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All The Tropes:Style Guide: Difference between revisions
→The Basics: added subsection on adding tropes to works
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When you add an example to a trope page, take care to put it in the proper section. Don't, for example, add an item for a film to an example for the book that inspired it just because they are related works. Put the new example under "Film" (and make sure it links to the page for that film, and not the book or a disambiguation page).
If there isn't a section for the particular kind of media your example comes from, feel free to add it! (We have a [[Template:Media Headers|standard list of media types]] we're trying to make sure is used everywhere, consult it if you need help.) Oh, and if you do add a new section, do make sure it's in proper alphabetical order ''vis-à-vis'' the other sections on the page. ("Other" and "Real Life" go at the end of the list, however, out of alphabetical order. Some tropes may have a "General" or "Meta" section; this will go at the top ''before'' the other sections.)
If your example is an elaboration or another instance of the trope in a work that already has an entry in an existing section, that's something that sometimes gets called a "subexample" around here. Feel free to add it as a secondary bullet point under the "main" example.
If you're adding an entirely new example to an existing section, put it at the end of the section. If you just drop it in at the top (or worse, at random in the middle for no good reason), an admin will probably
Make sure your example is properly marked up -- the work name should be a link and emphasized as is proper for the kind of work it is (see the other sections on this page for what you need to do if you don't already know). ''Do'' make sure you're linking to the right page, not a redirect, a disambiguation page, or a page for a different version of the work (or a different work entirely that has the same name). ''Don't'' bury the link to the work in a pothole on a character name or phrase that will not be obvious to the casual reader who might not know the work.
For more information on how to write a good example, see [[All The Tropes:How to Write An Example|How to Write An Example]].
=== Adding Tropes to Works ===
The trope lists on a work page (or any of its subpages) are a little more strutured than examples on trope pages. Where an example can take almost any form based on how the troper wants to describe the example, trope entries always use the same format:
:<code><nowiki>* [[Name of Trope]]: Explanation of how the trope applies.</nowiki></code>
Let's take this one part at a time.
First, there's an asterisk. This creates the bullet point that sets the new trope off from its neighbors.
Second, the trope name, surrounded by double square brackets. The brackets turn the name into a link as noted elsewhere. If when you save the page this is a [[Red Link]], you've done something wrong -- either you've used a trope that doesn't exist on this site<ref>Not uncommon when the editor is a recent refugee from [[TV Tropes]]</ref>, you misspelled something, or you got the capitalization wrong. We have a hints system that pops up a progressive list of possible links for you in the upper right corner of the edit window; make use of that to avoid problems. It's also a good idea to make sure the link you're using is the actual name of the trope you want, and not a redirect, a disambiguation page, or a work. (>We have more than a few works whose titles ''sound'' like trope names; every once in a while a mod has to remove a trope entry that points to one of them.)
Immediately after the trope link is a colon (":"). Don't forget it, or you may get a little note from a mod or another user who's had to go in and add them to your work.
Finally, the explanation of how the trope applies to the work. This is ''mandatory''. [[Zero Context Example]]s are subject to deletion. Work pages with nothing but Zero Context Examples are themselves subject to deletion if no one chooses to rescue them. One of the most valid criticisms of troping is that what we do is nothing but mindless cataloguing. If you don't explain how the trope functions (and why) in this work, then you're confirming that criticism. Put thought into writing a description that only explains where in a work the trope is found, but how it works as a part of the story, and what makes it important.
Finally, your trope should be inserted in proper alphabetical order. Most of the time this should be obvious if you're a frequent user of the Latin alphabet, but there are edge situtation and unclear cases. If you need help, see "Alphabetization", below, or our page [[All The Tropes:How to Alphabetize Things|How to Alphabetize Things]].
== Page Titles ==
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