UTW:Beginner's guide

If you are joining UnTrash Wiki for the first time or have problems understanding how the wiki works, this page is here to steer you in the right direction to keep you from doing something wrong and getting blocked, not knowing why.

The Very, Very Basic Rudiments of UnTrash Wiki
UnTrash Wiki, at its core, is a website about fiction and the roles, troupes, plots, and other various things within it. Inspired by TV Troupes, UnTrash Wiki strives to cover as many of these fictional elements as possible in a way simple enough for a newcomer to grasp without having to read twenty other pages just to understand one. To make reading more interesting, it also uses examples from real-life franchises to further help its readers understand the world of fiction.

How To Edit On UnTrash Wiki
If you'd like to help UnTrash Wiki grow by becoming one of its editors, then you can start by choosing what type of page you'd like to edit first. Read the sections below about the types of pages there are on UnTrash Wiki to know how they're built and what writing them is expected to be like.

UnTrash pages
"UnTrash" is a name we have given to troupes and troupe-like elements in fiction, meaning books, video games, anime, TV shows, and so on. An example of an UnTrash is All Just A Dream. This page is a model for other pages to be written in the future, being complete in every way: applied slidetext, a lengthy but basic definition, examples from fiction, notes listed at the bottom of the page, and a See also section. Both the See also and notes sections are optional — an UnTrash page does not need these two on them to be considered complete.

Role and UnTrash role pages
Roles are the "occupations" a character can become in the story. Examples of roles are the Traitor, the Ace, and the Bully. Roles are the most important part of any story. They're the driving force that starts, continues, and ends whatever work of fiction they're in. There are three umbrellas under which roles can be placed: protagonist, antagonist, and neutragonist. Protagonists and antagonists are the two sides of a story that fight against each other and do what they can to become victorious in the story's conclusion. "Neutragonist" is a term UnTrash uses to describe any role that is neither good nor evil. These roles often have little or no impact on the story, are minor, and are less developed in character than protagonists or antagonists usually are. If you want to see what a complete role page looks like, visit this or this.

Plot pages
Plots are recurring stories for fiction, mainly TV shows. A plot page should be written to be applicable to many stories that fall under the description of the plot, meaning it should use a universal description of the plot it's about. Plot pages on UnTrash are Boy Who Cried Wolf and New Sibling. If you visit either page, you will notice how they have the two sections titled Intro and Plot Sample. The Intro is much like the introduction to a role or UnTrash page while the Plot Sample section introduces a made-up example of the plot that shows how it's often done to the reader. To complete a plot page, there should be a third section titled Examples of [plot title] that contains plots from real-life fiction.

Franchise pages
Franchises are real-life copyrighted entities owned by companies such as Nintendo, Marvel, and Disney. They range from comic books to video games to anime to TV series. It's best that you write a franchise page similarly to how Wikipedia would: include facts, important related events, and a short description of what the franchise is about. You don't need to write too much insightful information on the page as UnTrash Wiki isn't dedicated to that single franchise. Just write what you need to and don't put too much pressure on yourself to write a fantastic page in one go.

Quick Vocab Definitions
Since UnTrash uses some jargon of its own that might not make immediate sense to you, here is a list of words you're bound to see at least once during your visit on UnTrash.

Ladder: A list that shows how UnTrashes and UnTrash roles are related to each other.

Mirror: A list of different possibilities for how roles can be played.

Play: Not to be confused with "playing" or theater. A play is a different way how an UnTrash can be played.

Playing: Another word for "occurring" or "appearing". UnTrash Wiki didn't create this term, but it's still useful to know what "playing" means.

Slidetext: A short remark that is put at the top of any UnTrash or role page that's related to the page's subject. Slidetext, if it's written in a single line (as it normally should be), should be like this, this, or this. If you're feeling fancy, feel free to write something like this or this for your slidetext.

UnTrait: One of many aspects of the primary and noteworthy secondary characters in a franchise. These UnTraits are split into two groups: pro and con. UnTraits are described simply yet informatively, the way UnTrash Wiki aims to write all of its pages.