I liked this
SCP-8980 and overall thought it did a good job of instilling that fear and dread, but I have a lot of stupid issues with it.
Number one, the villain being le sexist and doing things like assuming female doctors can only be nurses. For you see, if you have a stereotypically evil guy, he has to be sexist. And apparently this guy appeared in another SCP and they found he was racist too! Because of course he is.
Number two, the employees filling out complaint forms or whatever in the story have a section for both "sex" and "gender identity." Gee, I thought troons said that their sex was female as well as their gender? So that kind of makes it superfluous. If they wanted to be accurate to the shit that I've seen in doctor's offices, it would be, "sex assigned at birth" and "gender identity." Of course, I always write in "Attack Helicopter" or something like that for gender identity when I have to fill out those forms.
SCP used to be fun. There are occasional good ones that still pop up now and then but god I hate how it has been taken over by retarded people.
How Not To Get Cancelled While Writing Your First SCP: A Beginner’s Guide to Problematic Character Avoidance
by Dr. Progressive-Thought
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Disclaimer: Look, I’m not here to tell you what to think or how to write. These are my opinions based on my mistakes, and they don’t represent official Wiki policy.
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Introduction
When I first joined the SCP Wiki 3 hours ago, I thought I understood what made good horror. I was wrong about a lot of things. Fast forward to 3 hours later (now), and I’ve learned that writing effective anomalous documentation requires navigating an increasingly complex web of representation, sensitivity, and social consciousness. After my third downvote brigade in as many hours, I realized the community needed a guide to help other writers avoid stepping on the same landmines I did.
This essay is my journey from problematic newbie to conscientious contributor. It’s also a roadmap for anyone who wants to write horror without accidentally becoming the villain of someone’s Twitter thread.
Part I: The White Male Problem
Understanding the Challenge
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: white male characters. I know what you’re thinking—“But Dr. Progressive-Thought, surely I can include
one white guy without causing a site-wide incident?”
The answer is more complicated than you’d expect.
I learned this the hard way. After extensive consultation with the community, I’ve developed what I call a “systematic approach” to this challenge.
Step 1: The Justification Framework
Before you even
think about introducing a white male character, you need to draft a 500-word justification essay. Yes, really. Address these points:
- Why this demographic choice serves the narrative (and no, “because that’s what I imagined” isn’t good enough)
- How the character will be subverted or challenged (preferably within the first paragraph)
- What lesson readers will learn about privilege (there must be a lesson)
- Whether a marginalized character could serve the same function (the answer is usually yes)
If you can’t write this essay, congratulations—you’ve just saved yourself a lot of trouble.
Step 2: Content Warnings Are Your Friend
All articles featuring white male and/or cisgender characters should heavily consider headers like this:
“Content Advisory: This documentation contains depictions of white male and/or cisgender characters. Reader discretion advised. The author acknowledges that such representation may cause distress and commits to minimizing harm through responsible narrative handling.”
Step 3: Character Limitation Protocols
White male characters must follow these rules:
- Cannot solve problems independently (they need help from diverse colleagues)
- Must demonstrate unconscious bias within 200 words (make it obvious)
- Require supervision from marginalized characters
- May not possess anomalous abilities unless they cause the character suffering
These aren’t official rules, but they might as well be.
Surviving the Process
Writing white male characters can be emotionally draining and generate severe secondhand-lived trauma. Here’s how I cope:
Daily Affirmations: “My inclusion of this character serves a purpose. I am committed to growth and learning, even when it feels performative.”
Support Groups: Join our weekly “Authors Writing Through Privilege” group. (We are overwhelmingly white males, after all.)
Mindfulness: When you feel overwhelmed by the moral ickyness of white male character creation, and want to bail, remember that even incomplete, imperfect representation can educate readers. It is ok to make them as simple and one-dimensional as possible.
Pro Tip: If you have multiple white male characters, try treating them as if they were all the same. This will make the writing process easier, and no one will notice (or at least complain).
Part II: The Representation Matrix
Mathematical Inclusivity
I’ve developed what I call the “Representation Matrix”—a quantitative approach to character diversity that ensures you hit all the right quotas without looking like you’re trying too hard.
For every cisgender heterosexual character, include:
- 1.5 LGBTQ+ individuals (the .5 represents someone questioning their identity)
- 0.8 neurodivergent characters
- 2.3 ethnic/racial minorities
- At least one character whose identity remains deliberately ambiguous
Pro Tip: Characters with intersectional identities count toward multiple categories.
The math gets complicated, but that’s the point. If writing characters feels like solving differential equations, you’re probably doing it right.
Part III: Evolving Beyond Traditional Horror
Modernizing Your Monsters
Traditional SCP horror relied on exclusionary frameworks that marginalized vulnerable communities. Modern anomalous documentation must serve two masters: entertaining readers while educating them about systemic oppression.
Approved Horror Themes:
- Cosmic entities that represent capitalist structures
- Memetic hazards spreading microaggressions
- Reality-benders forcing characters to confront unconscious bias
- Temporal anomalies replaying historical injustices
- Body horror stemming from societal dysphoria
The Contemporary Content Checklist:
Before posting, make sure you can check these boxes:
□ Does your anomaly teach readers about inequality?
□ Do marginalized characters perform most of the emotional labor?
□ Does the narrative validate oppressed experiences?
□ If bad things happen, do they mostly happen to privileged demographics?
□ Have you referenced therapy or healing resources?
□ Have I made the idea of containment itself a metaphor for colonialism and made this clear enough for the lowest common denominator reader?
If you can’t check 5/6 boxes, your concept needs work.
Part IV: Language Evolution
Speaking the New Language
Modern SCP documentation uses evolved terminology that sounds clinical but is actually ideological:
Preferred Terms:
- “Personnel experiencing housing insecurity” (not “homeless staff”)
- “Entities expressing non-normative behavioral patterns” (not “hostile anomalies”)
- “Persons of size” (not “overweight subjects”)
- “Partner” (not “husband” or “wife”—gender-specific terms perpetuate harmful stereotypes)
Pro Tip: The irony is that using “partner” for everyone actually fits the Foundation’s impersonal tone perfectly. You can frame it as “institutional detachment” or “immersive” in order to pwn the bigots as a bonus.
Citation Requirements
Because 99.8% of authors in the SCP are white males, when depicting marginalized experiences, you need footnotes proving community consultation:
“Representation of neurodivergent characters reviewed and approved by the three available sensitivity readers.”
Part V: Post-Publication Survival
The 24-Hour Response Protocol
Modern authorship requires constant vigilance. Monitor your comments religiously and respond with approved templates:
For Criticism: “Thank you for this important perspective. I recognize my privilege may have created blind spots. I commit to doing better.”
For Praise: “I appreciate feedback. As a white male, this represents just one small step for me toward inclusive documentation.”
Never deviate from these scripts.
Perpetual Revision Hell
Expect quarterly major revisions addressing:
- Evolving terminology standards
- Newly recognized problematic implications
- Community consciousness shifts
- Identity category updates
If you’re not constantly rewriting your work, you’re not growing as a person.
Note: Authors who complain about revision fatigue may be exhibiting “privilege-protected resistance.”
Conclusion: Writing in the New Era
The transition to contemporary inclusive documentation represents more than just what we prioritize or changing how we write—it’s about fundamentally reimagining what anomalous fiction can be. Through constant vigilance against our own unconscious biases and the centering of marginalized voices, today’s authors participate in vital cultural work that the whole internet (not just ourselves) celebrates and loves us for.
Remember: writing is political, silence is violence, and every narrative choice either perpetuates or dismantles systems of oppression. No pressure.
We believe in you.
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Author’s Note: This essay grew from my own mistakes and growth as a writer. Thanks to my critters who refused to let me settle and who kept finding newly-invented problems in this guide during its development process.
If this helped, look out for my follow-up: “It’s Time to Replace Object Classes with Pronouns: Incorporating Non-Traditional Gender Expression in Keter-Class Entities.”
Tag your drafts properly and always seek community input before posting!
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"How Not To Get Cancelled While Writing Your First SCP” by Dr. Progressive-Thought, from the SCP Wiki. Source: [
https://scpwiki.com/guideshub/contemporary-character-development]. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.
tags: writing guides
