We at Star Wars Photo Novels like to have excellence as a standard in articles. This means that an article must not only be well-written, but follow a manual of style.
Layout guide
In-universe
All in-universe articles should be structured as follows:
- Title/Eras/Infobox
- Main article
- Stub
- Behind the scenes (notice the capitalization)
- Appearances
- Sources
- Notes and references
- See also
- External links
- Succession box
- Category
Photonovel articles
All out-of-universe articles on photonovels, movies, etc. should generally be structured as follows. This list is typically more flexible than main articles.
- Title/Eras/Infobox
- Introduction
- Stub
- Editions
- Publisher's summary
- Plot summary
- Excerpts
- Appearances
- Behind the scenes
- Poster gallery
- Notes and references
- See also
- External links
- Succession box
- Category
Tense
All articles should always be written in past tense, except at times in photonovel articles. For a photonovel synopsis, the story should be in present tense.
Using the #
Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. When linking to articles, particular books and guides with numbers denoting their order, omit the # and simply put the number. Otherwise the software will look for that number as a section title on the page.
e.g. Star Wars Adventure Journal 4, not Star Wars Adventure Journal #4
In-universe
If something is in-universe, or is described as such, it belongs to the Star Wars universe exclusively and not to the real world. Characters, for example, are in-universe, but the actors who play them are out-of-universe. Another example is that the correspondent in-universe term for the English language is Galactic Basic, which is the common language in Star Wars. Pseudohistory is an integral part of in-universe treatment of canon material.
The only section where out-of-universe information is appropriate is the "Behind the scenes" section and its subsections of an in-universe article. See below for more details.
Out-of-universe
Out-of-Universe refers to the perspective in which an article is written; it is the opposite of in-universe. Something written from an out-of-universe (OOU) perspective is written from a real life point of view. It will refer, for example, to real life publications, actors, authors, events, and so on, acknowledging that its subject is fictional. In contrast, an in-universe perspective will strive for verisimilitude; that is, it will be written as though the author existed within the Star Wars universe. Articles about any in-universe things, such as characters, vehicles, terminology, or species, should always be written from an in universe perspective. If a section in the article is not, such as the listing of a character's published appearances or behind the scenes details, it should be tagged as such. In contrast, articles about books, movies, games, or other real-life Star Wars material should obviously be written from an out-of-universe perspective, but should still be noted as such. Basically, in-universe articles should never refer to Star Wars by name, or any other real life things such as publications, actors, or the like.
Headings
Headings are the parts of an article that include the equal signs, thereby making either a large name with a solid grey line or simply large black letters. To make a heading, users are excepted to use the == rather than the (bold) markup. For example:
===This is a heading===
If headings are marked in that way, a table of contents will automatically be generated from all of the headings in the article. Sections will be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings will be given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article. Please also note the proper coding for articles when it comes to articles. The proper heading coding for a well put together article is as follows (in the format of a character):
==History=====Early life======Rise to power======Downfall=====Legacy====Personality and traits====Talents====Behind the scenes====Appearances====See also====External links==
When writing headings, users should capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in the heading. All other letters should be in lower case. It is also recommended that you avoid links within headings and the overuse of subheadings.
Naming
Naming an article is very important. Main photonovels, movies, etc. should be named Star Wars: (name of photonovel), and photonovel chapters should be named Star Wars (photonovel name and chapter): (chapter name).
Italics
When referring to or creating articles about ships and/or ship classes, users should be aware that the name of the ship and the class should be capitalized, the ship name should be italicized and it should be used with the definitive article.
Quotations
Many users have adopted the use of quotes in their articles to give them a more “real life” feel to them. Regardless of the size of the quote, it should be inserted with the quote template, that template being as follows:
|
{{Quote|quote|attribution|source of quote}} |
Only the name of the speaker is required after the quote, but some users may wish to include who the quote was spoken to, the source of the quote and the page number the quote is from. This is acceptable and encouraged.
Era Icons
In order for an article to be considered for Good Article or Featured Article status, it must have proper era icons. To insert an era icon, place the {{eras|}} tag at the top of an article and write in all eras that apply. For a list of eras, please see this page.