All The Tropes:Trope Workshop Guidelines

Here are the rules for starting trope pages on All The Tropes, as well as how to use the Trope Workshop.

Are you starting a work page instead? You can skip this entirely because Works Pages Are a Free Launch. (Unpublished works by you go in your own userpage namespace.) If you think you'll need help with the write-up, you can continue on this page.

New Trope Checklist

 * 1) Look around to see if it already exists first.  Looking at indices is a good way to help find trope pages.  (Topical Tropes, which is an index of trope categories, is a great place to start.)
 * 2) Think up 3 examples of the trope.  Statisticians need at least 3 data points to establish anything, and we do too.
 * 3) Write a brief summary of the trope.  Try to include related tropes in the description, which you should have found from step #
 * 4) Take our write up and examples, and post it into Trope Workshop:, using any appropriate templates.  (The shortcut for Trope Workshop is YKTTW:)
 * 5) Let the proposed trope pick up responses for the next couple of weeks, and let people try to refine the description.
 * 6) While you're waiting, look at other Trope Workshop entries, and let other people know if it's a good trope.  Add any works using the trope you can think of.  Let people do the same for your entry.
 * 7) If other tropers have major issues, try to address them.
 * 8) Prelaunch checklist:
 * 9) Five examples (hopefully ten or more, though), with context
 * 10) At least one trope category (Category:Trope is added automatically by trope)
 * 11) Most of the stuff in the "What a YKTTW should contain at the end" section on YKTTW_Guidelines (which I still need to rewrite :/)
 * 12) If enough tropers agree and enough time passes, go ahead and launch the trope by moving it into the main namespace.  If you see Just Launch It Already a couple of times on any trope, feel free to move that one into the main namespace, too.
 * 13) Add backlinks from the examples so people can find the new entry, and be sure to add to appropriate categories and indices.
 * 14) Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Creation Notes

 * 1) Copying verbatim from TV Tropes is copyright infringement, and a good way to earn speedy deletion.  See All The Tropes:Copyrights if you want to know why.