Editing Incubator escapee wiki:WikiProject Soap Operas (section)

====Tense====
Articles about fiction, like all Wikipedia articles, should adhere to the [[Real life (reality)|real world]] as their primary [[frame of reference]]. The approach is to describe the subject matter from the ''perspective of the real world'', in which the work of fiction and its publication are embedded. The [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Writing about fiction|Wikipedia Manual of Style guideline for fiction]] and [[WP:FICTENSE]] advise writing about fictional subjects in the present tense. Works of fiction are generally considered to "come alive" when read or viewed; they exist in a kind of ''perpetual present tense'', regardless of when the fictional action is supposed to take place relative to "now." Dates should be used when possible to establish the relative passage of time and establish real-world context:

{{Quote|In 1995, Amanda schemes to seize control of Warren's fortune, making several enemies along the way; she is murdered on January 22, 1996, leaving a string of suspects.}}

The basic intent of this tense guideline is to stylistically differentiate between real-world and fictional events. Past tense may sometimes be used for plot information which is framed by real-world content and described from that perspective:

{{Quote|When contract negotiations broke down, Stevenson was replaced by actress Judith Cray in 1976. Cray's Angelique immediately seduced longtime series patriarch Trent Dunham (original cast member Larry Braxton), branding her a villainess in viewers' eyes. Ratings soared when Trent's wife Olivia (Barbara Swain) finally learned of the affair and confronted her rival. Olivia slapped Angelique and called her a "whore," a choice the network had debated and initially regretted, before the anger of key sponsors was overpowered by a flood of viewer accolades, press coverage, and the highest ratings the show had seen in five years.}}