Help:WikiExclusives

The WikiExclusive is a highly-revered project here on Zelda Wiki, an idea that our founder, Jason, came up with in 2007 as an avenue to spark creative interest on the part of our userbase here at Zelda Wiki.

For the Prospective Author
The WikiExclusive is quite possibly the closest thing to creative writing here on Zelda Wiki, a place where referencing every comment is placed on the same level as accurate content.

With The WikiExclusive, one can:
 * Make their opinion public concerning a Zelda-related topic through an informative article format
 * Express any theory relative to Zelda which has reasonable support (including timeline theories), and bolster support for one that is lesser-known
 * Use their article to spur active discussion and receive critique from the userbase
 * Have a previously-sheltered idea seen and read by the thousands of viewers Zelda Wiki receives everyday, with your name attached to your work
 * Build friendships and carry a correspondence with the staff
 * Promote yourself as a marketable writer in general to the community fan sites, such as the Masterminds, all of which are always looking for competent content writers

A Basic How-To and The Guidelines
Take a Zelda topic, a Zelda theory, a Zelda character, and just write about them! How do they affect the series? How does an idea impact other game or characters? How well does an idea connect between games/topics? Those are just some ideas; it's really open to interpretation, and the actual structure of the article is entirely up to you, the writer!

Some guidelines:
 * 1) The article should be written off-wiki, so that the user base here will not have a chance to edit your work. If it is written on the wiki, under the GNU Free Documentation License we have, it is fair game to be edited by anyone and everyone that comes across it.
 * 2) The article cannot have any profanity. That's a general rule on this site, and any respectable site for that matter.
 * 3) It must be long enough to constitute an article. Essay length (the typical 5 paragraphs) is often a good length. If you are unsure of your length, check out the other WikiExclusives.
 * 4) And the bottom-line: it must be deeply rooted in a Zelda theme. We are a Zelda site, and shall publish only Zelda-related material.

The Last Few Steps
So you've written your potential WikiExclusive! You have two trials yet to face.
 * 1) Submit your article for review by the Zelda Wiki staff (send it by email to [mailto:webmaster@zeldawiki.org webmaster@zeldawiki.org] ). To be published, your piece must be supported by a clear majority of the administrative staff here at Zelda Wiki. If you are unsure if your piece meets the qualifications, look above at the Rules section. Don't hesitate to send a follow-up email concerning the status of your article at any time, especially if there is a large timespan between submission and a verdict.
 * 2) If your piece is published to the site, you have the option to add images and edit it at your own discretion. The article may be protected from the regular users (at the author's discretion, although it is strongly encouraged), and thus to edit it yourself, you must contact an admin to unprotect the page for you.

That's about it! We'd love any and all of you, especially new users, to join in on this project!

In Regards to Other Users
Because WikiExclusives are different from mainspace articles in that they are inherently the "property" of the author, it is not advised that other users edit them and make changes. Only if one receives explicit permission from the author is this allowed. A WikiExclusive is a user's own work, immortalized just as a personal essay or diary would be - it would be inconsiderate to edit someone else's work without their permission.

However, during the writing process, if the original author gathers help from other users, and other users contribute written segments of the WikiExclusive, they must be cited as co-authors. This goes only for WikiExclusives created and compiled on the wiki itself, simply because we cannot attest to the validity of off-site contributions.