Style Guide

[rplass]

I'm not going to write one right now, but having a style guide is something we should think of. It will help to keep the look uniform, and also assist the writers/editors. Writing is tough stuff and unless you have taken classes, it doesn't come naturally. That being said, I've been very impressed with what's up on Alphanex so far. But here are some pointers.

1. When creating links, only use one link per instance of the character/team/villian per section. For instance, use this:

"[[Snowbird]] and [[Northstar]] went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Northstar fell down, broke his crown, and Snowbird came tumbling after."

rather than:

"[[Snowbird]] and [[Northstar]] went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. [[Northstar]] fell down, broke his crown, and [[Snowbird]] came tumbling after."

2. Cite your sources. Use footnotes to tag important events back to the comic issues where they first appear. It will make finding the information easier for those who want to verify or elaborate on the entry.

3. Grammar: Try to avoid the passive voice. The passive voice does not use action verbs as the main verb of the sentence. This is somewhat hard to do in handbook-style writing, but makes for much better readability. Examples:

"It was Alpha Flight that fought Llan in the dimension... " = passive

"Alpha Flight fought Llan in the dimension... " = active

"Nemesis was recruited by Sasquatch into the All-New... " = passive

"Sasquatch recruited Nemesis into the All-New..." = active

You are probably using the passive voice if the main verb belongs to the set (am, is, are, was, be, being, been, have, has, had, may, might, can, could, shall, should, will, would).

3. Keep the same time-frame: if something happened in the past, stay in the past. If something is ongoing, stay in the present. Examples:

"Puck is the shortest member of Alpha Flight. He wears a costume with a big P on the front." all present-tense OK

"Puck II tended bar in Toronto before joining Alpha Flight. She wore a tight costume and had tattoos on her face." all past tense-OK

rather than:

"Smart Alec is a member of Omega Flight. He used to wear a costume with a large enencephalic helmet." mixed present- and past-tense BAD

"When Guardian was sent to Ganymede, Heather is watching him explode so she didn't know it." mixed past- and present-tense BAD

Stuff like that. Any other suggestions?

Love,
rplass

[Ben]

all great points rplass! I was kinda on the fence when we first started about linking all the references, or just the first, and really I just went with all blindly. What does everyone else think about this? I really don't care which way it's done, but like you say, it should be one or the other.

Ben

[Ben]

Ok, by general consensus, from this point on link the first instance of a character in the writeup only. Also link them in the Info box

Ben