Jclemens's take on Fiction and Wikipedia
This is an assorted list of rationales that I may reference in deletion discussions. It's not intended to be a general purpose essay nor to represent a major school of thought, hence the title and its presence in my userspace. Feel free to add questions or comments to the associated talk page.
Real-World Impact edit
Real world impact can be met in any number of ways, many of which are disputed.
- Media Shift If a fictional work or element is itself rendered into another media, this supports notability. Book to stage, book to film, film to stage, these are all indications that the original work and its elements have been sufficiently impactful (notable) that it is profitable to render into at least another medium.
- Translation If a fictional work written in one language, and translated into another language, it is another indication that the original work and its elements have been sufficiently impactful (notable) that it is profitable to render into at least one other language.
- Tie-ins If a secondary physical representation of a fictional element is rendered, either as a toy or collectible, it is an indication of notability for the fictional work, but most especially for that fictional element. Harry Potter's wand, Boba Fett, and the like.
- In Popular Culture If a fictional element is referenced in an unrelated fictional universe, that indicates notability. When Andrew Wells says "Whoa man, you don't hurt the Fett." it supports the notability of that fictional element. Of course, multiple use in the same franchise or universe does not support notability.
- Games to Fiction, Fiction to Games If a non-game fictional work is translated into a game, that supports both the notability of the fictional work as well as the notability of all the fictional elements represented in that game. For example, if a notable series of books is made into a CCG, each fictional element represented by a card is notable. Fan-created games such as MU*'s, which can have infinite elements added at relatively insignificant cost, are not reliable sources in that their "publication" doesn't indicate any editorial control.
- Additional Works Every subsequent work in a series supports the notability of every previously published work. While it's possible that a subsequent work might become more notable than a previous work (e.g. LotR vs. The Hobbit), such is rare.
Implications edit
Yes, that means that if a Pokemon started as a card, then appeared in a movie or novel tie in, that particular Pokemon should be notable.
Summary Style edit
Notability doesn't preclude inclusion only as a list, nor demand that a notable fictional element have its own article. Per WP:NNC, once an article's topic has demonstrated notability, additional non-notable content can be included, provided that no policies or guidelines are violated. Per WP:SS, if a topic gets too big, certain parts of it should be broken out into subordinate, standalone articles. A prior RfC showed that the community was conflicted about whether individual notability needed to be proven by such spinout articles, so a conservative approach is thus to...
Merge fictional elements together to form articles which clearly assert notability for the fictional element or list subject. Split out notable elements of overly long fictional articles to reduce those articles to appropriate lengths.