"What makes us human?"
An Anthology is a collection of stories that are deeply wound together in the desperate plea for life in the Backrooms. Each page explores a different angle of humanity, or how we might be inhuman. Each character in An Anthology has a story, a history to tell you, they have a life they've lived. Nobody is perfect, but doing what is right may as well make us human. An Anthology is emotional and existential, and you are the only one who can decide what it means to you. What is humanity to you?
Currently, the canon is owned by Super-Robot14. Any general questions, canon specific questions, or really any questions at all, go ask them. (superrobot14 on discord).
Current list of contributors. Feel free to contact them if you have questions regarding their works:
Assignment Board
Required Reading
The Attic of Memories
Level
How could we possibly be safe, when we rely so much on our memories? How can we live when we know nothing?
level-980
Liquid Pain
Object
Does everything really need an explanation? Was Alan Baker's death even a coincidence at all?
object-48
A Letter to my Past Self
Tale
I know this is hard, you are me, I am you, I know all the challenges you've faced just as I have too.
a letter to my past self
General Reading
What is An Anthology's goal?
Humanize the Backrooms. An Anthology was started with the frustration that the Backrooms has become so inhuman, so separated from emotion. And then it reflected inwards and wondered, "What does it mean to be human?"
How to contribute
You don't need to write a thesis on humanity to contribute to An Anthology, but there are a few key steps you need to take first, before thinking about picking up your pen:
- Read the Required Reading. Familiarize yourself with the canon, its lore, and its characters. These pages are deemed necessary to begin to understand the workings behind the canon.
- Understand the rules. Make an effort to understand the logic behind the Backrooms in An Anthology; grasp how the world our characters are in work. Feel free to ask questions, you aren't doing this alone.
- Know the characters. Take time to understand two existing characters, really understand their story, their history. Get yourself engulfed in their motivations and fears, their personal arcs. This is non-negotiable; while it’s perfectly okay to miss a nugget of lore or a specific rule, misunderstanding or mishandling a character is absolutely not.
When you're reading to pick up your pen and craft a work for this canon, keep in mind these core rules:
- Incorporate three already-existing elements. Your page must include three elements of lore, characters, or story elements that already exist. It can be any combination, but you must have three pieces of already-existing elements.
- Respect characters. You are absolutely welcome, and encouraged, to introduce your own characters, but for every character you kill, your own or otherwise, try to add a new character. We kill so many characters, make sure there is room for others to build off of. Make sure to get the creator's permission to do something significant to another character, say, killing them. Be courteous.
- Start small before going big. Before doing anything groundbreaking, try to start simple. Expand lore and connect pages together, explore things introduced in existing pages. Tie loose threads while leaving more for other authors. Once you are familiar with writing for An Anthology, feel free to break the ground, feel free to experiment. As long as you don't contradict any already-existing lore and you understand why things work the way they do, go wild.
If you want to write something that is unrelated but takes place within the canon, feel free to ask. Just know that the further your idea is to the rest of An Anthology, the less likely you are to get permission. This is a collaborative project, no longer a solo-project in the corner.
Last but not least once you've finished your draft make sure that your formatting is correct. You must use the infobox, create a teaser (1~2 sentences that could hook a potential reader), add your subtitle (what your page is called, where the actual title is the same as the URL). If you are confused, look at how the majority of An Anthology pages are formatted, or simply ask.
After that, once you post your page, be sure to update the AA Include, and edit the Assignment Board portion of the hub (this page). Follow the formatting that is used. Once again, if you are confused, see how it is already done, or ask. If you are unable to edit the pages, please ask.