User:Sol Pacificus/Manual of style: Difference between revisions
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imported>Sol Pacificus Creating Manual of Style. Long overdue. |
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The '''Manual of Style''' is the codified set of standards for writing and formatting across all articles here at the ''Assassin's Creed'' Wiki where we strive for a level of professionalism as diligent as any other academic medium. | |||
''' | |||
As with any style guide, the aim of this page is to ensure clarity, coherence, and consistency throughout our articles through efficient organization, thereby rendering our content readily accessible to the audience. Although we share common principles with conventional styles of professional writing, our manual of style is specially adapted to the unique goal of synthesizing ''Assassin's Creed'' lore and presenting it in an encyclopedic format. Those familiar with composing scholarly works need not refrain from drawing strategies from that background when contributing to this wiki. However, it should also be remembered that ''Assassin's Creed'' Wiki is a special platform of its own with distinct standards that have been developed by convention and consensus to best fit our specialty. | |||
''' | ==Perspective== | ||
More than just a typical guide on a video game series, ''Assassin's Creed'' Wiki is dedicated to compiling and maintaining the lore of the entire franchise. To that end, our first and foremost priority is to synthesize the metanarrative of not only each game, but also across the diverse range of transmedia. We meticulously incorporate every piece of information on the series' universe, no matter how minor, and weave them together into a unifying whole, so that fans may witness how its world truly manifests. | |||
Because our encyclopedia revolves more around the series as a world and less on the series as merely games, it is essential that articles are written from an '''in-universe''' perspective rather than an '''out-of-universe''' one with few exceptions. | |||
''' | |||
===In-Universe=== | |||
When an article is written from an in-universe perspective, it is roleplaying as a document in the world of ''Assassin's Creed'' itself. Imagine that you are an Assassin who, eager to research the history of the [[Hidden Blade]], consults a digital database which has begun to archive all this information. This database is ''Assassin's Creed'' Wiki although it does not actually exist within the series' canon, for our purposes, we act as though it does when writing. We pretend as though we, the writers, are within the universe of ''Assassin's Creed'' rather than fans existing outside of it. | |||
This perspective of writing manifests in the following ways: | |||
*First, all subjects must be treated as though they are non-fictional rather than fictional. | |||
*Second, the ''historical past tense'' is used unless the subject still exists in the present moment in the series. Under conventional grammar rules, plot summaries for fictional works are written in the literary present tense. Because we imagine the ''Assassin's Creed'' world to be that of reality, however, even fictional characters that have since died in the story (e.g. [[Haytham Kenway]]) are treated as actually having existed at one point before passing away. When writing about them, they should therefore be described in the past tense. Conversely, subjects that still exist at the current time in the story (e.g. the [[Animus]], [[Rebecca Crane]], [[Rome]]) should be described in the present tense as usual. Note that the series' setting closely aligns with that of real-life, so as a general rule of thumb, the current year in real-life is the current year in the series' story. | |||
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Revision as of 14:16, 5 May 2018
The Manual of Style is the codified set of standards for writing and formatting across all articles here at the Assassin's Creed Wiki where we strive for a level of professionalism as diligent as any other academic medium.
As with any style guide, the aim of this page is to ensure clarity, coherence, and consistency throughout our articles through efficient organization, thereby rendering our content readily accessible to the audience. Although we share common principles with conventional styles of professional writing, our manual of style is specially adapted to the unique goal of synthesizing Assassin's Creed lore and presenting it in an encyclopedic format. Those familiar with composing scholarly works need not refrain from drawing strategies from that background when contributing to this wiki. However, it should also be remembered that Assassin's Creed Wiki is a special platform of its own with distinct standards that have been developed by convention and consensus to best fit our specialty.
Perspective
More than just a typical guide on a video game series, Assassin's Creed Wiki is dedicated to compiling and maintaining the lore of the entire franchise. To that end, our first and foremost priority is to synthesize the metanarrative of not only each game, but also across the diverse range of transmedia. We meticulously incorporate every piece of information on the series' universe, no matter how minor, and weave them together into a unifying whole, so that fans may witness how its world truly manifests.
Because our encyclopedia revolves more around the series as a world and less on the series as merely games, it is essential that articles are written from an in-universe perspective rather than an out-of-universe one with few exceptions.
In-Universe
When an article is written from an in-universe perspective, it is roleplaying as a document in the world of Assassin's Creed itself. Imagine that you are an Assassin who, eager to research the history of the Hidden Blade, consults a digital database which has begun to archive all this information. This database is Assassin's Creed Wiki although it does not actually exist within the series' canon, for our purposes, we act as though it does when writing. We pretend as though we, the writers, are within the universe of Assassin's Creed rather than fans existing outside of it.
This perspective of writing manifests in the following ways:
- First, all subjects must be treated as though they are non-fictional rather than fictional.
- Second, the historical past tense is used unless the subject still exists in the present moment in the series. Under conventional grammar rules, plot summaries for fictional works are written in the literary present tense. Because we imagine the Assassin's Creed world to be that of reality, however, even fictional characters that have since died in the story (e.g. Haytham Kenway) are treated as actually having existed at one point before passing away. When writing about them, they should therefore be described in the past tense. Conversely, subjects that still exist at the current time in the story (e.g. the Animus, Rebecca Crane, Rome) should be described in the present tense as usual. Note that the series' setting closely aligns with that of real-life, so as a general rule of thumb, the current year in real-life is the current year in the series' story.