User:Deckiller/Notability (fiction)


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

Wikipedia:Notability (fiction) covers the notability of characters, items, places, and other elements within a work of fiction.

Defining notability for fiction
This guideline is a detailed extension of two excerpts:

From What Wikipedia is not: "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 Notability: "A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject."

For articles about fictional concepts, reliable secondary sources 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.

Based on this reasoning and the above excerpts, articles about fictional concepts are notable if they contain substantial real-world content from a combination of reliable primary and secondary sources. These topics are also organized into complete articles instead of numerous small ones. To ensure that our articles are adequate for inclusion, notability must be established within a reasonable time of the article's creation. After notability is established, the article is presented correctly.

Dealing with fiction
The following sections use the term "article" to encompass both articles and lists.

Notable topics
Topics within a fictional work (characters, places, items, concepts, etc.) are covered in the article on that work of fiction, with two exceptions:
 * If these concepts are by themselves notable and an encyclopedic treatment causes the article on the work itself to become long, then the concepts are split into succinct sub-articles that maintain such an encyclopedic treatment; this shows that the information is notable enough to stand on its own. However, the material should be well organized; excessive sub-articles lead to disorganization and unbalanced coverage.
 * Although the sub-article may be kept if it is given an encyclopedic treatment, please do not create sub-articles until this treatment is achieved.

Non-notable topics
Articles that have potential to show notability should be given reasonable time to develop. To avoid this problem, do not split or create content unless the new article includes substantial real-world content (and ideally an out-of-universe perspective) from the onset. Editors should be prepared to demonstrate that there is an availability of sources covering real-world information by: providing hyperlinks to sources detailing real-world information about the topic; outlining a rewrite, expansion, or merge plan; and/or gaining the consensus of established editors. Otherwise, the article will be subject to the options mentioned below. Place appropriate clean-up tags to stimulate activity and mark the articles as sub-par (but with potential).

Articles that do not show notability can therefore be kept for a short time, merged, moved elsewhere, redirected or listed for deletion. If an article fails to cite sufficient sources to demonstrate the notability of its subject, look for sources yourself, or:
 * Ask the article's creator for advice on where to look for sources.
 * Put the tag on the article to alert other editors.
 * If the article is about a specialized branch of fiction, use the tag with a specific WikiProject to attract editors knowledgeable about that field, who may have access to reliable sources not available online.

If appropriate sources cannot be found, consider merging the article's content into a broader article providing context. For instance, articles on minor characters in a work of fiction may be merged into a "list of minor characters in ...". If there is a suitable project other than Wikipedia which may cover the topic in question, consider a transwiki. An article can be transwikied to a suitable Wiki such as Wikia or its Wikipedia Annex. The article is then redirected to the most relevant article to preserve edit history for the transwiki. Otherwise, if deleting:
 * If the article meets our criteria for speedy deletion, one can use a criterion-specific deletion tag listed on that page.
 * Use the prod tag, for articles which do not meet the criteria for speedy deletion, but are uncontroversial deletion candidates. This allows the article to be deleted after five days if nobody objects. For more information, see Proposed deletion.
 * For cases where you are unsure about deletion or believe others might object, nominate the article for the articles for deletion process, where the merits will be debated and deliberated for 5 days.

Fanfiction and unreleased fiction
Fanfiction is vanity, which is grounds for deletion. Examples include: anything self-published, put on fanfiction.net, or done by vanity press; information about a player's character in roleplaying or MMORPGs; and unofficial computer game modifications ("mods") or custom maps.

Fiction not yet written will often be considered speculation, which is grounds for deletion because Wikipedia is not a crystal ball. This includes not-yet-released books, movies, games, etc., unless there has already been substantial press coverage about the to-be-released item.

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 in-universe books, so it is not an appropriate place to transwiki large quantities of in-universe material.

Fictional material unsuited or too detailed for Wikipedia can be transwikied to the appropriate Wikia, 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 wikias; do not just copy and paste. The Wikia Annex is a staging area for transwikied material and a place for non-notable fictional material that does not have another home; the original Wikipedia versions will also be stored there.