Forum:Character headings (again)/MoS

This guide describes general guidelines and principles for writing articles about characters in 24.

Sidebar
All characters should use the [[Template:Sidebar
 * sidebar]] template, which displays a primary image, biographical information, and appearances information in a table. The status field, indicating the character's last-known status - "Alive", "Deceased", or "Unknown" - should be used for all characters, while other fields can be included or excluded depending on available information. See the template's documentation for all possible fields.

Lede
The first sentence of the article proper should begin with the character's name, in bold, followed by a brief introduction describing their significance and written such that the character is the subject of the sentence. If applicable, include some indication of what season or time period the character is most associated with - for example, ending with "...during Day 2"; "...before Day 1", or "...in the 1960s."

Remember that character articles are in-universe - written as though from the perspective of a historian, not that of a 24 fan. Instead of:
 * Tony Almeida is a main character on 24, appearing in the first six seasons and played by Carlos Bernard.

one would write:
 * Tony Almeida was a federal agent who worked at CTU Los Angeles from its inception.

Main body
Following the introduction is the body of the article, a thorough description of the character's activities in the 24 media in which they appear. Once again, the main body is in-universe, and should not reference any information that cannot be sourced from episodes or other 24 media, with one major exception. Due to the ambiguous timeline of 24, it is acceptable to use "Day 1", "Day 2", and so forth in place of years for dating references.

Articles should be organized in a way that best suits the type and amount of content available. For short articles, or those that are based on few sources, it is acceptable to limit the main body to a few paragraphs, without sections, that succinctly summarize the character's background and role. Furthermore, it is preferable to avoid creating sections that are only one paragraph long - in such cases, a bulleted list might be more applicable.

Longer and more complex articles should make use of sections to organize and delimit different topics. The following is a list of frequently used, but by no means comprehensive, subheadings:

Biography
A detailed accounting of the individual's personal history, ranging from early life and career through their involvement in various 24 media. Depending on the amount of canon information on the character, this can be used interchangeably with more specific headings, such as Service record, CTU missions, Government service, or the like.

The majority of long-running characters on 24 appear in more than one season, or "Day." Thus, the biography section for these characters can (and should) usually be subdivided into sections describing each "day", titled "Day 1", "Day 2", and so forth. Other sections should be titled either in relation to 24 seasons - "After Day 2", "Before Day 8", etc. - or, where possible, with appropriate descriptions - "Early life and career", "Imprisonment", "Death", etc.

Unless absolutely necessary, it is preferable to not create sections titled after 24 expanded universe media in a similar manner as "Day N." Instead, the events of these media should be described in paragraphs within the appropriate interstitial section. For example, the events of 24: The Game would be described in the section for events between Day 2 and Day 3.

Each subsection can further be subdivided, if necessary. For instance, a section covering a character's actions during Day 2 could be divided into a section about the search for the nuclear weapon and another about the Cyprus recording crisis.

To give a general idea of the above guidelines, here are some possible article organization schemes:

== Biography == === Early life ===                             # Before Season 1 === Military and law enforcement career === === Operation Nightfall === === Day 1 ===                                  # Season 1 === Grieving ===                               # After Season 2 === Day 2 ===                                  # Season 2 === Return to CTU ===                          # After Season 2 ...
 * Jack Bauer

== Biography == === Early life and career === === Downfall === === Imprisonment === === Day 1 === ==== Prison break ==== ==== Final assassination attempt ==== ==== Final hours ==== == Service record == === Day 3 === === Day 4 === === Day 5 === === Day 6 === == Biography == === Early life and career === === International terrorist === === Webb assassination plot ===
 * Victor Drazen
 * Agent Witt
 * Zapata

Family and relationships
For certain characters, this section describes significant relationships and family members. Each subsection describes their interactions with another character, sometimes stretching across multiple seasons.

== Family and relationships == === Teri Bauer === === Kim Bauer === === Tony Almeida === ...

Appendices
The sections following the main body are from an out-of-universe perspective, and describe aspects of the character from a production standpoint.

Background information and notes
This section contains a bulleted list describing information and trivia about the character's development and portrayal. Any points that are not immediately clear from the main body itself - for example, the source of a character's full name - should be listed here. If necessary, this section can be subdivided. == Background information and notes == * Agent Holmes' first name is visible on her FBI ID laminate.

Appearances
If the character appeared in person or in live audio or video in a 24 production, this section is mandatory. Use the Appearances template to generate a table linking to each production they appeared in. See the templte documentation for detailed instructions. == Appearances ==

Templates
Depending on the character, many templates may be added at the end of the article:
 * Quote
 * Links to the quote page for the article, if it exists


 * Image
 * Links to the image category for the character, if it exists


 * Other navigation templates
 * Navigation templates for significant organizations the character was affiliated with, such as CTU Los Angeles

Categories
If the character has a last name, add the DEFAULTSORT tag to ensure that they will be correctly sorted by surname:

Categories for the character should be added in the following general order:


 * Characters
 * 1) Season categories, in order - Day 1 characters, Day 1 antagonists, Day 2 characters, and so on
 * 2) Expanded universe media categories, in publication order - Operation Hell Gate characters, Veto Power characters, and so on
 * 3) Profession categories - Category:U.S. military personnel, Government officials, etc.
 * 4) Affiliation categories - CTU personnel, Drazen syndicate, etc.
 * 5) Status category - one of Living characters, Deceased characters, or