How to write a good SCP hook?
I searched the guide hub, and asked around a bit in chat, but I don't think a guide for that currently exists?
How to write a good SCP hook?
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» How to write a good SCP hook?
Essentially, the hook is you explaining what you think makes your SCP worth reading. What makes it stand out, what makes it unique.
You want to break your idea down to its essentials here. Genre, theme, etc. If it's a comedy, you can say that you're trying to evoke a specific type of humor. If it's emotional, you can say that you're trying to evoke sadness through a specific story. It absolutely varies from idea to idea, but if you genuinely can't think of a hook, you may want to reconsider the idea in its entirety.
But that's something I'd put within the Hook/Attention grabber section of the ideas format, right?
What about in the actual final article?
Ah, right.
The same principles still apply, just organically ingrained into your article. If your hook is a specific type of comedy, be sure to exemplify that. If it's drama, be sure to put it at the forefront.
Oftentimes, it also denotes what edges your reader to keep reading. Think about something that can help that, and put it at the start so that a reader is immediately hooked, if you will, and continues reading.
Anyways, which articles do you think have really good hooks?
I like SCP-5000. Near the top of the article is this:
The following is a message composed via consensus of the O5 Council.
For those who are not currently aware of our existence, we represent the organization known as the SCP Foundation. Our previous mission centered around the containment and study of anomalous objects, entities and other assorted phenomena. This mission was the focus of our organization for more than one-hundred years.
Due to circumstances outside of our control, this directive has now changed. Our new mission will be the extermination of the human race.
There will be no further communication.
Makes the audience go wtf.
SCP-3519
The narrative starts right in the Special Containment Procedures.
It gives the reader that whatever is going on is just getting worse, and suddenly, the Foundation just kinda gave up.
Heya. Here are my thoughts, if you’re interested.
A hook can be anything which serves to engage the reader early on, and which encourages them to keep on reading. It should invite the reader to interact with the article beyond the surface level and so to become invested in continuing. For example, it will make them guess at what will happen next, becoming invested in seeing whether they were correct. For deep reader investment, the writer should aim to encourage/invite some hybrid of what they have written to that point plus what the reader imagines or guesses or fills in themselves.
In traditional (linear, chronologically sequential) narratives a hook often tends to be achieved through, from the outset, interesting the reader in what will happen next. This tends not to be the case in mainlist SCP format articles. Here the opening con procs tend not to describe events which occur chronologically prior to the events of the description; the hook is less likely to be ‘what happens next?’ and more likely to be either ‘what happened prior that necessitated such con procs?’, or something slightly more esoteric. As con procs deal with incomplete information there’s a lot of room to manoeuvre. The writer can refer to ‘SCP-XXXX’ and detail how the thing is to be treated before they’ve even described what it is, which can create some mystery/intrigue to serve as a hook, and also massive potential for wrongfooting/ subversion of reader expectations thereafter.
In short, one popular and effective/efficient con proc hook for mainlist SCP articles is something along the lines of making the reader wonder ‘what is the anomaly, what are these procedures pertaining to, or what could’ve possibly necessitated these con procs?’. That’s very well iterated in your example with the opening notice regarding the change in the Foundation’s goal, however, sometimes a subtler approach can be just as effective.
An image can serve as a superb hook, many successful articles use images to draw the reader in. Maybe look through cc collections of weird images (or conspicuously mundane ones!). Imagine that each image has a backstory or explanation, or a secret history, posted along with it, and if any image hooks you in such that you’d be compelled to scroll down and read its associated story, then consider writing it.
Of course a hook isn’t entirely necessary, a writer can put the value of an article later on in the course of its text. I suppose it depends on the length of the article, how engaging it seems, and whether the individual writer already has a receptive audience here who trust in their abilities such that they will read through their work in full without needing to be grabbed by a particularly strong hook from the outset.
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page revision: 1, last edited: 02 Apr 2021 15:16
