstrating notability for fictional topics

Articles dealing with a work of fiction (a book, movie, television series, video game, or other medium) should be able to readily demonstrate notability by citing critical reception, viewership or sales figures, history and development, and other information from reliable sources. Such sources can include creators' commentary and interviews regarding the work or topic, bearing in mind the restrictions if the work is self-published. While data such as actors or voice actors, people involved with production, publication or airing dates, and length of work can be taken from reliable sources, such information does not demonstrate notability.

To support the understanding of the work, provide a concise plot summary. For longer works or those in episodic or serial format, it may be necessary, as part of the plot summary, to provide additional "fictional" information on individual characters, the setting, or unique terms and concepts that only exist within the fictional universe. Normally, these fictional elements are described as part of the plot within the main article for the fictional work and do not need to demonstrate notability on their own.

Notable topics merit individual articles

Fictional elements, such as characters and locations, as well as for individual episodes or entries for serial works, may be able to assert their own notability, either transcending the context of the original fictional work (such as Superman), or within the context of the work of fiction (Troy McClure, Spoo, Hell Is Other Robots). In these cases, it is very reasonable and recommended per summary style to create new articles for these aspects, along with the demonstration of notability appropriate for the topic. In some cases, notability of fictional topics is better demonstrated for a common group than in individual articles for each topic (Characters of Carnivàle, Smallville (season 1)).

Summary style approach for sub-articles

For articles on fictional works, even with concise discussion of fictional elements, the main article may become too long. In this case, it is appropriate to also use summary style to create sub-articles to remove some details from the main article page. For fictional works, these sub-articles are typically lists of characters or other elements from the fictional universe that typically do not demonstrate notability on their own and rely on the notability of the main fictional work. Sub-articles about a singular topic should only be used when appropriate; in general, singular topics either have demonstrated their own notability, or can be merged into the main article or existing sub-articles. These articles exist to help provide minimal but sufficient background for a complete understanding of the main work of fiction or any other notable sub-topics that may extend from it while aiding in following Wikipedia's manual of style.

Editors are strongly urged to use consensus to determine the need to create such sub-articles as necessary; such articles should not be created until it is determined that the parent article is too long.

Further details on writing such sub-articles, and when such sub-articles should be created, can be found in Summary style approach section of Manual of Style (Writing about Fiction).

Depth of coverage

Articles on fiction should be structured around the notable aspects of the work or topic, as outlined at Manual of Style (Writing about fiction). The plot information for a fictional topic should be in balance with this. There is no exact ratio, it should be based on common sense and judged on a case-by-case basis. Look at featured and good articles about fiction to get a feel for this.

The depth of coverage should also be appropriate for the size or length of the work in addition to notable information. A singular work of fiction (such as a single movie, a book, or video game) should rarely require a sub-article to describe parts, covering these details in the main article. On the other hand, a book, TV, or video game series may benefit by having a few common fictional element lists that can help to provide suitable background and supplementary information for each work within the series. However, articles about individual elements (i.e. a specific character or location) or individual segments of serialized works (i.e. episodes of a television program or issues of a comic book) should establish individual notability as opposed to inherited notability. At times, better depth of coverage may be accomplished by combining notable and non-notable elements into a single topic, such as a character cast or a single season of a television show instead of individual elements. Various WikiProjects that deal with fiction have guidelines describing what depth of coverage should be provided for in-universe information relative to the length of the original work. The complexity of the work should also be taken into a consideration; uses of certain creative elements (such as time travel or flashbacks) may require more detail to clearly explain the in-universe information in an encyclopedic manner.

If there is an imbalance of fictional information in an article, consider trimming the text or moving the fictional information to an appropriate GFDL-compatible wiki.

Dealing with non-notable fictional topics

Articles on fictional topics that lack demonstrated notability should strive for improvement either by the addition of demonstrated notability, or through other editing actions such as trimming, merging, or moving the bulk of the content to another wiki. Please note that the lack of demonstrated notability is not a criteria for speedy deletion, nor is there any deadline to improve such articles, though good faith improvements are expected as part of the editing process.

In general, editors are suggested to review specific guidelines or approaches outlined in the appropriate WikiProject for the topic at hand, such as Wikiproject Television or WikiProject Films. Other concerns on dealing with fictional notability can be raised at the Fiction-related Noticeboard. Barring such additional approaches, the followings are a list of suggested methods to help improve articles that lack demonstration of notability.

• If, by good faith, you believe the article will never have a chance of demonstrating notability or cannot be merged elsewhere, place the article up for proposed deletion. An article about a character in a TV show that only appeared on-screen for a few seconds and is never referred to otherwise is very likely non-notable, however, by using the proposed deletion process, someone may be able provide the required notability. If you are unsure if this is the correct step for a given article, then do not perform this step.
• If you can provide such information on real-world facets or notability, be bold and include it in the article.
• Inform the editors of the article on the article's talk page of your concern about the lack of notability. This can also be done by tagging the article with the {{notability}} tag on the article page, though it is recommended to discuss your concerns with the editors as well in this case. If many such articles within the same fictional universe exist in a similar state, attempt to find a project or task force page for that fictional work and let the editors there know your concerns. If possible, suggest routes for the editors for merging or moving the information should notability and real-world information be difficult to find.
• If the article can be grouped with an existing article or other articles on the same type of fictional elements, suggest a merge via discussion. This may require that information be trimmed from the article. If articles are merged, leave redirection pages in their place to the appropriate page. Consider using redirection templates to help track such redirects. You can boldly merge articles, but be prepared to enter into an extended discussion over the edits in question.
• If an existing GFDL-compatible wiki for the fictional topic exists, suggest transwiki'ing the information. Again, articles that are moved should be replaced with redirection pages.
• If both of the above options have been considered and determined to not be possible, only then consider recommending the article for deletion where the merits of the article can be debated. However, this should be considered as the final resort for any article that otherwise does not violate any other Wikipedia policies. It may be necessary to approach a larger group of editors (a parent WikiProject or the like) to help obtain consensus prior to placing the article up for deletion.

Editors are cautioned from performing the above actions on several articles en masse. A recent ArbCom case suggests that if an editor feels several related articles fail to meet notability requirements, they should open discussion first with the editors of such articles (typically at a WikiProject page) prior to initiating actions such as merging all articles to a single one or the like.

Relocating non-notable fictional material

Wikibooks, Wikipedia's sibling project, contains instructional and educational texts. These include annotated works of fiction (on the Wikibooks:annotated texts bookshelf) for classroom or private study use. Wikisource, similarly, holds original public domain and GFDL source texts. See Wikisource:Wikisource and Wikibooks. One possible action to consider is to make use of all of the Wikimedia projects combined: to have an encyclopedia article about the work of fiction on Wikipedia giving a brief outline, a chapter-by-chapter annotation on Wikibooks, the full source text on Wikisource (if the work is in the public domain), and interwiki links joining them all together into a whole. However, Wikibooks opposes books on fiction, so it is not an appropriate place to transwiki large quantities of fictional material.

Fictional material unsuited or too detailed for Wikipedia can be transwikied to the appropriate GFDL-compatible wiki, such as Final Fantasy Wikia and Wookieepedia. Other sites, such as Gaming Wiki, may also accept material. Transwikied material should be edited to meet the guidelines of specific wikis; do not just copy and paste.

See also

• For examples of high quality fiction articles, see the articles that have been rated as Good and Featured.
• Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles#Check your fiction
• Wikipedia:Television episodes
• Wikipedia:Fancruft
• WikiProject Novels guidelines on plot summaries
• WikiProject Films guidelines on plot summaries
• WikiProject Soap Operas guidelines on character articles