FIRST QUESTION: Is liminality necessary when creating a level?

Levels. My archnemesis (/s)

Many know of my distaste for the Level category, but not necessarily why. So I figured I'd give a response here.

Levels are conceptually uninteresting to me— they are literally a setting without a story. We are a fiction/horror website, and our basic formula for levels resembles a real estate catalogue.

What I'm trying to say here, is that we need to start stepping away from the "formula." Whenever we made the site, we really wanted to be SCP, so we tried to create our own format for things.

Quite simply, it didn't really work. For a Level to be good in my eyes, it needs to go beyond a description— it needs to actually tell you a story, to instill some sort of emotional response. The interest in a level comes from the story it tells, not from the fact that it exists. I think a lot of our Level catalogue misses this point.

Want an example of a "perfect" Level page? Level 320. No question.

Well, personally, I think an object should only be possible to exist in the Backrooms. Frvyo Jade is a great example of this. Frvyo Jades are unable to be activated by humans, thus emphasizing the fact that humans do not belong in the backrooms.

Not only that, an object should have a story or lore behind it. Similar to what Spectre48 said regarding levels. The interest in an object comes from the story it tells or the effects it causes, not from the fact that it exists. Older objects in particular like pre-rewrite lamps suffer from this issue.

An example of an Object page that pulls this of well? That would be Object 54.(However, I do not recommend trying something like it if you are an inexperienced writer, Object 54's esoteric qualities are incredibly difficult to replicate)

Another example that does it quite well is the Everything Machine. In all honesty, it is one of the best old pages and the writing holds up surprisingly well.

Well well well, look who it is— the last PoI defender on site himself…

Prepare for infodump (I haven't been able to proofread this yet but I'm hitting post because I don't want Wikidon't to delete this entire message)

PoIs as a category on our site right now have a slew of problems that lends to their unpopularity outside of specific fringe instances. I'm going to be addressing some main points/tips one at a time here

Despite being specific avenues of exploring the story, PoIs are rarely used, even in places that it would make lots of sense for inclusion. Why?

There is a prevalent issue with the category and the previous "formula" established at the site's conception. It took me quite some time to figure out how to phrase it, but I've finally figured out how to articulate it.

Most PoIs are a character without a story, which makes the category stale, and makes readers not bother to unpack the lore for the ones that do go beyond to give an overarching plot.

Let's look at the PoI list. We have a solid amount now— around 40 if I recall. How many of those 40 have seen mention or utilization outside of their own page? Barely any. I believe the main reason for this is because they have garnered a "my self insert anime oc do not steal" reputation.

To die on a hill, I do not think that self inserts are inherently bad— as long as you tell an interesting story. There is no better example of this than Tom Von Haderach. It is VERY clearly just "Snom in the Backrooms," but that does not prevent the character from being interesting, easy to utilize, and still detached from the author due to having his own development and flaws.

However, there is a dark side to this. A. River.

Many authors, including myself, do not believe that this page accurately represents what a staple "PoI page" should be, despite being the highest rated with a significant margin. Why? Because this page does not separate itself from its author, despite being a self insert. As written by the author, River was basically made to be a morally perfect, completely selfless pseudo "mary sue/gary stu." Now granted, other users were able to build on the character of River after the ban of the author, but those were all from external works.

That therein is the problem— people will see A. River at the top of the list, read the page, and go "wow! I can just make my stale OC and people will like it!"

This lead to a massive list of half-baked, incredibly dated characters that don't really contribute to the overall site. They just… exist without purpose. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WHEN WRITING A POI IS TO ANSWER THE QUESTION: "WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO WRITE ABOUT THIS CHARACTER?" In other words, why is THIS INDIVIDUAL significant enough in the Backrooms lore in order to warrant frequent use as well as their own PoI page?

Now, with my earlier thoughts on River, you're probably wondering "well, doesn't the page's popularity sort of disprove your previous point?" And to that, I say…

External works

What makes or breaks a PoI in terms of community success is the ability to be utilized outside of their own setting— universal application in a manner that is relevant to the story the author wants to tell. In other words, the character has a purpose that is defined. They have a reason to be in someone else's page, other than the author clout chasing. PoIs that are heads of major groups are an excellent example of this— your page involves their GoI? Probably worth a mention.

River has the largest amount of external works on site— which is what saves the page. Through these external stories, the character of River has been able to develop in ways that paint them far beyond the depiction of just "my oc don't steal." Despite the page being of poor quality by today's standards, the character has value, due to being properly implanted within the setting.

What am I trying to say here?

We need to change the way in which we think about a PoI page. We need to reclassify them from essentially being "character sheets." Instead of having your character having a basic introduction, and then an "interview" where "something weird happens at the end," (I AM SORRY FOR STARTING THIS FUCKING TROPE WAUEGH) write them like a GoI page. PoI pages should be a proper introduction to the character, in a manner that builds interest to incentivize people to read the stories involving them. I don't mean this in the literal sense, but more in terms of how the information is presented. Don't tell people "X has powerful telekinesis they claim that they have earned in a deal with Janus," allude to the possibility they may have some sort of magical capability, so that people will be interested enough to read the tale where that actually happened.

They should effectively serve as a "hub" for the character, OR an isolated storyline.

There is only one PoI on this site that I actually think is a flawless example of how to write a PoI page.

Evangeline Holmes

Am I just glazing Evie (the author) because she's my bestie? Maybe. But there are important things to consider with this page that set it apart. While providing an entire story that is not only interesting, it also connects Evangeline to the Backrooms lore, AND the page still includes the basic "PoI block" as part of the page's story, not as the focus. The PoI page also DIRECTLY links into a tale series that expands on the character of Evangeline, providing a reader with somewhere to "go" if they decide they're interested in the character.

The execution on this page is damn near perfect for what it tries to be, and the fact that Joey Q and River have places in the top 5, where Evangeline isn't even on the first page, is a damn shame.

Now, there are plenty of other PoIs that I think are good examples to show someone for "how to write a PoI page." Most of them written recently, which tells me the PoI category is moving in the right direction.

Kimiko
Herne the Huntmaster
The Actor
Callum Andrews

These pages provide an angle at better ways to tackle the PoI format. Kimiko blends a story with its description similarly to Evangeline. Callum Andrews takes place from the perspective of an in-universe newspaper clipping, followed by a short mini tale. The Actor uses CSS to literally format itself as a sheaf of papers that provide the known information on the figure. Herne is an example of how to do the "ummmm you guys at the meg messed up, so I'm going to write the page myself haha." idea, but WELL.

There is one fringe case of PoI that I also want to address before I close this out. There are currently two PoIs that fit into this category— the "this works, but should have been a part of a different page." category.

Partygoer Zero
Knox Kane

Partygoer Zero is a well-written page, there's no denying that. It provides important context to a staple piece of Backrooms lore— but as a PoI, is the page necessary enough to be detached from the main article that it extends the lore of?

At this time, Partygoer Zero has exactly ONE reason you'd want to use them— a Partygoers page. Unlike PoIs like TVH, Janus, The Actor, and Gani, Partygoer Zero is not independent enough from its origin to warrant inclusion on the list. This doesn't make the page bad by any means— it's actually quite good; it is simply out of place.

The same is true for Knox Kane. The only time you'd use him is in something regarding the Living Level— he is VERY one dimensional, to his detriment. While Partygoer Zero has a story that you can still follow, Kane is very much a case of "why is he here?" Kane presents a larger issue then Partygoer Zero mainly due to being so isolated. There is still room for expansion with Partygoer Zero, and the page works by itself. Kane doesn't.

If Partygoer Zero and Kane were included as either offsets to their "parent" pages, (Partygoers and Level 148), not only would the pages feel more in place, but also kick those pages up to the next level.

However, I understand why someone would still want to include the PoI in the main list, and I do have a suggestion for that.

A while ago when we had the Enigmatic Entity list, there was an entry named "Azel'Kyra." This was something Snom originally intended to be "Blanche's true form," etc. When the link was clicked on, it skipped directly to an offset of the Blanche page where this was apparent.

I think something similar could be done with these entries— because not only does it provide in-universe context ("Why is there a poi page in this article but not in the main list?") but because it places those "middle ground" pages into a setting where they can be fully appreciated.

I'm going to end it here— I don't have much more to say. I think a fair number of the PoIs on site are interesting characters, but with incredibly dated pages. They aren't really able to "convince" the modern readerbase as to why they should be interested. I think if we change our approach to writing a PoI page, it fixes this problem quite easily, and generally improves those pages quality.

Honestly, my writing urge has been going up and down like a roller coaster. I have too many ideas, like unique levels, special entities, and many more things.

But continuing to expand my ideas and hoping to finally publish them on the wiki, makes me feel like the exit door is right next to me and waiting for me. Even though I've taken long breaks or vacations, I still don't have enough energy or I just have an empty tank.

But, I write primarily for the Backrooms Wiki, as the way of writing has intrigued me greatly ever since I first learned about the concept. And this is coupled with the creation of unique stories and worlds. That's it.

If you don't write one down because you're working on something else, then forget what your idea was, that's it. That idea is probably gone like a deleted save; you'd have to repeat the experiences prior to getting the idea for a chance to make it return. Writing it down somewhere, even if you don't develop it, is like saving it to a hard drive, where it's much easier to recover.

I get random ideas all the time. Whether it be something gathered from real life experiences or just spontaneous thoughts created by reading something, I try to write something about them, even if I don't think they'll be successful. It's not as if I'd run out of writing space, because each letter only takes a few bytes of information. Sometimes, you might even be able to cross your ideas with each other, giving a boost to each one.

No matter how out of the ordinary or random the idea you have is, it can probably fit somewhere here. This is exactly the place where weird and random things are expected. Any idea you could come up with has a value on this site, so you shouldn't throw them away forever.

So, more on stories…

Well,
one thought of mine is that one should choose a method that satisfies them…
This is linked to the fact that being the most original isn't always the best thing.
I would say it's better to do things well, first.
Because, no matter how original you are, you need to have solid foundations…

Example:
After deciding to rewrite my last entry on the frontrooms canon and being mainly visual in my approach, I decided to transform my conception method into a visual one.
Link to pictures as some are massive.
Visual_Outline
Character_Graph

It's still experimental, but do you think this will do?

However, to add a bit more,
this focus on method comes from the fact that despite writing, I function as a critic who happens to write.
In any case, this means I tend to corrupt my ideas easily by changing them in my head because of my inner critic.
This serves as a creativity well, because the changes naturally pile up, yet means that I have to fix my ideas on paper to avoid more corruption and have a basis to work with.