User:AdmirableAckbar/tutorial

''This is where I'll work on my FA tutorial. It'll probably be a bit all over the place at the moment as I gather it together.''

This is a tutorial for anyone intending to write their first FA. It's geared towards character articles, but much of it would be applicable to any type of article.

This is all just how I think things should be done, but other Inqs or FA writers might disagree. You should just go with whatever makes most sense to you.

A few general notes to start off

 * You don't need to be an expert in English or writing to FA an article. Anyone, from thirteen year olds who've never studied English properly to people using English as a foreign language, should be able to write a decent FA, once they're able to form sentences and have something resembling a vocabulary. So, you might not be the next Dickins, but you're perfectly capable of writing an FA.
 * You'll need a good attitude, though. For your first FA, you're more than likely to get bundles of objections. Don't be dismissive of them, and don't take it personally. Just sort them out, be polite. If you don't agree with something and think strongly about it, say so, but if it's something minor that isn't worth fighting for, don't bother. Make sure to learn from your mistakes; ideally, you should be getting less objections as you continue to write FAs, as your work will be getting refined.
 * Take your time with writing articles and fixing objections. Don't rush the writing, but at the same time, if you're adding a sentence every week, the flow of the article might not work too well, so don't take too long. Also, make sure you read over your work a couple of times to check for errors, and read over the source material to make sure you didn't omit any important details. With objections, whatever you do, don't rush them; nothing is more annoying to an objector than someone saying they've addressed a problem, only to discover they haven't done it properly, or have left loads of errors in the process.
 * Be careful with your choice of article with your first FA. I'd recommend something reasonably small, with few sources/appearances to cover, all of which you have access to, and that you know very well.

Character articles

 * Aesthetics: Aesthetics are, to me, a very important and quite overlooked aspect of writing an FA. As you write, utilize preview and see what looks good. If anything I suggest doesn't look good to you when you execute it, ignore it. I'll touch on different aesthetics later on.
 * Infobox: I've often not looked at the infobox when writing an FA, only later realizing that it contained fanon or inaccuracies. Check over the fields, make sure they're accurate, and reference all of them.
 * Intro: the intro is obviously a brief summary of the character. The size can vary, and different people do it differently, from the small to the ridiculously large. For a small article like I suggested you start with, two paragraphs of about six or seven lines looks best, though that's obviously flexible. Obviously, if the article's much longer, it should have a longer intro, but never go more than three paragraphs. The first sentence of the intro should encapsulate the character's whole life; the second should then start from the beginning, and so on. Don't be afraid to include character traits in addition to biographical information. Keep it relatively succinct, and try not to stray from the immediate subject as much as you might in the bio. I'd strongly recommend doing the intro last, as it will give you a better idea of what to include and how long it should be. Try to vary the language from the biography, if at all possible; you don't want the intro to be verbatim to bits of the bio.
 * Biography:
 * Early life: if there is enough information, a character article should include an "early life" section - any section title will do, once it gets across the same message - detailing what we know of the character before their actions in the appearances. If there's not enough info for a whole section, go with a paragraph (it can be only one or two lines), or at the very least a sentence. Whatever you do, don't start the bio with narrative-y info like "Joe tracked Billy's movement during the Clone Wars to get back at Billy." Think of the bio as a separate entity to the intro. Nothing should be exclusive to the intro, so you're going to repeat info a little bit. I would strongly recommend starting the bio with a mention of the character's species, and possibly gender. The timeline is also important to mention, as are, obviously, occupations. So, you might think there isn't much info on a character's early life, but actually, there's a few sentences worth. This is something that I'm possibly in the minority in, but the early bio is the perfect place, in my estimation, to include information on a character's appearance, and to briefly mention their general demanour and personality. While there is a section for personality and traits, I like to give the reader a brief taste of it, as it gives context and often explains different actions, etc. Putting all those together:
 * "Joe was a Human male residing on Eriadu during the last decades of the Galactic Republic. A pudgy, balding man who was known to be cynical and sarcastic, he had a long career as a private investigator. Joe was often at odds with his neighbour, Billy, and Billy once tried to poison Joe's bantha. When the Clone Wars broke out in 22 BBY, Joe began to suspect Billy of working for the CIS, and started monitoring his movements, hoping to get back at him for the botched poisoning attempt."
 * Silly example, but it shows the difference between someone who's paying attention to detail and someone who isn't.