Wikipedia:Notability (fiction)

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Shortcuts

This page in a nutshell: Fictional elements are expected to follow the same notability guidelines as any other topic.

Several attempts have been made to establish specialized guidelines to cover the notability of fictional elements within Wikipedia, but without any success. It has been determined that existing policy and guideline, specifically Wikipedia's general notability guideline is appropriate and sufficient for demonstrating the notability of fictional elements. Specifically, fictional elements are presumed to be notable if there is significant coverage in independent secondary sources about the fictional element; when a fictional element is presumed notable, a separate article to cover that element is usually acceptable.

Non-notable elements of fiction (such as characters and episodes) may be grouped into an appropriate list-like article. Advice for the appropriateness of these list articles can be found at the general Notability guideline and at Stand-alone Lists and Topics.

There are specialized notability guidelines for works of fiction which can be found in the following guidelines:

Articles on fiction are expected to follow existing content policies and guidelines, particularly Wikipedia is not simply plot summaries. Articles on fiction elements are expected to cover more about "real-world" aspects of the element, such as its development and reception, than "in-universe" details. Editors interesting in writing articles on fictional elements are encouraged to review Writing About Fiction to understand the general approach and content of these articles. Editors should also review guidelines and recommendations made by WikiProjects that deal primarily with works of fiction. These include but not limited to:

Further guidance

Template:MultiCol

Wikiprojects

| class="col-break " |

Other policies and guidelines, examples and how-tos not mentioned above

Previous proposals

Wikipedia:Fiction, a previous failed content proposal
Wikipedia:Notability (fiction)/proposed-12-9-07, a previous failed proposal
User:Phil Sandifer/Fiction proposal, a previous proposal
Wikipedia:Plot-only description of fictional works, a previous proposal

Template:EndMultiCol