A Friendly Call

Summary:

Concept Summery Idea

A Friendly Call

PHelfand 04 Jan 2020 08:23

I've just thought of a concept and I want to make sure its a good idea. I'm also not sure this SCP is anomalous enough (if that's the right word). This SCP imitates calls from friends or family. During these calls, the SCP plans to meet together. When the person goes to meet with the scp, they die from seemingly natural causes. (ie. car crash, or heart attack). (I've been thinking it could be some sort of creature that kills the person, but I like this idea better)

Re: A Friendly Call

Doctor Fullham 04 Jan 2020 20:58

The calls were coming...

I'm also not sure this SCP is anomalous enough (if that's the right word).

Anomalous is the right word, and there is no such thing as "anomalous enough." If it is anomalous, it may fall under the purview of the SCP Foundation.

This SCP imitates calls from friends or family

Is a being making these calls, or is it a phenomenon making 'phantom' calls?

During these calls, the SCP plans to meet together. When the person goes to meet with the scp, they die from seemingly natural causes. (ie. car crash, or heart attack).

So all that happens is the person dies. This concept has been done, well, to death on the wiki at this point.

From the guide Dr. Mackenzie's Common SCP Pitfalls:

Danger/Death/Gore is a Cheap Thrill
Danger in the context of an SCP is a very broad concept; some SCPs are contained simply because they threaten the Foundation's mission of secrecy and mission to keep the world in the dark as to the fragile nature of reality. Simply making something gruesome is easy to do but ultimately not very effective on its own: body horror may get a quick reaction out of your reader, but if that is your only hook then they aren't liable to stay interested for long.

Put another way, horror movies that consist entirely of jump-scares and scary monsters tend not to be as interesting or successful as suspense-thrillers that play on the audience's deep fears and phobias.

Simply "it kills you" is not particularly interesting anymore. Honestly this sounds like the plot of a horror movie, and there's not a whole lot of detail here. How does The Foundation learn of it? How do they contain it? Is there a pattern of the people that it affects?

An SCP article is much more than simply an anomalous item, being, place, or event. The true meat of the SCP is the story around the anomalous thing. The thing itself is a vehicle that the narrative is attached to. To give my best example from Series 1, look at SCP 093: The anomalous item itself is a rock that turns mirrors into interdimensional portals. The thing that makes this SCP shine is the story; the history of the dimension that it leads to.

I recommend reading several items on the Guide Hub:

How to Write an SCP

Things What Do a Thing: An Essay On Anomalies That Are Things That Do A Thing

Essay Regarding SCPs, Narratives, and How They Can Share a Page

There are other guides there that can be very helpful, but these are some of the most often recommended for first-time contributors.

General Notes

We need to know more than just "it's a/an OBJECT that EFFECT." What story are you going to tell - How The Foundation found it, Who or what created it and why, did someone use it to some end? (These are not all questions that must be answered, these are some possible narrative hooks.) You need something that differentiates this as an SCP, instead of just an Anomalous Item.

I also recommend reading a significant amount of the top-rated SCPs from the last several months, and focus on reading more recent SCPs rather than older series. Many early series SCPs would not last a day under current SCP standards, and a few are only still around because of their history with the wiki itself. (This does not apply to all early series SCPs, but many of these were written before the wiki's style had really been cemented.)

The anomalous object, while important, is not actually the main focus of the SCP. A good story, a compelling narrative, something that makes the reader feel something - that is the goal of an SCP article. What feeling do you want to evoke from the reader? Horror? Empathy? Sadness? You need to create a narrative around this object and its effects.

I am not saying this to discourage you, I just want you to understand the amount of effort that goes into creating a successful SCP.

If you can revise this idea with a story that you want to tell, we will be able to give you much more meaningful and constructive critique.

The anomalous item is the vehicle, the narrative is the person driving, the readers are the passengers. You can have the shiniest, most polished, most interesting vehicle in the world, but without the driver, the passengers aren't going anywhere. Where is the narrative taking the readers, and how is it getting them there?

Last edited on 05 Jan 2020 00:20 by Doctor Fullham Show more

Re: A Friendly Call

PHelfand 05 Jan 2020 00:56

Thank you for the advise, I'll work on the narrative, and the effect the SCP has.

Re: A Friendly Call

Dr Prysin 05 Jan 2020 01:12

As a small addition, SCP-1715 is a sort of similar concept in a way. But the thing that makes it somewhat engaging to read, or watch, should you find a youtube video reading it, is its narrative.

Admittedly this is a mid-series II entry, it has its imperfections, but its so much more than "Strange person joins blooming internet forums, and when they find information about individuals, causes said individuals to die". Admittedly I'm oversimplifying it, but it gets the point across, at least I think?