Xanth:Guidelines for article creation

This wiki has a standard format we follow for certain things, not all the standards are the same as other Wikia wikis or Wikipedia. There are six major categories: Category:Bibliography, Category:Concepts, Category:Characters, Category:Locations, and Category:Species. Aside from books, the other areas are going only cover the following series ( so far )

These are the only series that are long enough to chronical the individual books for. Until a decent spoilers template is created, try to avoid major spoilers.

Guidelines for Book articles[]

Basically the book articles are to have up five subsections and a Template:Book data. Subsections for Articles about books

Blurb - what the publisher generally prints on the back of the book.
Major characters - the characters the book centers around
Printing history - like how many publishers print it, when they started, when the first hard cover and first paperback were printed, is the book still in print. Also include the first electronic publication of the book and its format when applicable
Annotations - any additional notes

All books go in the Category:Bibliography regardless of Author or series. Each book should also go into the Category: Book * where "*" is the first letter of the books title. Another category to include, if known, is the Category: **** where "****" is the year it was published.

Article title guidelines[]

Certain books in the Xanth series follow the format Book:Book title for article naming to avoid confusing, this format comes from the Discworld and Pratchet wiki, not Wikia or Wikipedia. The books articles need to be in Category:Bibliography as well as their specific series categories. If a book isn't written by Piers Anthony, then it is not to be put under the Bibliography section.

Books by other authors[]

Except Book:Bio of an Ogre, the books by other authors go in the Category:Additional materials, which right now doesn't exist.

Guidelines for character pages[]

All characters deserve their time in the spotline. There are three main types of characters: Major, Secondary, and Minor characters. Major characters play an important role throughout the book. Secondary characters play a valuable role, but are not seen throughout the book. Minor characters are those characters who show up in a limited capacity. For example, in A Spell for Chameleon, Bink would be a major character, the Good Magician Humfrey would be a secondary character, and Zink would be a minor character. Which type a character would be labeled may differ depending on which book is referenced. For example, in many books, the Good Magician Humfrey might be seen as a secondary character. Yet in Question Quest, he would be considered a major character.

No matter what role a character plays, all character pages should include the following:

Intro - where the character lives when first introduced and their parents (if known).
Bio - a more detailed summary of the person, including relationships with other characters
Talent - a description of the person's magic talent (unless they are a Mundane)
References - cite the book and chapter any information was found (see References below)

Character Data Templates[]

For major characters, and reoccuring secondary characters, use of the approperate character data template should be included. For most series this template is the Template:Character data but for Xanth its Template:XCD. Also the article needs to be in both the Characters category and their respective series charactor category: Xanth, Incarnations, and Adept.

Location articles[]

Not all locations are visited in the stories. Some may be merely mentioned. All geographical locations, villages, or occupied locations should have an article and that article must at least be in the Category:Locations. As with the characters, the locations should be added to the respective series location category.

In writing a location article, please include the following:

Intro - where the location is located in either Xanth or Mundania
Description - a description of the location and any important roles it has played in Xanthian history
Residents - a listing of Notable and Other residents
References - cite the book and chapter any information was found (see References below)

Concept articles[]

If a book includes some kind of over-arching concept, such as the Adult Conspiracy in the Xanth series or the Anthropomorphic Personification in the Incantations of Immortality series, then an article should be created and at least be in the Category:Concepts. Also the concepts need to be sorted by series as well.

Species articles[]

Occasionally, a species shows up in more than one series. If this occurs, there should be a separate section for each series describing any unique characteristics the species has in those series. See Human as an example.

Articles about major general species in a series should try to give a broad overview of the species characteristics, history, roles in society, etc. The main sections of these articles could also list any notable members of the species that appear in that series. All species articles go under Category:Species, and then sorted into their respective Series:Species category.

There are a variety of flora and creatures within the stories. Some regularly show up in the books, while others may be mentioned once and never seen again. All flora and creatures should be sorted into their series' respective flora or creatures category. In writing an article about flora or creatures, try to organize it as follows:

Intro - a brief description of what the species is and where it is located (Xanth, Mundania, etc)
Description - a description of the species, including appearance, behavior, and any uses for the species
References - cite the book and chapter any information was found (see References below)

Objects[]

Inanimate objects can often be part of a story. Inanimate objects should follow the same guidelines for a Flora or Creatures species article. All objects should be sorted into their series' respective objects category.

Templates[]

The templates category is for templates, please post a suggestion on a talk page for a new template or modify existing templates. Most templates should be protected from non-Members vandalising them.

References[]

Due to the large number of books Anthony has written, references not only help cite where information is obtained, but also to identify which books the various characters, species, and locations appear in.

Due to the potential for information to shift pages in different editions or printing methods, page numbers will not be used to cite a source. Instead, citations should come in the form of the book title first, followed by the chapter number.

If possible, standard reference procedures should be used. If all of the information comes from one spot in one book, it is acceptable to put a single citation in the reference section instead of putting it within the description. See Pillbox bush as an example of using just a single citation. See Bink as an example of how multiple citations should look.