Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Novels

Desolation Island
Author	Patrick O'Brian
Cover artist	Geoff Hunt
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Aubrey-Maturin series
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Harper Collins
Publication date	1978
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Cassette, CD)
Pages	416 pages (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0123456789, (first edition, hardback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded by	The Mauritius Command
Followed by	The Fortune of War

n.b. throughout the entire page where the term "novel" is used this can be replaced with "novella", "novelette" or "short story".

Naming conventions

Main page: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)

If a non-novel article already exists with the name of the novel that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (novel) in the title: Novel Title (novel).
If a novel article already exists with the name of the novel that you are trying to create an article for, and the two films are by different authors, use (AUTHORNAME novel) in the title: novel Title (AUTHORNAME novel). Rename the already existing article's title and change it to Novel Title (AUTHORNAME novel) also.
If a novel article already exists with the name of the novel that you are trying to create an article for, use (YEAR novel) in the title: Novel Title (YEAR novel). Rename the already existing article's title and change it to Novel Title (YEAR novel) also.

Infobox

The table to the right is the Infobox Book template for Desolation Island. Note that the image has been removed, as Wikipedia fair use policy prohibits the use of fair use images outside the article namespace. Clicking edit on the right will enable you to view and copy the source text to use on novel articles. If you have any questions or problems with this table, you can discuss them at Template talk:Infobox Book.

The parameters for the infobox can be found at Template:Infobox Book.

A companion infobox for "novelettes" and "short stories" can be found at Template:Infobox short story.

Image

The image presented in the table should ideally be a "first edition" cover illustration for the novel. Covers can be found at various sites, including Amazon.com ([1]) and Amazon.co.uk ([2]). An image of the novels first edition title page is also acceptable. For novels that have multiple covers, limit the infobox to the first edition as more significant.

Once you have found a suitable image:

Save it to your hard drive as a JPEG or PNG file. See preparing images for upload.
Upload it to the wiki at Special:Upload. See uploading images.
On the file's description page, add a short description of the image (e.g. "A book cover for NovelTitle."), and an image copyright tag:
- {{Book cover}} for such novels, novellas, novelettes or short stories.
On the image line of the template, insert the image's filename. A short description can be included in the field image caption. The image size in the infobox is currently set to 200 pixels.

image = NovelTitle.jpg

caption = A book cover for ''NovelTitle''.]]

Genre

Should be a genre from the list available to link to which can be found on the main project page.

Release dates

The novel's earliest release, or publication. If not formally published, use the date written; this would be highly unusual for writing of notability.
Use the release date in the country of origin for the novel.
If the novel has been translated from a non-English language (and only then!), add the english-release-date for date of first translated publication.

Do not include the following in infoboxes (although they can be included in a separate section in the main body of the article):

Release dates for every country in the world

Media Type

The exception to recording only the "first edition" information about the novel, this records the main formats the novel is available in. This gives main types (i.e. Print, AudioBook, e-Book) each followed by bracketed sub-types.

Print sub-types (Hardback, Paperback, Periodical)

AudioBook sub-types (Audio CD, Cassette)

e-Book sub-types (Online Book)

Preceeded & Followed by

These fields should be included only for the novels that are written as part of a series or sequence. Then the titles of the novel prior and the novel subsequent in the series should be placed in each parameter.

Otherwise they should be left blank, in all cases.

N.B. - It is not essential to complete all fields in the infobox. This is especially true if scant information on the novol is available.

Article body

The following are the standard article components of Wikipedia film articles.

Lead section

The lead section (with no heading) of an article serves as a quick introduction to the novel. The very first paragraph should cover the basics, such as the novel's publication year, alternate titles, genre(s), author, setting, country of origin, as well as one or two of the most notable, verifiable facts about it, such as "At the time of its publication, it was the fastest selling novel ever". The second paragraph should be a brief look at the novel's impact: whether critics liked it or not (and why), whether it was a commercial success or not, and whether any sequels to or film, TV or theatrical adaptations were produced.

Plot introduction

This introduction is intended to give a general overview or teaser plot section. It should be designed to be spoiler free. It should not exceed 80 words unless there is a specific reason.

Describe the basic premise of the story in a couple of sentences and introduce key characters.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Then put in a {{spoiler}} template, which will warn readers of the article not to proceed if they do not want the novel "spoiled" for them. After that, start a new paragraph going into more detail about the plot of the novel, including the ending. Spoilers should not under any circumstances be deleted, as it directly contradicts the Wikipedia-wide content disclaimer. There are also other unacceptable alternatives which have been proposed in the past. In short, Wikipedia contains spoilers; please respect this policy.

Characters in "NovelTitle"

The character list should extend beyond a pure list and give brief character outlines. This should vary in legnth depandant on the relative importance of the character to the narrative.

Major themes

Distribution=

The distribution section should detail any notable information about the film's releases in cinema, on video, and on TV.

Reception

Expanding on the second paragraph of the lead section, you should analyse how the film was received by critics, meaning professional or well-known film reviewers, and not comments from members of the public (for example, quotes from user comments on Amazon.com, the Internet Movie Database and blogs do not count, as these are self-published). Websites such as Rotten Tomatoes ([3]) and Metacritic ([4]) collect professional film reviews and calculate a numerical score from them for each film.

In the case of what the general public thought of the film, tend towards the expression "money talks" and provide a summary of the film's commercial success, consulting sites such as Box Office Mojo ([5]) and Box Office Guru ([6]). Please do not include ratings such as IMDB's star ratings.

Documentaries

Documentaries present a special case, as they present themselves as recounters of fact. Therefore criticism of content ought to be included if it is presented with reasonable documentation and if there is evidence of public awareness of the controversy. Responses to such criticism should likewise be presented on the same basis. The existence of a public controversy ought to be acknowledged whatever can be said about it; the publicity is by nature citable, and omission creates the false impression that the subject matter is uncontroversial. Cite specific critics, not just "some people have criticized".

It is not the purpose of Wikipedia to act as an investigator of claims, though if criticisms are addressed by others, they should as well be cited.

Soundtrack

If the soundtrack does not have a separate article and is included in the film article use the WikiProject Albums' Track listing guideline.

Notes and/or references

In accordance with Wikipedia's verifiability policy, all articles should cite their sources. A variety of methods to present your references is available at Citing sources:Style and how-to, as well as an inline citations/footnoting system at Help:Footnotes. If you are unsure of how to use internet links as references, simply inserting the URL into square brackets at the end of the corresponding text (e.g. [http://www.google.com/] becomes [7]) is an adequate form of referencing the web, although providing the date on which you accessed the web page would enable other users of Wikipedia to retrieve it using the Wayback Machine, should the web link change or cease to function.

External links

{{imdb title|id=0088247|title=The Terminator}} gives
- "The Terminator at IMDb "
{{amg movie|id=1:49101|title=The Terminator}} gives
- "The Terminator at AllMovie"
{{rotten-tomatoes|id=terminator|title=The Terminator}} gives
- "The Terminator at Rotten Tomatoes"
{{metacritic film|id=terminator|title=The Terminator}} gives
- "The Terminator at Metacritic"
{{imdb name|id=0000881|name=Michael Bay}} gives
- "Michael Bay at IMDb"
{{amg name|id=2:203853|name=Michael Bay}} gives
- "Michael Bay at AllMovie"

Other article components

The sections listed above are the standard film sections and by no means should they act as limits to the content of film articles. Larger and more complex film articles would warrant additional sections, such as Music, Themes and Cultural significance.

Tagline

Even the Greatest of Taglines is Still Just a Marketing Gimmick

As a general rule don't include taglines in an article. "Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information". However, if a particular tagline was a significant part of the cultural influence of the film, create a section for it and describe its effects. For example, none of the many taglines for Wes Craven's New Nightmare deserve mention. On the other hand, discussing Jaws 2 without mentioning "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." would be a glaring omission. (You make the call... remember be bold.)

Trivia

Trivia may be a useful section in a film article, as it can serve as a "Misc" area where important facts can go that may not fit nicely elsewhere. This is especially true for new releases and articles in their early stages of development. However, as the article matures, trivia points should be moved to other sections of the article whenever possible, and it is preferable that they be written using prose, not bullet points. The information should also be important, not just fan facts.

Upcoming

Here are templates to add to the top of pages about things yet to happen:

{{Future}}	for upcoming/future general events
{{Future album}}	for a upcoming/future album
{{Future book}}	for a upcoming/future book
{{Future channel}}	for a upcoming/future channel
{{Future film}}	for a upcoming/future film
{{Future single}}	for upcoming/future single
{{Future television series}}	for upcoming/future tv series
{{Future television episode}}	for upcoming/future tv episodes

Lists

Once an article has been created for a film, it can be entered into a number of lists to allow easier browsing for viewers. All films should be included in the Lists of films. Each film can be included in lists based on the alphabet, year, language, genre, location, etc. that a film can be included in.