Wikipedia:Notability (fiction)

Wikipedia:Notability (fiction) covers the general notability of works of fiction including individual episodes of serialized works such as television or comic book series, as well as fictional elements such as characters, items and places within a work of fiction. For more specific notability guidelines on works of fiction presented in specific forms of media, see the following guidelines:

Defining notability for fiction

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. However, notability for individual topics on fiction should be judged on a case-by-case basis while following Wikipedia's core policies of verifiability, no original research and neutral point of view.

Demonstrating notability

Works of fiction

Articles on a work of fiction (a book, movie, television series, video game, or other medium) should demonstrate notability by citing critical reception, viewings or sales figures, 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. Although data such as cast and crew members, publication or airing dates and length of work can be taken from reliable sources, such information may not demonstrate notability.

Certain media have additional notability guidelines: WP:BK for books and printed material, WP:MOVIE for films, and WP:TOY for toys, traditional games, and video games. A work of fiction is presumed to be notable if it meets the general notability guideline, the guidelines presented here, or the guidelines specific to its medium.

Elements of fiction

Elements of a work of fiction, including individual stories, episodes, characters, settings, and other topics, are presumed to be notable if there is significant coverage of the element(s) in reliable secondary sources. For fictional elements, this will typically include the real-world context and analysis of the elements, and can include influence and other aspects of its development, critical reception of the elements, and popularity of the element through readership/viewership ratings and marketing. Notability of an element may also be shown through secondary-source analysis of the main work of fiction, citing the importance of the element to the work. Reputable academic studies of individual elements may also demonstrate notability.

Data such as actors, cast and crew, publication and airing dates, appearances in a larger body of works, and production codes, while useful and sometimes necessary data for articles on fictional elements, are not sufficient for notability as these are trivial data that can be learned for any other work in the same medium by reviewing the original work or through sites and resources such as IMDB or TV Guide. Evidence of notability should explain what is special about the topic, such as awards, rankings, sales figures or studies and analyses specifically relating to the element in question.^[1]^[2] Editors may request evidence of the notability of any article, including those on fictional elements, either through the addition of a {{notability}} template or through listing for deletion at articles for deletion, where consensus will determine any notability. Notability, in accordance with this guidance, is best demonstrated through citations to reliable secondary sources.

Notability may be shown for an individual element^[3] or for a certain grouping of elements, commonly characters or episodes.^[4] When notability can be shown, the element or grouping of elements merits a separate article. This article should be summarized in the parent article, and {{main}} or {{seealso}} templates should be used to direct users to where they may find more information.^[5] Further details can be found in the Summary style approach section of Manual of Style (Writing about Fiction).

However, even where an element or group of elements is notable, it may be more appropriate to include the information in an article on the work itself if:

Fictional elements as part of a larger topic

If consensus on a fictional element is that it is of unproven notability, editors should seek to retain the information where it can improve the encyclopedia. Such coverage may be placed as part of the main article on the work of fiction, or if better suited, an article on another, notable fictional element. If this makes the main article too long, per Wikipedia's article size guidelines, then there are several steps to consider:

Where none of the above steps can resolve the length problem without damaging encyclopedic coverage of the work, groupings of individually non-notable elements can merit their own supporting articles; this should be considered only for highly notable works,^[6] and the information within the supporting articles should not exceed the necessary depth of coverage for the main article's topic. Under current practice, these supporting articles are generally one of the following two types of list:

If the resulting list would be too large without exceeding the necessary depth of coverage, elements may be grouped into smaller lists. To avoid undue weight on a subtopic, the smaller lists should correspond to either highly notable^[6] fictional subtopics or divisions of the work, or a real-world division.^[7] Lists of elements corresponding to a less-notable topic could still appear as sections in an article on that topic. For divisions by fictional characteristics, consider the use of categories to categorise redirects to individual list elements.

Subject-specific guidelines may limit these cases, or give other cases when such articles are considered appropriate. Articles that fail to meet these requirements can have their inclusion challenged through a deletion debate and are often deleted through editorial consensus. Articles that fail to meet the guidelines presented in Manual of Style (Writing About Fiction) can also be challenged and deleted or improved to meet our style.

Depth of coverage

Articles on fiction should be structured around evaluations and critiques of the work or topic, with an appropriate balance of real-world and plot information, as outlined at Manual of Style (Writing about fiction). The size of a plot summary is often determined by building consensus for each article on a case by case basis. Editors should compare approaches taken on featured and good articles about fiction for examples of length and tone.

Depth of coverage within an article should be guided by the amount of real-world information which can be sourced. A single movie, book, video game, or other work of fiction has most likely not generated substantial^[8] coverage in sources which Wikipedia can summarize. Therefore, the article will be able to summarize those sources in one article. On the other hand, a series of books, television shows, or video games could contain elements which are better covered in a separate article or articles, helping to provide suitable background and supplementary information for each work within the series. See elements of fiction above for more details.

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. WikiProjects that deal with fiction have guidelines describing what depth of coverage should be provided for plot 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 concepts 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 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.

First and foremost, if you can provide reliably sourced, verifiable information on real-world facts that establish the notability of the topic, be bold and include it in the article. Here are additional suggestions to improve articles that lack demonstration of notability:

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.

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