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Whispers of the Unknown - Detailed Feedback

Introduction:

Whispers of the Unknown was written by AnushkaARMY13. It is an anthology series that has many elements of horror and paranormal in it. As it is an anthology, every chapter has its own characters, plots, and themes, but all of them deal with an abstract concept, and characters reacting to said concepts.

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Detailed Feedback

What Worked:

By far the strongest part of this series is the concept. I don't know if you've ever seen the Netflix show Love, Death, and Robots, but this anthology feels like the horror/paranormal version of it. I specifically reference Love, Death, and Robots because unlike other anthologies I've seen, both your work and LDR have whacky concepts that you really wouldn't think about. All of the story ideas are out there and weird, but in a good way. The concepts stand out and always feel like they're worth viewing since they make you think.

For example, the chapter where you have all these deceased famous poets and writers, like Lovecraft. The game Starfield has a somewhat similar concept where the player can stumble upon clones of historic figures like Amelia Earhart. Not writers, but other historical figures. That was probably my favorite part of the game, and similarly, the chapter in your story with the Library is my favorite in the whole anthology. I haven't seen this concept done too many times before, and Starfield is super recent which is why I brought it up, so it's nice to see some uniqueness in storytelling.

Although I may be biased since EAP is in it, and as I sit here writing this, my framed Raven poem is right across from me lol.

Joking aside, I think the concepts are the strongest part of the story since all of them are different and use clever ideas to hook the reader in. You make it apparent from the opening paragraph of each chapter what's going on and you clue the audience in to what's about to happen.

Even though I have critiques of some of the formatting in the anthology, I appreciate that you tried something new almost every chapter and changed up the writing style. The chapters feel individual not just in the sense that it's an anthology so they're all different, but also in the sense that there are plenty of new ways to consume the content via your writing. I can always appreciate an author trying to experiment with their style.

The themes are another thing I think are up there with concepts in terms of the biggest strengths in this anthology. Every chapter is theme-driven, and almost always, the last line wraps up what the chapter was trying to say.

The themes and concepts work hand-in-hand to present us the story, which leads to the plot feeling coherent and the narratives feeling like they have a unique message to give us every time. Having a unique voice is imperative, especially when writing an anthology series. 

In many anthologies, even LDR, I've always felt there were several entries that were weak or felt like they were thrown in there for the sake of having more episodes in their season; however, I didn't get this vibe from this anthology. Every chapter has a whacky concept that has its own ideas we [the readers] can appreciate.

This may be a strange thing to praise, but there's a certain amount of historical value in this piece. It has this vibe to it that it's drawing from parts of history. I'm curious, other than the Library chapter, if there were any pieces of history you drew inspiration from?

I used to research old haunted houses for an SEO job I used to have, so I was just curious if you took any inspiration from those types of stories or if there were historical figures/events that inspired you!

The worldbuilding is pretty solid in this piece. Every chapter, we're given a new world to consume, and I like each one we're given. I don't want to keep bringing up the same chapter, but I like it too much not to talk about it: The Library. I loved the concept of the Library and what's going on in there. The first chapter also had a distinct feel to it. All of the chapters did, but those two stood out to me the most when it came to the rich feel of the world.