Tardis:Out-of-universe perspective
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In-universe perspective → Neutral point of view → We're Wikipedia's evil twin → Out-of-universe perspective |
Alternately, if you're writing an article which is entirely about a real world subject — such as an actor, director or bit of behind-the-scenes terminology — write in a simple, journalistic style, as you would find in a newspaper, obituary or encyclopaedia entry.
There are two instances on this wiki when you will write from an out-of-universe perspective: when you're writing an article that is entirely about a real world subject, or when you're adding to the "behind the scenes" section on an in-universe article.
Real world articles
Real world articles are about production elements, such as actors, stories and filmmaking terminology. Such articles should be written in a straightforward, third-person perspective, such as you would find in any newspaper or encyclopaedia.
It's useful to attempt to write such articles in the past tense as much as possible, since all these articles will ultimately be converted to the past tense, anyway.
Here are some common situations:
| Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|
| Adam Smith directed the Doctor Who story The Eleventh Hour. | Adam Smith is a British television director who directed the Doctor Who story The Eleventh Hour. (It's unnecessary to use the present tense to call him a British television director. Our emphasis on any behind-the-scenes person is what they did in the DWU — and everyone's work on the DWU ends up in the past tense.) |
| Adam Smith was a British television director who directed the Doctor Who story The Eleventh Hour. (If you're writing about a living person who is still directing, or in any other cases where the sentence is describing a person and still true in the present, this could wrongly imply that they have already died. The end-of-universe perspective applies only to in-universe pages!) | |
| Smith and Jones was the first episode of the third series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. | Smith and Jones is the first episode of the third series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. (Yes, it is. But as time passes, people inevitably start thinking of older episodes in the past tense. It's better to write it in the past tense from the beginning.) |
| The 414th issue of Doctor Who Magazine was published on 11 November 2009. | The 414th issue of Doctor Who Magazine is current in November 2009. (It's tempting with periodicals to think of the here and now, especially if you're entering them into our database when they're first on newsstands. But they very quickly become back issues, and ultimately slide to a more natural-sounding past tense. Therefore, you should use the past tense from the start.) |
| Ncuti Gatwa played the Fifteenth Doctor. | Ncuti Gatwa plays the Fifteenth Doctor. (Yes, he's the current Doctor. No, there are no definite indications that he's leaving anytime soon. But leave he absolutely will. Ultimately, therefore, this article will be converted to past tense. If it's already written in past tense, though, we won't have to rewrite it.) |
Behind the scenes sections
Every article about an in-universe subject — that is to say, every article ultimately housed in the mega-category, Category:Time-Space Visualiser — can have two distinct components: the main body and the section labelled "behind the scenes".
Because in-universe articles are mainly written in past tense, it's usually helpful to employ the present tense to write behind the scenes sections. Doing so draws a sharp contrast, as can be seen at "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle". However, it's not always necessary, or practicable. For instance, there would be no way to write the "behind the scenes" at Marco Polo without some past tense.
