Talk:Post Captain (novel)

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Post Captain (novel) article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Novels: Military fiction Mid‑importance

	Novels portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Novels, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.NovelsWikipedia:WikiProject NovelsTemplate:WikiProject Novelsnovel articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Military fiction task force, which deals with Military novel (prose) articles.

This article is maintained by the Napoleonic fiction working group, which may be able to help with questions about the topic, as well as verification and sources.

cover artist source format problem, help needed

The cover artist for the Lippinocott first edition is Dell'Orco, found at the link cited. However the format of the link is not supported by Wikipedia url formats, so it generates an error message. I did not find that artist name anywhere else. Does anyone know how solve the problem of showing the source for the information and fitting it into a supported format? Simply adding http or // might look nice, but it does not find the page used. --Prairieplant (talk) 21:53, 28 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The url is http://wiki.hmssurprise.org/phase3/index.php/Book_Covers and putting it in the citation gives this:

"Book Covers". 24 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2014.

which works so I'm not sure I understand what the problem is that you were having. I will note, however, that hmssurprise.org is probably not a reliable source per WP:USERGENERATED and as such should probably be removed.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 22:18, 28 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Trappist the monk. That fixes the problem. If anyone can find another source showing Dell'Orco as the cover artist, then we can upgrade, as it were. I am still wanting the articles about books one to eleven to have a second cover image elsewhere in the article, the Geoff Hunt cover, used on the re-issues in both the USA and the UK. Those are the most frequently seen covers now. I am following the model of certain Agatha Christie novels that had different covers in UK and USA; here they are the same in both countries after 1989-90, with lots of re-issues due to increased popularity of the novels. But thank you, thank you! --Prairieplant (talk) 01:39, 29 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Tasks checklist

Please indicated completed tasks with {{Done}} ~~~~

Started: 18 Jan 2018
Finished:

Create sections

Common for all Aubrey-Maturin articles, so far as possible: [Lead] / Plot summary / Principal characters / Ships / O'Brian's sources / Other sections where needed (eg Adaptations, Series chronology) / Literary significance & criticism / Publication history / References / Bibliography / Further reading / External links. Done MichaelMaggs (talk) 22:06, 22 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

General issues to be dealt with

Make articles consistent in style and structure, so far as possible.
Comply with MOS:NOVELS and WP:WAF.
Add {{EngvarB|date=xxxxx}} and {{Use dmy dates|date=xxxxx}} templates. Done MichaelMaggs (talk) 02:35, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Upload and add Hunt's covers where missing Done MichaelMaggs (talk)
Check and update article categories (Category:Aubrey–Maturin series covers a lot by default).

Specific sections

Lead

One paragraph of basic information (title, author, date, number in the series, set in Napoleonic Wars etc). Second paragraph, a few sentences on the highlights of the plot. Third paragraph, summary of the reviews/reception.
Mention the major turning points of the stories, but accept that the plots are far too complex to provide anything like a full summary. Write from external viewpoint, including reference to other novels if needed.

Infobox

Make sure basic info is present: both UK and US first editions.
Add citations, based on BL and LoC catalogue entries.

Plot summary

Re-write as needed to comply with MOS:PLOT and convert to out-of-universe style; try to follow WP:PLOTSUM.
Improve flow.
Simplify and shorten where possible (there is generally too much trivial detail, but no need to be too radical).
Ensure all major plot points are covered.)
Link to previous books as needed for readability.
Re-write to ensure plot is comprehensible without detailed knowledge of previous books.
No links to real persons or ships in this section (do that in next sections).

Principal characters

Remove minor/peripheral characters. Keep the principal characters plus perhaps some brief information, but remove all plot points (which should be in the plot summary if important enough to mention).
Include links to real persons where they exist. Include comments from external viewpoint as needed.
Two columns, using {{columns-list}}. Done MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:50, 22 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ships

Include links to real ships where they exist. Include comments from external viewpoint as needed.
Two columns, using {{columns-list}}. Done MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:50, 22 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

O'Brian's sources

New section to cover O'Brian's main historical and literary sources. Remove the old 'Allusions' and similar sections, which are generally non-encyclopedic crufty lists of things appearing in the novels. Lists of animals, medicine, music, literature are largely indiscriminate collections of information, and fail WP:INDISCRIMINATE and WP:OR. This is not the place to explain some archaic word, situation or process (better to use wikilinks to the corresponding historical article).

Publication history

Move this section above Literary significance & criticism. Done MichaelMaggs (talk) 02:47, 18 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Rewrite to comply with Manual of Style/Novels#Publication history ("briefly outline the publication history of the novel ONLY if there is interesting information to relate"), deleting any unnecessarily detailed lists.
Add discussion of cover art.

Literary significance & criticism

Summarise long quotations that may be copyright infringements.
Add more review opinions, especially of original publications.
Select quotes to help the reader understand the novel as a work, not just "yet another wonderful book by O'Brian".

Other sections where needed

Include where needed.

References

Check the existing references. Add page numbers where currently missing. Use the {{sfn}} template in conjunction with an entry in the Bibliography to handle multiple page references within the major sources.

Bibliography

List of the major sources/books that are cited in the references list.

External links

Useful external links. Done MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:57, 22 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]