Phineas and Ferb Wiki:Featured articles/Flash's How-To Guide

For all of you who are looking to write an Article of the Month (because, admit it, it makes you feel special), I have set this page up to let you know how you can. A writer and/or contributor to nine myself, I know how it can be difficult to write one that fits the criteria, but once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard. So follow these simple step-by-step instructions and you can write yourself your very own Article of the Month. — Excelsior,   The Flash  - ( Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me bay-bay! ) 22:46, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Step One: Preparation
Now, before you start working or even figuring out which article you want to bring up to AM-class, you need to check out three very important places: Help:How to write a great article, Phineas and Ferb Wiki:Manual of Style, and Phineas and Ferb Wiki:FAQ. These three tutorials will give you the run-down on how to actually write the articles to the proper manner. Go ahead and check out Phineas and Ferb Wiki:Articles of the Month to see past AMs for reference, if you want as well.

Step Two: Search
Now, once you've checked those out, the next thing to do is to start searching. Start thinking about what interests you in the show - for example, say your favorite character is Perry the Platypus; then there's a topic you know you can expand on. If you still don't think you want to actually expand that topic, then another great alternative is to use the "random page" option on the side of the screen, and keep clicking until you've found something you want.

Another good thing to do while searching for your future-AM is to look at the stub category or any of it's sub-categories for an article you like/know a lot of information about.

When you do any of the above suggestions, you need to think three things: Once you've asked yourself all of these questions and agree on them, then you're ready to really dive into the rigmarole.
 * 1) Is there enough information on it?
 * 2) Is this a page I'd like to work on?
 * 3) Do I understand everything I need to do to start this?

Step Three: Writing
Once you've chosen your article, it's time to get started writing. This is probably the hardest part, and the most important though. It can be easy, however, if you know what you're doing, which you should if you're up to this stuff. So, start by skimming through the already there information and see if you can clean that up or just completely remove it all together. When I wrote Phineas Flynn, I did the latter, as the information already there was non-consistent and the wrong POV, something you should always check out when doing this step.



Try to see if you can expand the opening of the article first. In the case of episodes, however, this detail is relatively useless, as long as it clearly states the actual premise of the episode. Next take a swing at the information in the infobox ask yourself:
 * Does it accurately inform the information needed in the field? If not, check and do so.
 * Does it include all basic fields, i.e., (episode) air date, (character) first appearance, etc? If not, go back and see if you can find out that information.
 * Does the profile image best suit the character? Remember, this will be the first thing a person spots when they see this article, and it is best to let them know who you're talking about. If there's not, check out a pre-existing one or upload your own.
 * Does the infobox fit the topic? Remember, a character infobox does not fix an article like Phineas and the Ferb-Tones, just as an event infobox won't fit Danville.

Continue on by starting the sections themselves. These are key ingredients to an article, as they sort through the information easily; if a user wants to read about Candace's childhood, they would look under "Early life," not "That feisty redhead." Now, why you'd ever head a section like that, I'll never know ;). Sections names differ depending on the topic. When you're writing an episode, the first section should always be entitled "Summary," as this will hold the information on the plot itself. On a character, the history will go first. Begin the first heading, in said case, with "Early life." Sometimes that kind of information is not known on the character, however. For example, when I wrote Meap, I figured out that the best way to sort it would be by making the "History" section "Career" in stead, using that space to include known background (how little it was) and subsec. when needed.



Another key thing you want when writing your AM are images. Images are a fantastic way to reference what it is you're actually talking about in the article. We have an excellent image categorization system here, so you can pretty much sort through your topic by checking in Category:Images or a character's image category, such as Doofenshmirtz's one. Another way to do that is by checking on the episode's page for it, or if it's an episode you're making, then a character page might include the image itself. That brings me to the most-used alternative: uploading it yourself. Screencap from your DVD, screencap from an online video (good quality, please), save an image from an online database, or Google Images is always your friend. Once you actually upload the image, we ask you to please include a copyright tag by choosing one from the drop down menu. If it's a screencap, you'll generally only need Template:Fairuse. Caption properly, as well.

Here's where you generally take a break. It's okay to do so, just don't forget to add   at the top and to come back to it later.

Always use good writing when you write your article. Use proper tense, spelling, and grammar as you type. Check out Heinz Doofenshmirtz. There, I included clarification in all explanation of his past and personality, which is a reason as to why it becomes so long. Once you've got that down, you're on your way to writing a real Article of the Month!

Step Four: The Process
Now that you've finally finished the writing part, don't fret to go over it one last time. Once you've got all that settled, it's time to march off to Forum:Vote! Article of the Month. There will be an example of how to vote in above contents, but it's pretty easy to catch on; just add a bullet, bold the name, and give a brief outline as to why it should be featured. Keep your head; if someone has an objection, take it as a hint to change something. Eventually, however, your article might just make it.

Step Five: At Last!
Once your article is finally featured, you can come onto the main page the month of the actual featuring and marvel at your achievement. A yellow star on the side of the screen will signify your article's "Of the month" status.