Memo of Johnathan Mildew, Site Director of Site-433
I said a long time ago that things are getting worse, and they really, really, are.
This toon shit has been a logistical nightmare. There are the little things: comics that make you think their topics are the funniest thing in the world; a cardboard cutout of a dog that resembles [DATA EXPUNGED] when you look too closely at it; living creepypasta characters; guys who make you not care about them.
But then there are the big things. Milkshakes you can order at every single restaurant in America that'll spirit you away; entire inaccessible areas of thought that press into your head and turn you inside out; whole unstable worlds conjured by a cardboard box.
We here at Site-433 have a reputation for being "snobs." We're pretentious, and emotional, irrational and unscientific. That's what people think of us. And if you're being transferred here, that's what your friends and coworkers think of you, too.
But I'll tell you this: The work we do is the most important work you will ever do. Even those small anomalies turned into something huge. We had a VR game about a farmer, and it sunk an entire Site, incapacitated dozens of people, and if it weren't for us, it might've decided to swallow the world whole. It was our biggest achievement, no one even knows about it, and we're dealing with worse things on the regular now.
You've probably noticed by now, the trend between these anomalies — cardboard boxes, milkshakes, video games, cutouts, whatever — they're all art. Childish, vulgar, and often simplistic, but art nonetheless.
There's something wrong with the concept of art.
Art is a subjective, human concept, or so we thought. We're quickly learning that there are other beings in this world, and in other worlds, that have their own understanding of art, or they are art, or they redefine on an objective level what art is around themselves, and they aren't all the same beings, none of them run on the same rules, and most of them are simply incomprehensible to the human mind.
There are many, many cases. A whole army of Yellow Kings springing forth from every nook and cranny, every single object on Earth a potential doomsday clock. Because art is everything, art can be anything.
Sculptures, video games, children's games, vandalism, clip art, shopping mall flyers, scripts, candy bars, all arts. Maybe your previous Site contains art, and you didn't even realize it. Maybe your Site doesn't know how much art there is.
An exhibit is art, whether it's one of the above or a zoo for animals or a living exhibit or an exhibitionist, and who knows what kind of shit will crawl out of there.
merrily
merrily
merrily
That doesn't mean we just sit and take it, though. It's awful and it consumes so much of your life, but we're doing something good here. Something that helps people. Every time I have to see hyperrealistic bleeding eyes pop out of a TV and roll across the now-stained office carpet, I know I just prevented dozens of children from seeing the same thing.
And we have leads. Sputnik Studios is just one of many anomalous entertainment companies — but they're gone. All we have to chase is their ghosts. And the more we find, the more that this gaping gap in our reality can narrow.
We're working on theories, too. Research. Philosophical and scientific inquiries. We give them names — toons, Alucanari-class entities, phylum Eldritch, so on — and just because we haven't cracked them yet doesn't mean we won't. These things are so far beyond us, but there's still something human about them. Maybe they're just humans from other places. I've heard of humans becoming toons, and toons becoming humans, and I've heard there are things in-between too.
Some of them are on our staff. Like say, Rowan, he's got something wrong with him like that now. It isn't a bad thing. He's still quite a valuable member of the Foundation.
But it's so frustrating.
We try to get close to it and we run right into a wall. A wall we didn't know was there until we got close to it. But you can only hit a wall so much before the wall starts to chip away.
We might not get anywhere in my lifetime, but we're making strides. Maybe you'll be the one who cracks this mystery right open. Crack the world right open even. I've been trying. Pouring over these notes on my desk. My theory so far? I think this is all
but a dream.
and there's only so far you can slide into the pit. We can reclaim our art. We can live alongside other versions of art. And it'll stop hurting, I hope.
Get back to work.
WARNING! The following information is conveyed out of universe, and therefore will contain massive spoilers for this canon. We recommend you read the articles in the tabs "Episodes" and "Lost Episodes" before continuing. THANK YOU!
But A Dream is a canon thematically centered around imagination: anomalies come from daydreams, nightmares, thoughts, prayers, and every other dark little corner of your mind. Sometimes anomalies come from expressions of creativity too, like art.
Anomalies, then, are as natural to the universe as you or I. Anomalies are a part of the ecosystem of consciousness; they are desire, they are fear, they are love, and sex, and they are you.
This canon, then, focuses on certain aspects of imagination and the ways they interact with the world. But A Dream's tone is fairly loose, comprising of literary fiction not beholden to one genre; however, generally speaking, you'll see stories that sit in the intersections between weird fiction, surrealism, psychological horror, and urban fantasy.
Below you'll see a general overview of this canon's major players, locations, etc., as well as other miscellaneous information you'll need if you want to start writing.
Toon
Being an embodiment of imagination itself, Toons are an incredibly complicated and ancient collection of beings. They are not typically bound by rules and limitations, although they often occupy a space that fits them comfortably for their intended purpose.
Standardly resembles a type of artistic medium capable of sapience. It is unknown just how many anomalies that exist are in relation to Toons in some shape or form, or if simply all anomalies are the biproduct of Toons.
Various groups have their own ways of referring to these entities, usually out of some sense of shame, the idea of treating something called a Toon as a genuine threat being a very humiliating concept. A good example of this is the Foundation's own "Alucinari-class".
Toon is the correct terminology.
Mnemosyne Expanse
The vast and incomprehensible sea of ideas, constructed out of everyone's imagination, dead or alive or something else entirely. It's a genuine wonder there are even areas of this place stable enough to explore. It is unknown how many dimensional anomalies are tied or connected to this enigma of a space.
Various segments of this area branch off into representations of specific concepts and ideas. Certain locations will become hotspots for whatever genre it caters to. The infinity of the space assures that there will always be something new to see, no matter how far you traverse.
You will not be the same person once you come back from here, for the same reason nobody is the same person after watching a film or playing a video game. That is, if you even find a way to escape without becoming a piece of the puzzle.
Sputnik Studios
An animation studio founded in 1985 and centered in California. Utilizes paratechnology for the benefit of production time, reputation and the imagination of its employees. Most of said employees are unaware of the anomalous properties of said tech and the consequences of fiddling with it in the first place. Since defunct in recent times, but the magic is well alive.
And even still, many are digging around where they perhaps shouldn't. The unofficial "Sputnik Studios Community Wiki" is one of the largest fan communities in relation to Sputnik Studios on the web ever since sputniktoons.com went kaput. Their purpose is to archive, discuss and share Sputnik Studios related media wherever they can find it.
In spite of the rules forbidding such actions, some may go looking a bit deeper than most would be comfortable with, forcibly contacting producers, breaking into abandoned studios, paying thousands of dollars for discontinued merchandise.1
The Foundation can't exactly tell if this is some sort of frenzy from the leftover magic or the standard immature fandom squabbling.
Rowan Raster: Former Sputnik Studios animator with a strange penchant for vivid soothsaying dreams, Rowan Raster found himself in Site-433 after one of his animated series displayed a bizarre amount of similarities to anomalies in the Foundation's custody.
Rowan is a very important asset to Site-433 especially, both as an artist and as someone able to communicate with anomalies better than most on his team. This is in due part to his personal attachment to the inhuman.2 That is not something he would be willing to admit outright, considering his place of work. He has also worked on posters and various other visual signifiers for Site-433, giving it a distinct look from most other Foundation sites.
Rowan struggles to connect with people outside of his interests in art and animation. Although he is very successful in his work, he is otherwise very ostracized. Ever since the events of 8060, something has been wrong with him.
He is scared that some day he’ll reach his breaking point, something inside him will snap, and he’ll be contained along with all the other anomalies.
Jonathan Mildew: Site Director and Founder of Site-433. Somewhere around 30-35 years old, but he looks 50 on account of the insane amount of mental stress the position puts him in. Incredibly jaded and is absolutely terrible at taking care of himself, focused almost entirely on his job. It's almost comical.
Frequently experiences viscerally detailed suicidal fantasies. The only thing keeping him from ending his life is that he doesn't think Site-433 would be able to sustain himself without him. This isn't true.
I think the worst part is, I don't know what would make him feel better.
D-1711: Yes, that's the actual name he was born with. A Toon masquerading as a human in order to help The Foundation if they are ever in short supply of human testing. The Foundation is not aware of his non-human origins.
Although D-1711's body interacts with everything the exact same way a human being would, The Foundation would have no way of knowing this, which makes D-1711 adamant on keeping this part of himself a secret. Sooner or later, someone is going to notice the repeating number.
He hates himself and he isn't sure why. There's probably a reason he puts himself through so many dehumanizing experiences. A Toon doesn't always have the healthiest way of coping with their own nature.
Site-433: A Foundation site centered in California, dedicated to the containment and research of anomalous artwork and anomalous media. Created during vested interest in the activities of Sputnik Studios, but has since branched out to anart and media in general. Ridiculously labyrinthian and scatterbrained in design, sometimes to a fault. Has structures above and underground.
If you want some inspiration as for how it would look, imagine the imagery of early SCP Wiki aesthetics mixed with an art museum. Also, for color pallet, imagine a lot of whites and light blues.
Often those who work there will start off pretty excited but will end up either jaded or absolutely batshit. Or both. These aren't the only two things you must have your character who works there be, but they're a commonality in members of Site-433.
The Mnemosyne Expanse:
| Societown | A hole formed from the absence of the final episode of Societown. Not the Societown, but the Societown left behind. A great hangout spot for Toons and artists who've felt entirely consumed by their own work. Many find themselves here looking for information about the final episode. It is imperative that we don't find out what happens if all the information was discovered. |
| Hard-to-Reach Place | Classified as SCP-682, the Hard-to-Reace Place is a "place" as much as it's a Toon. It was created in a freak accident when Site-433 management thought they knew more than they really did, and now it sits under the Site like an anchor in a lake. It's home to a number of creatures, most notably Aethiopea, a kindly lizard-woman. The Hard-to-Reach Place seems to be shaped by imagination, but there's imagery present that management can't trace the origins of. Maybe there's something bigger perceiving it, from somewhere even harder to reach. |
| Toon Hell | A disturbed place created out of self-defense, molded by a young child's trauma. Although its creator has since left it behind, it is still a place where those punished may fester. Vomit and the color orange are great signifiers. Sometimes we do things we regret. |
As a canon, it is generally limitless what BaD can cross over with. I would describe the way BaD interacts with other canons as "haunting" them, as I think the canon is very aesthetically based and not often heavy on the lore aspect. It's less a question of if BaD can interact with a canon and more of a question of if it should or if you'd want it to. So don't be afraid to experiment.
FLOORBOARDS would say some good examples of canons/series that interact really well with BaD are The Trashfire3 and Department of Unreality. Anomalies in The Trashfire world work pretty similarly to those in But A Dream, and the Department of Unreality has a similar emphasis on imagination.
The distinction between the anomalous and the normal is tenuous at best, and elected at worst. Not even 100 years ago, being a homosexual was considered an anomaly. What is an anomaly is decided by mass popular consensus, and a lot of the time that comes down to which lynch mob has the bigger guns.
There's nothing unnatural about toons or the Expanse or the things older than the Expanse lurking out on the edge of the dark. It's all part of the same ecosystem.
The Foundation, then, is choking out the world. The Veil of Normalcy is the only truly anomalous thing in the universe — the idea that the normal and "abnormal" cannot co-exist together is, relatively speaking, a brand new idea. The Foundation cannot contain every single anomaly forever. It's impossible. It would destroy the world. So, the Foundation will have to make a choice: Will it destroy the world, or will it allow the Veil to fall?
They will, begrudgingly, allow the Veil to fall.
In the future, man and Toon and god and dead star and other beasts of burden will live together. It will not be harmonious. There will be no utopia. But there will be infinite possibility, freedom unseen since the primal times, and there will be much more love.
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
This canon often focuses on themes of body horror, derealization, various forms of trauma, various forms of abuse and potentially eye-straining/seizure inducing imagery. It also contains many topics unsuitable for children. Thank you for understanding.
he also loved creepypasta so so much his favorites were ben drowned and laughing jack and slenderman and sonic .exe
Written by
ratking666
SCP-5045 - You Get Used To It
Am I gonna have to make you stop doing that? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look? Second time this week! How hard is it to give people a good time, friend?
Written by
Westrin, and
ValidClay
SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN!!!!! THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR
Written by
faminepulse and
SCP-6080 - Cartoon Network
So basically, I'm looking at this kid, and he tells me that he wants to watch SpongeBob. Then I open up my back and there's a SpongeBob DVD.
Written by
JackalRelated
SCP-6869 The sad man
The Recordkeeping And Information Security Administration is required to alert you that 143 authors have previously edited this document. Please be aware that their footnotes are available below.
Written by
SCP-7663 - Bumbles the Clown
SCP-7663-A: I was even gonna do the voices myself!
Oran: Please don't talk like that.
Written by
Monkeysky and
SCP-7664 - No One Has to Know (NSFW)
Starring the titular Rumpus Ram, a camo-patterned green ram with a pronounced buttock that he employs as a weapon, the series explores several anthropomorphic animal characters with various unhygienic neuroses and quirks living underground in New York.
Written by
Toons like Francis are quite the enigma, as they are quite simply impossible to be studied in an incontestable manner!
Written by
Join Grady, Susie, and Richelle as they discover that learning to do the right thing doesn't have to be scary. Just remember to say please!
Written by
SCP-5119 - Uncle Charlie's Toys and Games
Get it all out for me. You're going to be fine.
Written by
J Dune
SCP-6777 - Ichifuji Bakuu the Virtual Streamer
SCP-6777 is a Level-4-or-higher Pistiphage Entity, and its interference with reality expands in proportion to the number of fans who show a strong liking for it.
Written by
Karathh and
SCP-7755 - A Hole Dug With a Rabbit's Foot
Dailey: The only true company he had, in the end, were his rabbits. So he spoke to the rabbits, and the rabbits listened.
Written by
Crow-Cat
SCP-7413 - Rhizomatic Serial Killer
The officers discovered the suspect in a nearby river, lying face down. It had covered itself in the white sheet and several leaves, and there was no discernible blood.
Written by
FLOORBOARDS
SCP-8869 - Rhizomatic Murder Victims
The body was found at 0732 the next day by locals during their morning commute, covered in dried blood and autumn leaves.
Written by
Cathy Autumn,
MisterFrown
SCP-7324 - you're worth it, i promise
Billy Bob Brockali: Things can’t keep going the way they are, kiddo. From here on out, there will be consequences.
Written by
Whipped cream. Decorative — spoon off before drinking.
Written by
LOVEMARGINAL
SCP-7846 - A Stage Illuminated Only By Ghost Light
While the exact specifics vary among subjects and the effects of SCP-7846 on human cognition preclude a fully accurate summary of SCP-7846, they will tend to follow a specific pattern.
Written by
SCP-3682-JP - "'Ki' is for 'Sign'"
An unexpected error has been identified in the ScipNET server connection. Please check again here.
Written by
Maxyfran73
SCP-8145 - fistula.html
Exercise caution when opening or closing the entry.
Written by
SCP-8994 - Spellsteal
Her soul will be destroyed following punishment. She will not be offered a reprieve by God.
Written by
redredred
This whole sequence went on for a full minute, with the only sound being the squeaky screaming noises.
Written by
My drain is clogged.
Written by
SCP-8169 - Arachnophilia (NSFW)
None of the affected individuals — male or female — have actually mentioned or noticed the presence of the arachnids, despite numerous complaints of a strong itching sensation in the groin region.
Written by
The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit
SERIES HUB
At the beginning of time there was One, and He was G-d, and He existed as the Word, the Creator, and the Pneuma — He was Three, and His name was Kindness. He was the lover of Man, but His first Son, the Demiurge, would betray Him to steal Man away. His second Son, the Word, would thus be sent into the maw of the Demiurge to take the sins of Man away in hopes of freeing Man, but in doing so, the Word became trapped for all eternity.But the flesh is not eternal — the Divine is. He will not be here for much longer.
Written by
She felt like a marshmallow, warm in my arms, like she could melt at any moment. But she didn’t– she only grew softer.
Written by
Ellie3
"A single bullet wound to the chest. You and one other. In two hours, your mother will see you on the news. It was simply your time."
Written by
TroutMaskReplica
SCP-682 — Hard-To-Reach Place
Aye, lads n' lasses n' crew, ye best be keeping your hands n' feet inside tha' ship at all times… lest ye lose them! Yargh!
Written by
TealQuacks,
Dino--Draws and
at night i dream of sub sandwiches
Written by
I lock the front door.
Written by
SCP-8934 - Ommetaphobia: き/Ki is for 刻/Kizami
The doll's head has many features resembling eyes.
Written by
I believe a good place to start if you want to write something for BaD is to understand what BaD isn't.
BaD isn't:
- Analogous with online buzzwords like "weirdcore", "liminal", "mascot horror" and "analog horror".4
- An excuse to write crossovers between the SCP universe and your favorite media.5
- A setting where pataphysics is a viable information source.6
- Purely about cartoons and animation.7
- For young readers.8
Basically, if you want to write for BaD, you have to be familiar with the common misconceptions people have about what I want for this series/canon. While yes, as a writer, I am heavily inspired by web horror and creepypasta, I am inspired by it in the sense that I find it an interesting medium and artform.9 I like to evoke it because I like to play with the format of it. That is what you should be doing with BaD. Evoke something and play with its format. Instead of just copying what you see from everyone else, create something new from the things you enjoy.
BaD as a canon is meant to be a realm of infinite possibility for writers. An exploration of how vast and ungodly consuming imagination truly can be. As such, all genres are possible and you should not feel limited to just one. Feel free to write whatever you are comfortable with! Not every BaD entry has to be a surreal horror.
I don't want people to worry about canonicity for this series. There is no real timeline, no series of events you have to follow. I'd pretty much like it if you just went with your gut. A dream isn't always cohesive, but we tend to find meaning in it while we're in one. It's only when we wake up that we struggle to grasp what the hell any of it was about.
The inclusion of media10 is not particularly necessary for a BaD article, but being well versed in one of those skills will majorly help you during writing. An interesting image or video to stick in the mind of the reader is something that I was always really into back in the Series 1 to 3 days, and I've always wanted this canon to evoke that. Someday, I would love to create an essay involving tips and tricks for artists on how to better integrate artwork in an article in ways that feels natural and unforced.
Stumped on designing a Toon? Remember that the skies the limit! A Toon can have a mixed media feel, looking entirely different from their surroundings.11 Like say, seeing a soggy watercolor man walking around or a scratchy pencil-sketched crow. From there, think about their potential name, disposition, and most frequently displayed "abilities" if they have any. Think as well about their texture and how you imagine their style would feel like. Of course, not all Toons even look like drawings. Random examples of existing SCP articles that I'd consider Toons in this canon include: SCP-1810, SCP-168, SCP-1155, SCP-1286, SCP-2571, and SCP-2835.
This is a really important thing, and also true of writing for this site in general: Take inspiration from things beyond the SCP Wiki. Since a large part of this canon involves letting your love and inspiration for something come through the writing, you're going to have to need something that makes you have that drive. Read books, watch shows, look at your favorite kind of art and hell, even get out of your comfort zone and try something new. Part of being creative is having all that inspiration to create in the first place!
Another word of advice that's more based in my experiences. Collaborate with people. A lot of my articles are collaborations and they end up being all the more unique for it. Having someone able to put their own perspective and feelings into a work aside from your own can help make it feel more layered. However, be sure that you aren't just collaborating for the sake of it! Collaborate with your friends, people who are interested in working with your stuff. And be careful with megacollabs, those can easily crumble under their own weight.
Speaking of collaboration! If you're looking for advice from more than just me, I have you covered. Below is a collapsible that contains writing advice from the collaborator of this hub that helped me a lot with the writing process. Thank you so much FLOORBOARDS.
Hi there, FLOORBOARDS here. Though at the time I’m writing this I’ve yet to contribute to the “main series,” I’ve been asked by Ratking to contribute to his writing guide, because But A Dream overlaps extremely well with my writing style. Most of what I say here is going to be an outline for my personal creative methods, admittedly, but no matter your personal style, I think you ought to incorporate these practices whenever you’re writing a But A Dream story, or something inspired by the canon.
1. Keep it simple.
SCP-7413 is a plastic full-body mannequin standing at 2.10 meters. It is hollow, with the exception of its posable joints. Two holes are present on SCP-7413's left shoulder and left bicep, the result of gunshots sustained during recovery. SCP-7413 is capable of locomoting and verbalizing, but it has refused to interact with personnel. Since its containment, SCP-7413 has remained motionless in the center of its cell.
That’s the entire description for SCP-7413. People, when they’re writing stories, they like to make their concepts really huge. This is true both on and off the wiki. What they miss when they start off with these gigantic concepts, though, is the room for growth.
When you keep your story simple — A woman is in trouble with the law, a banker loses his wedding ring, a town has a dark secret — you have a lot more room for growth. When you start your concept small — a mannequin that can talk and walk — you can begin assigning new ideas for it over the course of creation.
You see a lot of concepts nowadays on the wiki that are like, “This is a meso-psychometafictional Daevite eigenweapon which can produce the opposite of abstraction, a simplification process, which can reduce the entropy of an object via telepathic electromagnetic subterfuge,” or something to that effect. And this isn’t a bad thing at all. I’m poking very light fun at a trend I’m a fan of. But really, it’s hard to insert imagery or emotion into a concept like that. It’s hard to build a satisfying story around something that takes up so much space. When the concept alone takes up a lot of space, you’re asking a lot out of your readers.
I think the best ideas can be summed up in 3-5 sentences. I’m not the best writer ever, but I think conciseness is a strength of mine, so I’ll use my own articles as examples:
- SCP-7413: A talking, walking mannequin kidnaps 15 people. It reveals itself to the Foundation, and enters containment willingly. There are implications that this document does not exist in-universe, and the events described never happened at all.
- SCP-7324: A milkshake that can be ordered at any restaurant is suddenly targeted by drug manufacturers, who put demonic narcotics in the ingredients. It turns out that a demon-worshiping church is behind the alterations, but the demon itself is targeting people for unclear reasons.
- SCP-6109: All the myths of Jesus Christ’s whereabouts from across the world become true simultaneously, because a woman was mucking around with time travel to spite her Christian ex-boyfriend. A Muslim theologist sacrifices himself to save the timeline.
Those are my 3 But A Dream SCPs, and as you can see, they are all pretty small. You may be thinking to yourself, 7234 and 6109 are really long, can you truly say you can sum them up in 4 sentences? To which I say, the concept should be summed up in 4 sentences, but the plot can (and should be) as long as it needs to be.
There are arguments about how exactly you decide how long it should be, but honestly, just go with your intuition on this one. You should pay attention to critique when it comes to pacing, of course, but there’s no pleasing everyone. But let’s talk about how to develop intuition.
2. Intuition.
Intuition is a skill, not a talent. It’s something you have to develop over the course of many stories. David Lynch says intuition is “emotion and intellect joining together,” achieving confidence in the development of your imagery, but also logically joining your images together.
The intuitive writer writes first and edits later. You aren’t going to come up with a way to connect your ideas if your ideas aren’t on paper first.
For example, SCP-7324 is a little controversial because it is, thematically, centered around childhood sexual abuse. I wrote it like that because it is something I experienced and something I'm still grappling with. But, in complete honesty, it didn’t start off that way. I had no expectations for where the plot was going to go, just a couple of vague visions: children fading away into stardust inside an arcade; a pink milkshake swirling and unfurling into crimson blood; an animatronic head moving and talking on its own.
Those were the images I started off with, and you’ll notice that these are things that happened way later in the story. These bits I wrote out first, because they were the strongest to me, and so they came to me rather naturally. I didn’t bog myself down with trying to justify why these scenes were happening. And when I did finally start writing the scenes connecting them, I realized that the images had commonalities. I realized as I was writing that these images were, frankly, uniquely Freudian. They were sexually charged recollections, and I couldn’t lean away from that. It was too deeply emotive for me to ignore.
The rest of the story fell into place as soon as I made that realization.
The scene with Billy Bob Brockoli was echoed into the interview with the drug dealer, and both of them were, to me, Oedipal situations — Billy Bob, the absent father from whom it is impossible to get approval from; the Interrogator, the overbearing, over-touching, gently violent figure who wants to emotionally dominate the man before him — they were refractions of a much darker central figure, the demon itself, who presented itself in the form of a strawberry milkshake: cum mixed with blood.
And from there I simply worked backwards until I had a complete story. But it all started with just a few small images.
3. Imagery.
Imagery is the most important part of emotive writing, but it isn’t just about literally, physically describing the things going on in the plot. Imagery should be sensory.
There’s an anecdote that David Lynch came up with Twin Peaks’ famous “Red Room” when he was leaning against a hot car. He wiped his hands across the warm surface and the image of the Red Room came to him fully formed. When you look at the Red Room you can see why: summer heat is sultry, it’s sticky, it’s something you hide from, and the Red Room is sort of like that, with its erotic statues, black leather setup, long twisting hallways full of billowing wind. The Red Room is a place you hide from the heat, but the heat creeps in nonetheless. It’s stuffy.
I can’t tell you how to come up with imagery, because honestly you shouldn’t be. Imagery should come to you naturally. When you’re looking for imagery, it’s never going to be as effective as you want it to be, because you can’t experience it fully. When an image comes to you, however, it's a complete sensory experience. Taste. Sound. Smell. Touch. Temperature.
SCP-7413 came from seeing the very first tree to go brown at the intersection between Spring and Autumn. The trees were assembled in a sort of zigzag shape around each other, and they were all green and dewy, like it was summer, but right in the middle, where the forest ended, was a withering tree. It was like the other trees had backed away from it, making a circle of dirt around it. Its leaves were yellow, brown, and red, and they were scattered on the ground, and it was the only one like that for months on end. By the time Halloween had come around proper, the trees all looked like that, so the image had faded, but I listened to this song called Halloween by Alex G, and the strumming of the guitars in my ears were like the rustle of falling leaves, and fully formed, I saw a mannequin in a ghost sheet before me, smelling like mildew, its joints creaking with each rush of wind, but its footsteps dead silent.
Finding the picture to go with it was extremely lucky for me!
4. Closing Thoughts.
I could probably write for another 4 pages about this, but Ratking would probably get mad at me for wasting space, so I’ll give you a Sparknotes version of my other ideas:
- Doing an impression of someone you know is the best way to figure out a character. My first 3 pages on the site are, honestly, narrated by an ex of mine, and so is the opening note in 6109. Trying to capture someone’s speech patterns without using st-st-st-stuttering or… um, whatever this shit is… is a great exercise for dialogue.
- Playing it straight is more interesting than trying to subvert it. Everyone wants to be the most ironic person in the room nowadays, and that makes me mad. Write sincerely.
- On that note, don’t be afraid to be really weird about it. You heard my speech earlier about how 7234 came together. That shit is weird and dark and evil, and it’s okay to let it out of you, get it out of your system.
- That being said, there are simply some things you are unqualified to write. Keep it personal, don’t generalize, be specific, and be respectful.
- No one is more creative than anyone else. What people mean when they say “creativity” is actually “creative expression,” to paraphrase my friend
Liryn. This is where intuition comes in — there’s a difference between an idea that’s easy to write, and an idea that comes easily to you, and while most readers can’t tell the difference, the latter is almost always going to be higher quality and more emotionally fulfilling. Don’t waste time feeling bad because you aren’t “creative enough,” because literally everyone in the world has the exact same level of creativity available to them, you just have to be willing to engage with it at a deeper level.
In summary: be yourself, themes are important but they should come to you naturally, planning is the enemy of creativity, and using all your senses is the best way to flesh out your imagery.
Hopefully this mini-essay has inspired you on some level, both for writing But A Dream and whatever other projects you’ve got going on. Remember, everyone: go outside, write more than just SCP, read a lot, and live a lot, and you’ll be fine.
Much love!
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"But A Dream Hub" by ratking666, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/but-a-dream. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.
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