Greetings. If you are reading this, you are most likely someone I asked to crit a draft I recently wrote. I may or may not have explained the goal that I was trying to achieve with this article. In case I didn't, here it is.
Context:
I have noticed that many SCP newcomers have certain presumptions regarding the content of the wiki that often render them unprepared for its current (and exponentially increased) standards of writing. Often, these presumptions exist because they are unaware of the extent to which the wiki has evolved since both the end of Series 1 and the rise in popularity of SCP: Containment Breach. As a result, a user's first attempts to write an article are likely to include excessive cliches, outdated techniques, and an overall lack of narrative or conceptual depth. While there have been many guides teaching users how to write at the site's current expectation of quality (as well as many articles that can be used as examples of how far the wiki has come), I believe it would be beneficial to new users and old users alike if there was a single article that acted as a 'last time on SCP…' which caught said new users up to some of the critical developments in the wiki's standards (as well as Foundation lore).
I am attempting to create this article. My mission, lovingly dubbed 'Operation Master Key', is to create an article that both deals with many elements of the post-S1 Foundation(multi)verse and is accessible to readers who may have only previously read Series 1 articles. I know it will not become uber-famous and reccommended by every experienced author to every new author, but I think its worth a try just to see what it does do.
Goals:
The following is a list of concepts that I want to introduce to new readers in the article. If I ask how good the article is objectively, I will be reffering to these.
- The Addendums are not for show. The meat of the article does not end at the description, as it may have done in S1 articles.
- Non-horror tones are welcome in articles.
- Some SCPs don't just kill people, and their intentions may be more complex than they seem.
- There is no limit to what concepts can be used in an article (e.g. prose writing, alternate document formats etc.).
- The fact that the story mimics scientific documents does not mean that it cannot also contain literary techniques (e.g. metaphors, symbolism etc.).
Additionally, I intend to introduce the following Foundation lore concepts:
- GOIs
- Alternate dimensions/existences
- Thaumatlogy
Pitfalls:
In a way, this serves a near-identical function to the previous section. In order to capture the interest of new readers, I will need to play into their expectations, while also expanding them. This means that I will need to recognise Series 1's appeals as well as its flaws.
- Do not explain the anomaly to the point that it becomes familiar to the reader.