Help:Editing Guide

The Editing Guide is a resource for users who are editing articles on the Wings of Fire Theory Wiki. Our goal is to provide readers with clear, concise, and factual information regarding the Wings of Fire universe.

If you are looking for a general guide on how to edit any article on FANDOM, please refer to Fandom's official editing guide

Good Faith
All edits made on the Wings of Fire Wiki should be made in "good faith," meaning that they are done with the intention to improve or expand upon the Wiki. Editors are usually given the benefit of the doubt, but if users make an edit to an article that is clearly not in good faith, the edit will be reverted. In extreme cases, the user will be blocked for a period of time.

Formatting
To ensure a consistent appearance of all articles, please keep the following points in mind:
 * When referring to a book or the series Wings of Fire, titles should always be written in italics. (Example: The Poison Jungle).
 * In character, item, location, tribe, etc. articles, the first mention of the article's title should be written in bold. (Example: Prince Winter is a young male IceWing...)
 * A single page only needs to be linked once per article, at its first instance.
 * This excludes section links to the same page (Example: Jade Mountain Academy and the Copper Winglet may both be linked on the same page, but every instance of Clay's name may not.)

Grammar and Spelling
Grammar is very important in articles; it helps establish an understanding between the editors and the readers of an article.
 * This wiki is written in American English. This is for ease of editing, as the books are written in AE. Please do not edit pages to change these spellings.
 * If you'd like verify a spelling, a list of differences between American English and British English can be found at these links: A-M N-Z
 * Names of characters and places should always be capitalized. Items are sometimes capitalized as well (Example: Darkstalker's Scroll). However, if you are only referring to Darkstalker's Scroll as "the scroll," there is no need to capitalize the word "scroll".
 * Add commas and periods (.) where needed. Oxford commas should be the default in a list of three or more items.
 * Avoid contractions such as "he's" or "they're"; use "he is" or "they are" instead.
 * Try to avoid unnecessary connective words such as "also" and "however."

Tenses

 * Biography sections should always be written in past tense.
 * Introduction, Appearance, Personality, and Relationships sections vary between past or present tense depending on whether the character is alive or deceased.
 * If the character is alive, the article (excluding the biography) is to be written in present tense. If the character is deceased, the article is to be written in past tense.

Images

 * Inappropriate images including NSFW, explicit dark humor, curse words, and mature or discriminatory themes are not only to be removed from Galleries but from the Wiki's image library altogether. Please report any inappropriate images to an administrator or content moderator.
 * Fanart is not allowed in image galleries.
 * When adding canonical artwork to galleries, be sure to credit the source to be as specific as possible. Include the artist's name and the source of the image, when possible. (Example: Tsunami from The Hidden Kingdom (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes)

Other General Tips

 * Do not add speculation to any part of an article. This includes assumptions about a character’s appearance or personality based on their name and unconfirmed crushes/romantic interest.

Article Structure
Here is the outline of how a character article should be structured:
 * Top Quote
 * Infobox
 * Introduction
 * Appearance
 * Personality
 * Biography
 * Relationships
 * Family Tree
 * Quotes
 * Prophecies (when applicable)
 * Enchantments (when applicable)
 * Trivia
 * Gallery
 * References
 * Navboxes
 * Categories

Below you can find more detailed information on what to keep in mind while editing each section.

Infoboxes
More information flying in soon!

Introduction

 * The Introduction paragraph includes essential information about a character, including their age category, gender, tribe, status/occupation, first appearance, and family. Please keep this paragraph as concise as possible and do not add plot descriptions, their physical appearance, et cetera.
 * Romantic interest may be included when applicable (x.)
 * Current status may be included when applicable (x.)
 * Cause of death may be included when applicable (x.)

Appearance

 * This section includes a character’s physical appearance as it is described in the books, using proper citations. Feel free to use Platypus the SeaWing’s edit document containing all such descriptions for reference while editing.
 * Please do not add uncited descriptions, basic information about a tribe (such as a LeafWing character having leaf-shaped wings), or speculation (such as a SilkWing character likely having scales that match the colors of the butterfly they are named after). Do not delete appearance citations unless they are incorrectly cited.
 * Keep in mind that the character templates made by Platypus are based solely on the information provided in the books and may therefore feature additional unconfirmed colorations. Do not use these references as a source for the Appearance section and instead focus on canon material.
 * Character appearances from the main series books are prioritized over graphic novel appearances. Please do not edit out cited appearance information in favor of the graphic novel depiction of a character.
 * You can add a citation of a book page (in source mode) by using the Ref template (click the link for an explanation on how to use it). Citations of sources outside the books can be done using the  syntax (in source mode) or by selecting the Insert tab and clicking Reference in the drop box (in Visual Editor mode).
 * Please do not use  for book citations, and replace them with the proper format when necessary.

Personality
More information flying in soon!

Biography

 * Many Biography sections are in need of revisions or complete rewrites. Please prioritize brevity and omit any unnecessary details. Ensure that a character's biography is a summary of scenes they are present for, or mentions, not the book at large.
 * A great way to ensure that the Biography sections are factually and chronologically correct is to have the respective book nearby for reference.
 * has compiled an overview of every character’s book appearances (green) and mentions (yellow). Some of these are not accounted for on the wiki yet and still need to be added.
 * General grammar is always in need of work in the Biography sections.
 * Some resources for grammar checking: x x
 * If a character has a Biography section exceeding ~4 short paragraphs (x) or ~2 long paragraphs (x), these may be placed into a dropdown. Our dropdown template can be found here.
 * The layout of a Biography section should be as follows. Please only include dropdowns for books where the character appeared or was mentioned. Link the dropdown headers, but do not link the section headers (Prophecies, 'Legends', and 'Winglets').
 * Pre-Series (no header) > The Dragonet Prophecy > The Jade Mountain Prophecy > The Lost Continent Prophecy > Legends > Winglets (Example: x.)
 * Section headers should be added with or without dropdowns
 * Proper formatting includes an instance of  between each section.   is not necessary at the beginning or end of the Biography section.
 * Proper title formatting is as follows:
 * == Biography ==
 * === [Section Title] ===
 * ==== [Book title] ==== or dropdown/s

Relationships
More information flying in soon!

Family Tree

 * This section is only necessary if there is enough known about a character’s family for there to be a family tree template, in which case said template is put in this section (Example: ). Click here for a list of all existing family tree templates.

Quotes

 * Only quotes that serve a purpose, such as being humorous, conveying character development, or including commentary on something relevant to the character's life, should be added. (Example: "Look out!" is not an acceptable quote.)
 * Quotes are to be cited with proper book titles and page numbers. Please use the SingleQuote template.
 * Proper formatting includes an instance of  between each quote.   is not necessary at the beginning or end of the Quotes section.
 * Do not intentionally change a character's quote while writing. If you wish to shorten a quote, please use three dots in square brackets when omitting dialogue. (Example: "Stop!" she said, "you're cornered. Don't move." may quote as "Stop! [...] Don't move.")

Trivia

 * Trivia should only be used for highly specific, explicitly stated facts, such as 'Qibli enjoys playing the drums.' Fan-inferred trivia, such as 'Typhoon is the fourth hybrid in the series,' is unacceptable.
 * Please do not add trivia relating to character's namesakes, repeated names, or highly speculative trivia.
 * Acceptable name trivia: "Onyx was named after the Eye of Onyx, hinting to her royal heritage"
 * Excessive name trivia: "Eagles are large birds of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other."

Gallery

 * Everything listed in the general Images section applies to Gallery images.
 * Additional rules for galleries on articles:
 * Images that are irrelevant to the article are not to be posted and will be removed. This includes "Real Life" photos (Example: a photo of a kestrel in Kestrel's gallery will be removed.)
 * Do not remove or replace infobox images. If you have a question or suggestion regarding the character templates, message Platypus instead.
 * Do not remove the references by Platypus the SeaWing from character galleries.
 * Limit graphic novel images in character galleries to three images max. Both images should be distinct from one another, relevant, and clear references. Ideally one will be a full-body, or as close to full-body as possible, while the other will be the infobox image (a detailed head or bust-shot). A third image may be included if the character has a relevant third aspect of their appearance, not visible in the other two images (x).
 * Do not include headshot or bust-shot graphic novel images aside from the infobox image. If no full-body or half-body images exist, just the infobox image will suffice.

Navboxes

 * Navboxes are a quick way to navigate around information about a specific tribe. They include article links for known dragons, locations, and societal information. Navboxes should only be added to pages they link to, including the tribe’s members and relevant locations.
 * You can add a navbox by using  (Example:  ).

Categories
Categories are an easy way to find things on our wiki. You can find all the existing categories at the Category Guide or the [ Category Tree].

More information flying in soon!

Article Creation
All users have the ability to create an article. We ask that you do not create unnecessary, off-topic or personal articles. It's good to check if the article already exists under a different name before creating it (Example: "RainWing" does not need to be made, as "RainWings" already exists.)
 * Any article that does not revolve around the canonical books will be deleted and posted on the creator's Blog or Message Wall.
 * Do not create articles that already exist, or have a closely related article (Example: do not create an article entitled "RainWing Venom", as there is already an article entitled "RainWings" containing that information.)
 * Fan-made characters, items, locations, tribes, stories, etc. are not to be made into articles. They are welcome on Blogs, Message Walls, and the Roleplay/Fun and Games boards, respectively.
 * When new books are released, it is to be expected that some characters, etc. regarding it will not have articles created for them yet. If this is the case, please feel free to create one. However, less recent books usually do not need new articles for their contents.
 * Please refer to the Article Structure when creating new articles.

Category Creation
Just like pages, every user has the ability to make categories. It's good to have an admin's permission before making a category. Also, be sure to check the Category Guide or the [ Category Tree] for all of our already existing categories.
 * Generally, a valid category should contain at least five articles.
 * Before making a category, ask yourself: "Will the wiki benefit from this, or will it just be extra clutter?".
 * Do not create unnecessary or irrelevant categories. (Example: while "Category:MudWings" is an acceptable category, "Category:Dragons with brown scales" is not.)
 * Do not create categories for fan-made content.
 * Do not create categories that already exist under a different name, or for sets of characters who are easily found elsewhere (Example: protagonists for each arc may be easily found in the top navbar, and do not require a category.)