SCP-5317 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-5317.

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Author Post

Logarithmika 18 Jan 2020 21:59

First, thank you all for taking the time to read this entry for the 5000 contest. Quite nervous, too, since it's been more than a year since my last attempt at writing an SCP. I'd be thankful for any feedback and constructive criticism so I can improve this piece. Even if it doesn't fly, it will be helpful so I can learn from the mistakes I made here in my future attempts at contributing to the site. (I just hope that, if this burns down, I'll get to read the feedback before this hits -10…)

I would like to thank OriCat for taking the time to read and comment on two quite different versions of this, and even researching for some useful resources. Their feedback was extremely helpful, even if some of it wasn't implemented due to time and real life constraints. Thanks!

Spoilers to get what is going on (do not read if you haven't read SCP-4028 first!)

• Pierre Menard is fictional in-universe (as well as a good chunk of the Pataphysics Department itself— probably not everyone, as somebody has to write the SCP files and etc., but who knows). With that in mind, please re-read the last part of the exploration log.
• I'm using blue text in the same fashion as in several other articles on this wiki: to indicate a revision or edit. The implication is that everything that involves Menard in the expedition log is made up, to accomplish the mentioned "narrative containment procedures".
• There is a hidden collapsible at the bottom, just below the last bit of blue text.

Commentary about inspiration (do not read if you haven't opened the previous collapsible)

This was partially inspired by some post (either here or in Reddit) that commented on the possibility of the SK being functionally contained by SCP-2747. Sadly, I lost the link and I don't remember enough of the post to be able to Google it properly, so if by any chance the author of that post happens to read this, I'd be happy to credit them as the original inspiration.

Image attributions

The third image (Penrose tiling) is sourced from here. It is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5, which I think is forward-compatible with 4.0, but I am not sure. Please tell me if it has to be removed, so I can find/draw/render a suitable replacement.
The second image (constellation) is from here, and it is public domain.
The first image (flower and thorns) is drawn by me, and I license it under CC-BY-SA 4.0, etc.

Thanks, and hopefully this is enjoyable for you all!

EDIT: With the nerves I forgot to add the desired slots for after the contest. (Thanks, Quicksilvers!) I think that, in descending order, I'd apply for: 5317, 5079, 5777, 5670 and 5772)

Last edited on 18 Jan 2020 22:14 by Logarithmika Show more

Re: Author Post

Quicksilvers 18 Jan 2020 22:07

Hey, just wanted to remind you to drop some placeholder SCP #'s in case it doesn't win the 5000 slot! You'll still be granted your own slot after the contest!

Re: Author Post

Zyn 19 Jan 2020 03:45

All contest entries use SCP-5000, and the voting period has not yet concluded, so it seems to be a little early to tell the author to use SCP-#### placeholders?

Re: Author Post

Logarithmika 19 Jan 2020 12:03

No, no, I forgot to add the five 5xxx slots I'm applying for after the contest (as per the rules). They were just reminding me of that ^^; I suppose "placeholder" wasn't the most fortunate word maybe?

Last edited on 19 Jan 2020 12:08 by Logarithmika Show more

ApollyonZ 19 Jan 2020 05:56

I absolutely love this. The mention of black and thorns reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite remember. As soon as you mentioned Pataphysics, it hit me like a damn train. +1

Connor MacWarren 19 Jan 2020 08:59

This article suffers a bit from the amount of crosslinked articles tapered all around here. It's not too bad, but it does bog down the article quite a bit.

Awesome

Foxydapirateyt 19 Jan 2020 13:24

It’s a really good article I’m definitely voting for it

(Not to be annoying but how do I add url)

AnxiousDock 19 Jan 2020 23:57

I love the character development. Just right. +1 from me.

adirtyshame 21 Jan 2020 17:49

I just KNEW 2747 was going to be linked at some point —before i read the comments ans realized the collapsible was there. I was a bit confused when I didn't see it in my first read through, since each other floor was clearly connected to another canon, and there were 7 floors. I'm delighted that my hunch was correct.

this was a truly excellent read. I devoured this in about half an hour and I'll definitely revisit it in the future. it's not quite as long as sine other entries, which helps. this is epic in scope and you clearly put a lot of work into it. bravo. my most enthusiastic +1 I've given of all the 5k entries I've read thus far.

someauthordude 31 Jan 2020 17:26

This is very well written. However, I didn’t really see much mystery here, and will upvote post-contest.

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Cerastes 14 Feb 2020 07:49

Damn, this was great. +1.

moxxis 23 Feb 2020 23:09

I enjoy the concept of this skip and think it's well-executed, but I do have some nitpicks:

The floor is composed of marble, and the room has an architectural style similar in appearance to a Catholic cathedral, with wooden iconography associated to Christianity, Islam and Judaism present along the floor and walls.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam aren't really all that similar. They have a common origin, yes, but so do golden moles and blue whales. There should be a good reason to group them together, one that I didn't spot.

The dialogue used a lot of "it is", "I am", etc. statements, which felt a little awkward. People usually say " it's", "I'm", etc.

There were a lot of crosslinks. I'd recommend trimming them down to only the important ones - I just ended up not reading any of them because it would've taken far too long.

Otherwise, the concept of a narrative, self-containing SCP is fantastic, and I thought you did the idea justice! +1

Logarithmika 28 Feb 2020 17:28

Thank you for your kind comment. ^^

Response to commentary

You are the second person who mentions an excessive number of crosslinks, so I decided to remove the most egregious ones. The reasoning for them was twofold: first, I'm the kind of person who likes to wiki-walk, and I usually open the links in separate tabs to read them later. I forgot to consider that not everyone does the same, whoops. The second reason is tied with the name of the SCP ("Misdirection")— the idea, out of universe, was for people to speculate about the true nature of the tower by offering several false leads. (Note that a certain spoilery GoI is not mentioned at all in the main text and only appears explicitly in the hidden collapsible).

To note, the removed crosslinks are: SCP-2935 (whose purpose was explicitly to be a red herring), Numbers, Like Stories, Never Die (I wanted to leave it ambiguous whether the D-11424 here is the original one or the girl from that tale, hence the use of neutral pronouns through the text and the crosslink, but again, not thematically related), the one to the Rat's Nest hub (again, red herring, although it was also clarifying Dr. Lockhart's statement) and the link to Spikebrennan's Proposal (which I should admit was there mostly as a really bad pun). Maybe I should remove the crosslink to SCP-3882 as well, but since that phrase from Lockhart explicitly references the events there, I've decided to keep that one for now.

Each floor we get to see is dedicated to a specific GoI. The reason for Islam to be grouped together with Christianity and Judaism is that the corresponding floor is dedicated to the Horizon Initiative.

I suppose I'm too used to avoid contractions when writing academic-esque texts and that slipped to the video transcript, which isn't an academic text at all. I've tried to make it somewhat better, thanks for pointing it out. (I had the opposite problem with an early version of a paper I was working on— contractions kept slipping in…)

I'm glad that this seems to work for most of the people who have commented here. Once again, thank you for the criticism as well— if there is something else that can be done to improve this, I'll be glad to read about it.

GuesssWho 24 Feb 2020 22:45

Shouldn't 'anachronical' be 'anachronous'?

Last edited on 24 Feb 2020 22:45 by GuesssWho Show more

Gabriel McQueen 14 Jan 2021 01:00

I think just "anachronic" may be the correct term. Anachronistic refers to a thing incorrectly dated, or out of place in time. Anachronic describes time periods or events put in the wrong order.

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