Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

Summary:

Seeking Greenlights on this SCP Idea

Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

JaonHax 30 May 2020 00:47

"They've promised that dreams can come true,
but forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too."
—Oscar Wilde

Seeking Greenlights: Yes

Page Type: SCP Article

Genre: Horror

Page Layout: Going to see if I can yoink enough code for a format similar to SCP-4205, otherwise going to use more regular formats with a personal flair.

Elevator Pitch: You basically got that from just the quote above, but I'll give a more thorough run-down.

• There's a human child that has somehow been anomalously trapped in a permanent state of sleep.
• This child is also a fairly powerful reality bender, capable of creating sub-anomalies.
• This child creates real-world manifestations of whatever they are dreaming about at that moment.
• Occasionally, this child has nightmares.

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Central Narrative: Honestly, there are a few ways I can go with this:

1. The child's manifestations are temporary, resulting in a dangerous, but not overly so, SCP. Narrative here would focus mostly on the origin of this SCP.
2. The child's manifestations are permanent, making this a potential 001 proposal¹. If I go with this option, I'm probably going to work on this for months or even a year or two, since I'll want it to be perfect.
3. The middle ground: the permanence of the manifestations is based on the vividity of the dream. In layman's terms, the more real it looks the more real it is.

Hook/Attention-Grabber: I think the main draw is not the SCP itself, but the fact that it can create other anomalous objects, yet has no control over what it creates. Say the dream is about a cake that reappears when it's done being eaten. Out pops SCP-871.

Additional Notes: First off, suggestions for what direction I should go with the narrative? I'm definitely leaning towards option 2, but I know I need more experience to pull that off, so I'd have to work on it for a long time. Second, any suggestions for making this idea even more unique? I feel like it's almost a bit bland atm.

Aside from all that, I literally have no idea how this hasn't already been done. (From what I've found. And I looked fairly hard.) This feels like it's an honest-to-God fully done SCP. I thought all the ideas like this were going to be hard to write because they'd been taken.

Again, leaning towards option 2 for the narrative, but I'm going to sit on it and make it perfect if I go down that route, even if it means waiting a year or two to post it.

As a courtesy to our readers on mobile devices, please collapse long posts. ~Zyn
Ah, okay, gotcha. —JaonHax

Footnotes

1. Decided against going for a 001, but not discounting permanent objects, since it could still work. Following statement still applies, however.

---

"They've promised that dreams can come true.
But forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too." —Oscar Wilde

Sleep well.

Last edited on 30 May 2020 19:42 by JaonHax Show more

Re: Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

Kikaider01 30 May 2020 05:39

[Asked to take a look. Will crit soon.]

Re: Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

cybersqyd 30 May 2020 09:08

My first piece of advice here is don't make this a 001 Proposal. Like, I think it could work there but I think it'd be hard to really have the narrative heft necessary to pull it off well.

That said: making the alterations permanent is not necessarily a bad idea. I think whatever you want to do here is going to need some fun story: it might be worth considering how the Foundation eventually resolves the conflict here (the conflict being like, them having to work around the manifestations of the SCP); and in turn what kinda tone you're wanting to go for: like, do you want a happy ending where everyone ends up being relatively okay? A sad ending where they effectively kill the SCP to stop the dreams? Something else?

It might also be worth considering whether you want the primary conflict being more "ethics committee vs site director on best course of action" here or something.

Re: Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

JaonHax 30 May 2020 19:32

Okay, that's actually really great advice and I'm feeling a few ideas forming already. For the 001 thing, yeah, I've slept on it now and think that there are a few major obstacles to this becoming a unique 001 proposal.

In terms of the resolution of this, I've been thinking a bit. How feasible would it be to have the Scranton Reality Anchors kind of work, but also not? I just feel like that would be a bit of a boring way to end that off. "Just make it not work at all," never really does it for me, and I feel like those are also extremely expensive to make, so the Foundation would look for other solutions first. And since a person generally has complete control over their dreams whether they realize it or not, and this SCP is bringing those into reality, I feel like it would almost have control over some laws of physics in the immediate area as well.

Someone I've been messaging has also given me an idea on the permanence thing: they suggested that how long it stays be based on the vividity of the object/entity while in the dream; e.g. if it looks more real it becomes more real.

In any case, thanks for your input!

---

"They've promised that dreams can come true.
But forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too." —Oscar Wilde

Sleep well.

Re: Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

Sonderance 01 Jun 2020 07:05

Placeholder! Got summoned via PM to take a look-see. Will crit in a bit.

Alright, here’s my take.

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The concept of a child whose dreams manifest in reality is a bit of a mainstay in horror, but that’s alright. The site’s been around so long that most base concepts have been touched upon, and the actual narrative associated with an article tends to be more important than the main anomaly itself.

With that being said, I’m currently having difficulty choosing which of your options in the ‘Central Narrative’ section to recommend, mostly because I’m not quite sure what kind of story you plan to tell here. Fine-tuning individual aspects of your anomaly like this requires more knowledge of your planned article than you have currently provided for critique.

If you respond to this comment and would like me to see it, please send me a Wikidot PM, as I will not be notified otherwise.

Last edited on 02 Jun 2020 08:30 by Sonderance Show more

Re: Dreams Can Come True (SCP, Seeking Greenlights)

Naveil 01 Jun 2020 17:51

Responding to PM Request - will crit soon-ish

To preface, I'd say the main flaw with your pitch is that you don't really know where you want to go? Like, you have several narratives that are just more or less playing around with your core concept. As a result, it isn't something I can effectively greenlight.

In any case, your narratives aren't really… narratives. You're explaining possible mechanics, but not how that becomes a narrative, or how you plan to incorporate it into your article.
As an extension to that, the SCP itself just feels like an extremely convoluted thing that does a thing. The core concept just feels like Jonathan Ball's 001 Proposal, in that it relies indirectly on other anomalies to substitute its narrative (or lack thereof). It's a tad strange, because your concept is based on a character (a child) rather than an object (a sheaf of papers) but falls into the exact same category, so I'm thinking you should work more on character development?

Even so, the idea feels a tad too… big, for a first SCP. Like I said, having an anomaly that creates other anomalies isn't a great idea (especially in this era of the wiki), but hey, that's just my opinion.

Last edited on 05 Jun 2020 13:48 by Naveil Show more