User:Masem/fict2

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

This page in a nutshell: Articles on a work of fiction or fictional element should demonstrate real-world notability from reliable sources. If a fiction-related subject is notable, it will always be possible to include more in an article than plot summaries, in-universe information, and references from popular culture.

For articles about books and films, rather than fictional elements therein, refer to Wikipedia:Notability (books) and Wikipedia:Notability (films).

For information about writing articles on fiction, refer to Manual of Style (Writing about fiction).

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) in a work of fiction.

Defining notability for fiction

This guideline is based on three excerpts:

From Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#PLOT:

Wikipedia articles on published works (such as fictional stories) should cover their 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. This applies both to stand-alone works, and also to series. A brief plot summary may sometimes 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 on fiction, reliable sources may cover such things as design, development, reception and cultural impact. This is real-world coverage because it describes the real-world aspects of the work. Fictional coverage describes the work's fictional elements, such as the setting, characters, and story.

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 that are independent of the subject. If a fiction-related subject is notable, it will always be possible to include more in an article than plot summaries, in-universe information, and references from popular culture

Works of fiction

Articles on a work of fiction (a book, movie, television series, video game, or other medium) should demonstrate notability by citing development, critical reception, historical impact, and cultural influence from secondary sources. Technical data, such as publication or airing date, actors, cast, and production members, and other trivial data is not sufficient for the demonstration of notability.

Fictional elements

Notable fictional elements

Characters, settings, episodes, and other fictional elements of a work of fiction are not inheritably notable if the work of fiction is notable. In order to provide an article on such fictional elements, there must be notable information for that element. Notability for such elements may include development and influences, critical reception, cultural impact, and other aspects from secondary sources. At times, groupings of elements may be able to assert notability over single elements such as a list of characters compared to individual characters.

Non-notable fictional elements

Not all fictional elements may be able to demonstrate notability, but discussion of these elements may be necessary in order to help provide sufficient background for the article on the main work of fiction, or other notable elements of the work. Initially, these elements should be described within the article on the work of fiction, trimming content to provide the most basic details. However, when the article gets too long, such sections may be spun out into a separate article. These articles are inappropriate if the type of information that is spun out is irrelevant to understanding the work of fiction, or written in a manner not consistent with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Spinouts should be used sparingly; trimming information whenever possible and using GFDL-compatible wikis as further reference for more interested readers are more preferred solutions.

Depth of coverage

Articles on fiction and fictional elements should be structured around the real-world aspects of the work. Concise discussion of In-universe information on the work or fictional elements is appropriate to include, but the amount of such information should be balanced with the real-world coverage of the work; this consider applies to both the article on the main work of fictional and any spinout articles that stem from it. The coverage of a work of fiction should not be a replacement for reading or watching that work, and thus the depth to which in-universe information is coverage should remain at a very high level. An off-site wiki can be used to provide a more in-depth approach that is not restricted by Wikipedia policy and guidelines.

Dealing with non-notable fictional topics

Articles on fictional topics that lack demonstrated notability should be improved either by adding demonstrated notability, or by other editing actions such as trimming, merging, or moving content to another Wiki. Nevertheless, the lack of demonstrated notability is not one of the criteria for speedy deletion, and good faith improvements are expected as part of the editing process. Editors should review specific guidelines or approaches outlined in the appropriate WikiProject, such as Wikiproject Television or WikiProject Films. Other concerns about dealing with fictional notability can be raised at the Fiction-related Noticeboard.

Here are additional suggestions to improve articles that lack demonstration of notability:

If you believe the article will never have a chance of demonstrating notability or cannot be merged elsewhere, and that its deletion is unlikely to be contested, 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 probably non-notable; however, by using the proposed deletion process, someone may be able to provide the required notability. If you are unsure if this is the correct step, then do not perform this step.
If you can provide reliably sourced, verifiable information on real-world facets that establish the notability of the topic, 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 the article can be grouped with an existing article or other articles on the same type of fictional elements, then it may be appropriate to discuss a potential merge. This may require that information be trimmed from the article. If articles are merged, leave redirection pages in their place to the appropriate page, and link the old article or articles in your edit summary to comply with the GFDL. Consider using redirection templates to help track such redirects. You can boldly merge articles, but consensus will often be required before major changes are accepted by the community.
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 the above options have been considered and determined to not be possible or if you feel that any action taken has not remedied the situation, it may be appropriate to nominate the article for deletion where the merits of the article can be debated. However, this should be considered carefully for an article that otherwise does not violate any further Wikipedia policies or guidelines such as those regarding original research or verifiability.

Editors are cautioned against performing the above actions on numerous articles en masse; an Arbitration Committee case stated that editors are "urged to work collaboratively and constructively with the broader community and the editors committed to working on the articles".

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 a appropriate GFDL-compatible wiki, such as Wookieepedia or the Gaming Wiki; editors should check with related Wikiprojects to determine if a specific wiki has been selected for transwiking materials. Any transwikied material should be edited to meet the guidelines of specific wikis.