User:Masem/fictspin

This guideline provides advice for the creation and editing of spinout articles dealing with fictional topics that do not have demonstration of either general notability or notability for fictional elements. Non-notable spinout articles are generally not appropriate, failing to meet the criteria for nearly all other articles on Wikipedia, but there are times where spinouts describing non-notable fictional elements are acceptable to the community. However, editors should be aware that these spinouts will be highly scrutinized and may be contested by other editors not involved with the overall topic on that work of fiction.

The problem with fictional spinouts

In general, when an article becomes large it is appropriate to use summary style approaches, breaking out sections of the article to spinout articles to reduce the size. For topics that are not related to fictional works, these spinouts can be sourced as well as generally meeting overall notability guidelines.

However, when dealing with works of fiction, spinouts can be problematic as typically the information that is desired to be spun out deals with the in-universe aspects of the work of fiction, which, while can be sourced to the primary work, typically cannot be support by notability for fictional topics. Furthermore, such spinouts can be seen as being only plot summaries, which is part of what what Wikipedia is not. However, such spinouts are also seen as a necessary component for dealing with a larger work of fiction, by provided sufficient in-universe context to allow the general reader to understand the notable aspects of the main work of fiction.

Thus, should there be a need to create a spinout of non-notable fictional information for a notable work of fiction, editors are strongly cautioned to make

Before spinning out content

If a spinout of content is made, it is strongly suggested that editors consider the spinout a last resort pending any of the following preferred alternatives:

Determine the appropriateness of the content towards a general understanding of the fictional work. The lists provided in the following section provide some guidance on typical information that is needed for this, but these are not inclusive nor always appropriate. If the content is determined to be extraneous, removing the content (possibly with transwiki below) is appropriate.
Transwiki the content to a GFDL-compatible wiki; this retains the information without it having to adhere to Wikipedia's higher writing standards, and the appropriate articles can still link to this wiki, thus allowing readers that do want more information to be able to find it.
Trim the content to reduce the size. A general reader does not need to understand every single aspect of a character's backstory or every store in a fictional setting. By reducing the content of non-notable elements to provide minimum but sufficient relevance of the element to the main work, the need to spinout an article may be removed.

What should and should not be spun out

Spinouts on non-notable fictional elements are generally contested, whether through editing, put up for deletion, or suggested to be merged back to a parent topic. However, certain approaches to spinouts have generally been acceptable by the community at larger, while other approaches are rarely accepted. The following lists are not inclusive, nor are they guaranties of incontestability.

Generally acceptable spinouts lacking a demonstration of notability

In general, acceptable spinouts are those that can aid in the reader's understanding of the main article on the work of fiction, its general plot, and the real-world, notable aspects of that work. In addition, these types of spinouts are of forms where notability is likely to be able to be found; should this occur, these articles will no longer be contested.

List of major or minor/recurring, or both major and minor/recurring, characters: Listing the characters of a work, particularly for those of serial works like television shows, helps to prevent the need to describe each character and his or her relation to the overall show every time they are mentioned. Descriptions should not be presented as biographical, but instead should be limited to general information: relationship with other characters, primary role within the work, and character traits.
List of episodes/volumes: An episode list for a television, or a list of volumes for manga, and similar lists for serial works, are generally acceptable; each list can provide a concise plot description in addition to technical details for each release (air or release date, producer, etc.). In some cases, splitting the lists by season or other larger technical grouping parameter is appropriate.
"Universe of" articles: Such articles typically define locations, terms, races or species, alternate histories, and other aspects that comprise a complete fictional universe. These articles should not be written as glossaries, but instead should try to present the information in a logical, prose-driven manner.

Generally unacceptable spinouts lacking a demonstration of notability

These spinout types are ones that are generally merged or deleted through the deletion process, and are considered unacceptable in most situations.

List of one-time or cameo characters: One-time and cameo characters are rarely notable save in the single appearance they make on the show. Such lists can typically be merged in part to episode/volume lists, if the character is necessary to describe as part of the concise plot, otherwise, such lists should not be created.
Articles on individual characters, episodes/volumes, or other elements: In general, a spinout of a non-notable singular fictional element will be contested as the information for that spinout can be trimmed and merged to a more acceptable location (including back into the main article on the work of fiction), trimming the content down to key details. If it feels like such an element requires a separate article (possibly due to being part of a larger franchise) it may be necessary to consider restructuring the fictional aspects of the work better. For example, instead of creating a situation where a spinout regarding a non-notable fictional location is needed, it might be better to group the location with other aspects of the fictional universe to create a "universe of" spinout.
Spinouts from works with a single publication: For fiction works presented in a serial format, like television shows, works that have created one or more sequels, or works that are part of a larger franchise, the use of spinouts is typically helpful to collect common details throughout the works, gathering information on those elements from all the available primary sources. However, for a single, stand-alone work that is not part of a larger series, breaking out details is not acceptable; the characters and setting are only introduced once, and there is only one primary source (the work itself) to build on describing those aspects. Rarely are characters or individual elements called out specifically in the concise discussion of the plot, generally introduced and described as part of the plot. Thus, spinouts from singular works are strongly discouraged.

Writing non-notable spinout articles

When all other routes prior to creating a spinout regarding non-notable fictional elements have been exhausted, a spinout may be created. However, there are several considerations that editors must keep in mind when writing and editing such articles.

The spinout should follow summary style conventions. The lead of the spinout should clearly indicate the work of fiction that it is supporting, and the contents of the spinout. The main work should use {{main}} or {{seealso}} templates to point the reader to these spinouts.
Spinouts must meet all other aspects of the five pillars, in particular:
- They must be verifiable, using the primary work and third-party primary sources to provide in-line citations and sourcing.
- They must contain no original research; while it is necessary to summarize and distill the information of fictional elements, editors must not synthesis original thought into these articles, avoiding speculation and postulation. Spinouts which engage in such approaches will very likely be challenged by other editors.
- They must be written from a neutral point of view. It is very easy to write as a fan of the work and provide lengthy, flowery descriptions of characters in positive light, but this is unacceptable. Instead, such spinouts must be written neutrally, avoiding the use of peacock terms and other language that may be implied, but is not accurate to the work.
Spinouts should be written in an out-of-universe writing style instead of in-universe, as described in Manual of Style (Writing about Fiction).
The amount of content for all combined spinouts of a fictional work should not create an inbalance with the notable aspects of the work of fiction itself. If one can only write 500 words of text describing the real-world aspects of a work of fiction, but 10,000 words on the characters and plot, there is significant need to re-evalauate the need for such lengthy in-universe information.
Editors of spinouts are encouraged to continue to search for sources that provide demonstration of the real-world notability of the fictional elements.

Dealing with inappropriate non-notable spinout articles

Spinout articles of non-notable fictional elements may be inappropriate for two reasons:

Relevant spinout articles poorly written: A spinout may contain appropriately relevant information that is otherwise written in a manner that is inappropriate for a spinout article as described above. If one should find a spinout in this shape, the {{User:Masem/spinout-style}} template should be applied to the article's page:

Articles tagged in this fashion should not be deleted, though in rare cases, deleting the content of the article and starting anew may be a faster way to resolve the issues than to trim down from the existing text.
Irrelevant spinout articles: A spinout which may be deemed inappropriate or irrelevant to understanding the work of fiction's real-world aspects requires more attention. Such articles should be tagged using {{User:Masem/relevance-spinout}}:

Articles tagged as such should be given time (at least a month) to be corrected, but if these corrections are not addressed, other editors should be free to boldly make the necessary corrections, including deletion. The corrections that can be performed include:

Demonstration of notability for the topics in the spinout.
Trimming and merging of material as to include the spinout information to be included in the context of a larger article, ideally the main article on the work of fiction itself.
Transwiki of the information to a GFDL-compatible wiki.
Deletion of the article.