SCP Foundation - Creepypasta with roid rage - now ITT: SCP fans

Intro Theme -

There's this organization called the CPS that federally shares its banner with Child Protective Services, uses its offices and naming, but is actually a Pentagon Black Budget Operation known as the Containment and Preservation Service. It was developed in 1958 during Operation Paperclip by a Vichy Physicist working on the occult in Nazi-Occupied France, Naomi Laplace, great-great-great Grandchild of the famous scientist by the same name.

She was researching on making a functioning Laplace's Demon a reality for the Nazis, so they could win the war. What she actually discovered was that our Earth, due to some function of the Big Bang in our universe, was slightly displaced from other dimensions. This displacement caused other dimensions to infringe on our own, dimensions in which the laws of reality and physics differed or did not actually apply to our own. This infringement was expressed as quantum entanglement, meaning that the infringement of other dimensions could not be separated from our own, which meant that the invasion of other dimensions would cause the unique properties of their worlds to be inseparable from our own and co-exist within our own laws of reality, defying our understanding of nature and the universe. The dimensions that infringe and invade our own are known as 'transposed dimensions'.

While no methods of travel between these transposed dimensions are known, the expansion and contract of these universes allows certain objects or even people to be randomly affected by these transposed dimensions. The incidents, in CPS terminology, are known as 'Anomalous Events'. These can result in several phenomenon, branched out into 'major' (world changing) and 'minor' (world infringing):

Minor

Cryptids - Animals affected by anomalous events and changed and altered in some way.
Wahnsins - Humans affected by anomalous events who are extremely dangerous. Their behavior, appearance and form are so outside the norm to be completely alien. Often times they are extremely dangerous and hostile. The term originates from the first human sighted by a unit of German infantry. The entity was not described, but the sole survivor could only repeat one word: "Wahnsinnig", meaning demented or insane.
Changelings - Humans affected by anomalous events who are less dangerous or more human in appearance.
Incarnations - Creatures that have no origin in our world and came through by some unknown means through anomalous events. Non-Sentient or Sentience unknown.
Goetia - Items that have been affected by an anomalous event. They vary greatly, and can be anything from something as innocuous as a pen to something as dangerous as a weapon.

Major

Askashic Event- An anomalous event which reveals or challenges human perception or nature of the universe and significantly alters the course of science. Laplace's discovery of the infringed worlds is the first recorded 'Askashic' since the founding of CPS. For example, discovering how to manipulate transposed dimensions, either sealing them off, traveling through them, or even detecting them, would be an Askashic Event.
Black Sun Event - A grouping of people using any items or creatures in the care of CPS for nefarious purposes. The term comes from the development of the sun wheel in Nazi occultism, as a replacement for the SS logo. It requires immediate action and termination of all individuals involved.
Constructs - The use of several Goetia to form a much more powerful and possibly dangerous one, either through an anomalous event or human construction.
Anthroposophic Event - An occurrence where a person makes contact with a transposed dimension and is able to interpret it with their senses. No person recorded has come out sane. They are often incredibly violent and operate outside the laws of reality. Containment is not possible, only execution.
Animus/Anima - A sentient incarnation. May be totally alien and incomprehensible. Something that has traveled from a transposed dimension into our own. Unknown mode of travel.
Golgotha - An area where an anomalous event is occurring, has occurred or has permanently altered the landscape.

There, I fucking did it Reddit. It only took me a half hour. The formatting took longer than that.

EDIT:

Here, I'll even add the danger levels for you too.

Since this was developed in the late 1950s under an Allied Operation, the NATO phonetic language was used as quick terminology to define events as no terms existed before. While in the 50s, it was improvisation, now it has become standardized, mostly due to habit. Each object is given a character. Some characters have been retired as well, as they have been rendered obsolete by the more modern scale. While characters and numbers were used previously, the numbers were eliminated as the danger classifications were rarely able to be quantified, only estimated. The organization didn't want agents getting complacent in seeing a high or low number. The ambigious designation through the phonetic language adds much more care when handling events. The danger scale works like the DEFCON scale, so the lowest character equals the highest danger, another hold-over from the cold-war era.

The danger typically refers to the anomaly going unchecked and risk exposed to personnel in containment. The terms can also be combined or use singularly. Combinations are used when physical and psychological effects differ. For example, a Delta-Whiskey is equivalent to minimal physical, but high psychological threat. If terms are combined, the physical danger level is always put before the psychological. They can be and are often abbreviated (D-W).

Alpha - The highest level. Possibly world endangering, altering, or ending scenario.
Bravo - High loss of life probable. Equivalent to major natural disaster or major terrorist attack.
Charlie - Medium loss of life probable. Equivalent to a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
Delta - Low loss of life probable. Equivalent to a minor natural disaster or a mass shooting incident (Delta is the most common level)
Echo - High Danger. Severe injury and death possible. This includes total loss of sanity.
Foxtrot - Medium Danger. Injury, maiming and death possible. Irreversible psychological harm is highly likely.
Juliette - Low Danger. Injury and maiming possible. Death unlikely. Psychological harm is highly likely, but reversible through counseling and training.
Kilo - Minimal danger. Injury and maiming unlikely. Death very rare. Psychological harm possible.
Whiskey - High Psychological Danger. Permeant mental illness, insanity or impairment highly likely.
Victor - Medium Psychological Danger. Permeant mental illness or impairment highly likely.
X-Ray - Low Psychological Danger. Reversible mental illness or impairment likely.
Zulu - No physical or psychological danger (if psychological, temporary symptoms that go away with no permeant or ill effects. A curiosity)

There's one special designation:

November - Threat unknown or cannot currently be assessed.

EDIT 2:
I'll even make a wikipage when I have time. All this is not free for anyone to use yet, its my shit for now. And not because I think this will be valuable. Its because I'm a cunt.
Unsettlingly similar to the RPC Authority, yet still better than SCP in every way. Authors have resorted to making SCP out to be this ancient, mystical super-organization that can never do any wrong and has literal gods for O5s. At least this and RPC are somewhat bound in reality and has a setting that actively discourages what SCP is doing; but it really takes no effort at all to make a simple universe like this.

God, I miss Wayward...
 
The actual problem is that having every single character be some different, unique form of Queer is that trope almost to the point of parody.
It's ludicrous and if that were reality the species would be extinct within a generation. These people are goddamn idiots, and seem to be dedicated to proving every single thing lunatics like the Phelps clan claimed to be true. Absolutely fuck these idiots.
 
Could have been a Warehouse 13 thing. It was a SyFy channel series that dropped at about the same time as SCP started, so it would be around before it became popular at least. I could see that as some little interactive thingy on the series website.

warehouse 13 always felt like it was lowkey ripping off the librarian (which is from 2004).

Quest for the Spear introduces Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle), who is hired by the Metropolitan Public Library as The Librarian. What Flynn does not realize is that the library has existed for centuries and protects a range of historical and often magical items in a secret section of the library, including The Ark of the Covenant, Pandora's box, and Excalibur. When part of the Spear of Destiny is stolen from the library, Flynn must recover it with the help of Nicole Noone.

as @Gar For Archer said the concept itself isn't anything new.
 
See? That’s literally all you have to do! Just throw some renamed ideas onto the wall, ask a couple of elaborating questions to yourself, and voila! The aesthetic of SCP with none of the baggage.

Hell, I’d argue writing is the easiest artistic sphere to mark as your own. You don’t need the budget that kills off most indie film and game projects. If you’re so upset about an author or literary series going to shit, writing an “OC donut steal” just takes a few minutes on a keyboard.
Oh, writing is seriously great. I think it is easy to get into, but very difficult to master. While it doesn't take as much skill, coming up with an organic story and dialogue is fucking hard. I mean, if you want to make yourself feel better, hop on fan-fic sites and go to town. Doesn't need to be quality. It honestly doesn't take much to create this setting. To write narratively about it and maintain it, that's another thing entirely. And while I could go deeper, is anyone really interested? Am I? Do I want to write a ton of exposition? I already have a story note-book filled with ideas I haven't explored. What makes this project I came up with in an hour or so worth my other ideas? So that's the complication in it.

What I basically wrote is all exposition. Its not really a story, its more of like a wiki article. Exposition is basically the easiest shit in the world to write. You don't need characters, you don't need dialogue, you're just basically expositing on something. Which is why I don't get if people hate the SCP admins so much they don't just make their own. Because all SCP is really is just fuck tons of exposition with some shorts thrown. If I wrote the setting as a story...probably end up being a novella, maybe around 90 pages or so, narrated in first person by Laplace.

This is why exposition is easy. I don't need to write 90 pages to get what I want across. I don't give a shit what people say. Exposition is piss-easy to write. Of course, the massive downside to exposition is that:

1) It lacks emotion. Which is why I posted fucking Sunn O)) to set the mood for me while you read it. Yes, its a cheap trick. But its very difficult to get emotional resonance out of exposition unless you're actively fucking with the reader in a real story, ala 'House of Leaves'. Especially to me, when I don't get scared much by horror.

2) Anyone can do it. A double edged sword. While anyone can do it, not everyone can make it work. The problem is you get fenced in by autistic details and your exposition goes on...and on....and on....and on. If you're solely writing exposition you MUST keep brevity in mind. My whole thing up there is 650 words (excluding the whole classification angle). Which is a bit more than a page. Just enough to keep a reader's attention but not enough to bore them out of their fucking mind. Because exposition is emotionally lacking, it is very difficult to hold a reader's attention for a long period of time, unless you wrap it in story trappings with characters and dialogue. Then you can go longer.

3) You are violating the CORE principle of writing: Show, don't tell. Exposition is all show. Its a short-cut basically. You have to understand you're violating it, why its important and how to overcome what you're cutting out. This requires some basic sense of writing. Which is why in novels and stories they're 'exposition dumps', basically explaining something very complex to you very quickly.

You know why a lot of stories have that one guy who is a newbie who doesn't understand things? Or there's a stranger in a strange land? Yeah, he's basically there to ground you into this setting without going into pages and pages of exposition. Especially if you're talking about a novel. I mean, its not always bad. When you're writing, sometimes you're forced to do exposition because it doesn't fit in the flow of the story and you've tried to make it fit. Or unraveling that exposition is going to be overly long and get in the way of the narrative you're trying to tell.

4) Even if you are doing exposition, you still need a narrative flow. You are writing like a wiki article, but the people reading it want to be entertained. Nobody is entertained reading Wikipedia. If you don't get narrative flow, you're just going to fuck it up.

So yeah, exposition is very simple. But for four reasons, its very difficult to use solely as your tool. Inserting ideology into exposition is a recipe for disaster. The format you're writing in is already low in its emotional core and already risking losing the reader. To throw ideology into that? Anything you write is just going to look like a wiki for propaganda with some fictional elements. Because you have nothing to protect you. You don't have those 90 pages to wrap that ideology in a blanket and maybe integrate it. You've got maybe 1,000 words. 1,500-2,000 if you think its interesting enough.

So you've got a dry format, which is risky, you don't have the length to make the ideology palatable and if you're making it ideological either half or all of it needs to be composed of that ideology. And nobody wants to read a thinly veiled fictional wiki article as a vehicle for an author's personal politics. And obviously these go much longer, but that's the limit of the format. You go long, you lose.

Either you want a very light fiction, ideological collection of exposition from a multitude of authors or you want a heavy fiction one. You can't combine them. So that's basically what's happening with SCP. You're taking an already shaky writing format and applying way more weight than it can possibly handle. And that's why its shit.
Unsettlingly similar to the RPC Authority, yet still better than SCP in every way. Authors have resorted to making SCP out to be this ancient, mystical super-organization that can never do any wrong and has literal gods for O5s. At least this and RPC are somewhat bound in reality and has a setting that actively discourages what SCP is doing; but it really takes no effort at all to make a simple universe like this.

God, I miss Wayward...
I don't know what the RPC Authority is. I had goals in mind: Ground it in reality. Naming terminology shouldn't be gobbledeguk like Keter or what the fuck ever. I want it occult and Lovecraftian, so naming terminology will be from occult. I do want one name based on seeing something unknown. French words are too much like English. So I go with German.

But you're right, it honestly doesn't. The problem lies with authors taking everything to the max and just making it something it shouldn't be. And rather boring. Mine has an insane old fucking woman running it who used to work for the Nazis. She's not a God. Or a demon. And the orginization is run by the US Government and NATO, so figure how much wrong it can do.

But that's the horror element. I want it to be imperfect. I want there to be insanity. I don't want there to be answers. I want them to fuck up and get it wrong. There's also different goals in mind too. With mine, I'm more interested exploring Lovecraft and the Occult, and sticking to those themes. With SCP, its all over the board. And with that many authors, it gets difficult to contradict each other.

In mine, everything is based on unreliable narrators who have gone insane from the things they've seen and they've done. You can't trust anything. When one entry contradicts another, is that just bureaucratic fuckery? Is that just the ramblings of a janitor who got the access keys one night to make an entry? Is it Laplace herself, going back and editing based on her delusions? Who knows. The problem with SCP, is that it doesn't allow for writers to contradict each other. Mine, everyone's crazy. You can't trust anyone. Its a Black Budget government agency founded on lies. So have contradictions. Make them! That's how you keep exposition interesting.

It makes readers go, 'Hey, maybe these aren't contradictions, maybe there's something meta going on.' Fuck, link several entries and have your readers try to solve certain mysteries. There are so many ways to go. The absolute last thing I'd want in a project like this is 'canon' or 'pure lore'. Nah, everyone's insane and there are mysteries to be solved here. So explore, contradict, interact. Do all that good shit. That's how you make dry exposition engaging for a reader.

Not a super perfect organization and self insert characters.

warehouse 13 always felt like it was lowkey ripping off the librarian (which is from 2004).

Quest for the Spear introduces Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle), who is hired by the Metropolitan Public Library as The Librarian. What Flynn does not realize is that the library has existed for centuries and protects a range of historical and often magical items in a secret section of the library, including The Ark of the Covenant, Pandora's box, and Excalibur. When part of the Spear of Destiny is stolen from the library, Flynn must recover it with the help of Nicole Noone.

as @Gar For Archer said the concept itself isn't anything new.
They're both ripping off 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (Actually Warehouse 13 is a direct homage to it):

raiders_of_the_lost_ark_warehouse_scene.jpg


Its just like, "What are in those crates? They're storing a doomsday artifact HERE? Holy shit.' And that spurs the imagination. This whole fucking genre is based on this one fucking ending scene. Which is why Spielberg was a genius in those days. By the by, the whole thing where he turns? Its a mat painting. Fucking gorgeous shit.
 
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I don't know what the RPC Authority is. I had goals in mind: Ground it in reality. Naming terminology shouldn't be gobbledeguk like Keter or what the fuck ever. I want it occult and Lovecraftian, so naming terminology will be from occult. I do want one name based on seeing something unknown. French words are too much like English. So I go with German.
The RPC Authority's backstory is basically just SCP but if it was based in actual history instead of just *existing*. Again, it really isn't hard to conjure. SCP started out as a complete mystery and now people are trying to preserve that nostalgic sense of mysticism while simultaneously lumping more and more technobabble on top. In essence, they're wrapping flesh around a fossil and hoping it stands by itself. CPS and RPC at least add some muscle.
 
So you've got a dry format, which is risky, you don't have the length to make the ideology palatable and if you're making it ideological either half or all of it needs to be composed of that ideology.
This is the core of the original SCPs, though. It actually is a dry and even bureaucratic formula. The best SCPs use this somewhat tortured format to present the idea of something utterly awful and terrifying, but without actually just jumping in and forcing it down your throat. Think of Lovecraft at his best when he would hint at something, rather than Lovecraft at his worst, when he would just carpet bomb the story with obscure adjectives.

SCP was never just supposed to be a torrent of retarded fanfics and OCs.
 
Here's the last few Dexanote PMs. I might have missed some stuff, but this is most of it at least.
 

Attachments

Authors have resorted to making SCP out to be this ancient, mystical super-organization that can never do any wrong and has literal gods for O5s.
That's why stories like SCUTTLE are so important to keep in mind - the Foundation is an elaborate machine being maintained by flawed human beings - and when things go wrong, they can go catastrophically wrong.
 
This shit is why Colour Out of Space is still scary but Shadow over Innsmouth is hilarious.
There's another Lovecraft story that's basically just Shadow over Innsmouth, except the twist is that the main character discovered that his grandfather went to Africa and fucked an ape, and therefore he's part-ape.

The RPC Authority's backstory is basically just SCP but if it was based in actual history instead of just *existing*. Again, it really isn't hard to conjure. SCP started out as a complete mystery and now people are trying to preserve that nostalgic sense of mysticism while simultaneously lumping more and more technobabble on top. In essence, they're wrapping flesh around a fossil and hoping it stands by itself. CPS and RPC at least add some muscle.
My favorite -001 is "The Consensus", whose premise is basically that pre-Foundation, around the time of WWI there was an Occult War that was erased from existence, except for the memories of 13 people, who all happened to have high-ranking positions within various world powers' anomalous investigation/containment departments. The SCP Foundation was the result of a treaty that essentially brought all of these organizations under the same umbrella (hence explaining the Foundation's world-wide power) and the 13 individuals becoming the first O5 Council, with their primary job being to vote on whether new discoveries would be considered "anomalous", or if they'd be explainable by scientific principles. I really like this one because it gives a grounded and realistic take on the Foundation's origin, and also addresses the important question of how it's decided whether or not something is anomalous or just incredibly scientifically advanced. Of course there's also plenty of anomalous alt-history thrown in, which I'm always a sucker for.
 
My favorite -001 is "The Consensus", whose premise is basically that pre-Foundation, around the time of WWI there was an Occult War that was erased from existence, except for the memories of 13 people, who all happened to have high-ranking positions within various world powers' anomalous investigation/containment departments. The SCP Foundation was the result of a treaty that essentially brought all of these organizations under the same umbrella (hence explaining the Foundation's world-wide power) and the 13 individuals becoming the first O5 Council, with their primary job being to vote on whether new discoveries would be considered "anomalous", or if they'd be explainable by scientific principles. I really like this one because it gives a grounded and realistic take on the Foundation's origin, and also addresses the important question of how it's decided whether or not something is anomalous or just incredibly scientifically advanced. Of course there's also plenty of anomalous alt-history thrown in, which I'm always a sucker for.

It’s also one of two 001 entries that isn’t an anomaly at all, the other one being
O5-13

Any 001 should have an ironclad, baked-in explanation as to why it is designated 001 in universe, and Normalcy does that real well.
 
It’s also one of two 001 entries that isn’t an anomaly at all, the other one being
O5-13

Any 001 should have an ironclad, baked-in explanation as to why it is designated 001 in universe, and Normalcy does that real well.
It’s interesting that Normalcy’s O5-13 is also just a normal dude.. I wonder if one was inspired by the other.
 
And everyone keep in mind that what @Secret Asshole is saying? That's writing 101. You learn that in high school creative writing classes, let alone a college course. These guys, for all their bluster, should already know this shit.
They don't have to, because most of their readers know nothing about writing techniques beyond the very basics, and don't really care about the technical stuff behind writing good fiction. Like Kaktus says in those logs, you can fairly easily get an article to a satisfactory rating just by prettying it up. If you have a basic understanding of writing techniques on top of that, you're going to be consistently getting +100 articles. If you're concerned exclusively with writing popular articles, like many of the site's contemporary authors are, you don't need much beyond what you would learn in the first few months of a basic high school creative writing class, so it's not surprising that many of SCP's most popular authors are missing this stuff.
 
They don't have to, because most of their readers know nothing about writing techniques beyond the very basics, and don't really care about the technical stuff behind writing good fiction. Like Kaktus says in those logs, you can fairly easily get an article to a satisfactory rating just by prettying it up. If you have a basic understanding of writing techniques on top of that, you're going to be consistently getting +100 articles. If you're concerned exclusively with writing popular articles, like many of the site's contemporary authors are, you don't need much beyond what you would learn in the first few months of a basic high school creative writing class, so it's not surprising that many of SCP's most popular authors are missing this stuff.
This is also how Michael Bay got away with making five Transformers movies
 
They don't have to, because most of their readers know nothing about writing techniques beyond the very basics, and don't really care about the technical stuff behind writing good fiction. Like Kaktus says in those logs, you can fairly easily get an article to a satisfactory rating just by prettying it up. If you have a basic understanding of writing techniques on top of that, you're going to be consistently getting +100 articles. If you're concerned exclusively with writing popular articles, like many of the site's contemporary authors are, you don't need much beyond what you would learn in the first few months of a basic high school creative writing class, so it's not surprising that many of SCP's most popular authors are missing this stuff.
I mean, the point is with writing techniques and the technical style, readers don't need to know it. What I'm saying naturally draws people in. They don't have to know jack shit about writing. Its the exact same thing with the rule of thirds. Most people don't have a fucking clue what it is, and they couldn't tell you why an image following it is better than an image not following it. Even Michael Bay follows the 'Rule of Thirds', because he's all visual.

The only one who needs to know the technical aspects of writing is the writer. Because these aspects are there to capture an audience. Its like directing a movie or making music. The audience doesn't need to know the technicalities or why and how they're being used. Would most people know I threw a Sunn O)) track up there to manipulate them emotionally and get them in the mood, because exposition lacks emotion in writing? No, they'd think its cool (and it is, and I like doing it to set moods and get people amped up. I always write to music and music that inspires me on repeat). Sometimes I visualize what I want the plot to be to the 'soundtrack' of the music. But that's my process and I can talk about that another time if anyone gives a fuck, since its neither here nor there. But I'm doing it for the emotional manipulation. I'm not just throwing it out there for reasons. I didn't want to fire up photoshop and waste time, I needed something quick and dirty and that was it. Good writers are like Indians; every part of the buffalo is used. Nothing is in there for no reason.

Readers don't need to be aware, and oftentimes, aren't of writings technical aspects. Which can get very deep and difficult. I mean, SCP content that's popular is just going to be pretty with maybe one interesting idea and just make it as visually appealing as possible. The audience guides the authors. If you're a great artist and a shit writer, you'll probably have a better chance of making a popular article than an amazing writer who can't draw.

Because remember, even if the authors don't realize what they're doing, they're strengthening the garbage of their writing and the weakness of the format with something that resonates emotionally, and that's what is going to hit readers.

I mean, it depends on what you want out of it too. Since its a community project, what is better for it? Strong writing or good illustrators (but awful writers)? I mean, since its all about dem clicks, you're going to go with the latter. But then the quality of the content plummets and you begin to rely solely on illustrators and all of a sudden you don't really have a writing project anymore. You've got a bunch of shitty writers who can draw and photoshop well. To me...well...

That's good for you, great. But, honestly, who gives a fuck? If you can't write in a writing project, I don't really care. Normies and the masses have garbage fucking taste so I don't give a shit if it makes you the prom queen.
This is also how Michael Bay got away with making five Transformers movies
Pretty much. Nobody is watching a Michael Bay movie for the writing. Movies and visual media can basically have terrible narratives but be appealing in other ways. I'm talking about solely writing.
 
I mean, the point is with writing techniques and the technical style, readers don't need to know it. What I'm saying naturally draws people in. They don't have to know jack shit about writing. Its the exact same thing with the rule of thirds. Most people don't have a fucking clue what it is, and they couldn't tell you why an image following it is better than an image not following it. Even Michael Bay follows the 'Rule of Thirds', because he's all visual.

The only one who needs to know the technical aspects of writing is the writer. Because these aspects are there to capture an audience. Its like directing a movie or making music. The audience doesn't need to know the technicalities or why and how they're being used. Would most people know I threw a Sunn O)) track up there to manipulate them emotionally and get them in the mood, because exposition lacks emotion in writing? No, they'd think its cool (and it is, and I like doing it to set moods and get people amped up. I always write to music and music that inspires me on repeat). Sometimes I visualize what I want the plot to be to the 'soundtrack' of the music. But that's my process and I can talk about that another time if anyone gives a fuck, since its neither here nor there. But I'm doing it for the emotional manipulation. I'm not just throwing it out there for reasons. I didn't want to fire up photoshop and waste time, I needed something quick and dirty and that was it. Good writers are like Indians; every part of the buffalo is used. Nothing is in there for no reason.

Readers don't need to be aware, and oftentimes, aren't of writings technical aspects. Which can get very deep and difficult. I mean, SCP content that's popular is just going to be pretty with maybe one interesting idea and just make it as visually appealing as possible. The audience guides the authors. If you're a great artist and a shit writer, you'll probably have a better chance of making a popular article than an amazing writer who can't draw.

Because remember, even if the authors don't realize what they're doing, they're strengthening the garbage of their writing and the weakness of the format with something that resonates emotionally, and that's what is going to hit readers.

I mean, it depends on what you want out of it too. Since its a community project, what is better for it? Strong writing or good illustrators (but awful writers)? I mean, since its all about dem clicks, you're going to go with the latter. But then the quality of the content plummets and you begin to rely solely on illustrators and all of a sudden you don't really have a writing project anymore. You've got a bunch of shitty writers who can draw and photoshop well. To me...well...

That's good for you, great. But, honestly, who gives a fuck? If you can't write in a writing project, I don't really care. Normies and the masses have garbage fucking taste so I don't give a shit if it makes you the prom queen.

Pretty much. Nobody is watching a Michael Bay movie for the writing. Movies and visual media can basically have terrible narratives but be appealing in other ways. I'm talking about solely writing.
What is so unfortunately ironic is that the audience should be aware of the technical aspects of writing, and it's their lack of understanding that often allows garbage narratives to flourish. The ability to critically analyze works of literature (and other art forms for that matter) is a crucial skill that allows an individual to enjoy a work beyond the surface level. Take Shakespeare as the obvious example: one doesn't need to understand literary devices to enjoy Romeo & Juliet, but one simply can't interact with the work in any other way than saying "that was a nice story. I liked the Romance. It was sad that they died at the end".

I'm not saying everyone needs an English literature degree to enjoy things, I'm saying the lackadaisical attitude of just consuming whatever comes your way without a second thought perpetuates an endless cycle of bad writing.

There are people on this planet who enjoyed Jack & Jill. That's a thought more horrifying than any SCP.
 
They're both ripping off 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (Actually Warehouse 13 is a direct homage to it):

Its just like, "What are in those crates? They're storing a doomsday artifact HERE? Holy shit.' And that spurs the imagination. This whole fucking genre is based on this one fucking ending scene. Which is why Spielberg was a genius in those days. By the by, the whole thing where he turns? Its a mat painting. Fucking gorgeous shit.

eh, for me that scene was more about the abyss that is government bureaucracy, storing shit somewhere they have no use for. there's nothing about a group dedicated to collection artifact and other stuff for the sole purpose of it. besides, that's probably much older concept anyway, wouldn't be surprised if that came up in some obscure pulp novel first.

I'm not saying everyone needs an English literature degree to enjoy things, I'm saying the lackadaisical attitude of just consuming whatever comes your way without a second thought perpetuates an endless cycle of bad writing.

everything's relative tho, even outside the objective technicalities (which imo aren't necessary to enjoy something since it doesn't always add anything even when you know it) even the most pleb will agree that jack & jill is hardly on the level of shakespeare. they might not know why or could explain it, but they still understand the difference.
 
What is so unfortunately ironic is that the audience should be aware of the technical aspects of writing, and it's their lack of understanding that often allows garbage narratives to flourish. The ability to critically analyze works of literature (and other art forms for that matter) is a crucial skill that allows an individual to enjoy a work beyond the surface level. Take Shakespeare as the obvious example: one doesn't need to understand literary devices to enjoy Romeo & Juliet, but one simply can't interact with the work in any other way than saying "that was a nice story. I liked the Romance. It was sad that they died at the end".

I'm not saying everyone needs an English literature degree to enjoy things, I'm saying the lackadaisical attitude of just consuming whatever comes your way without a second thought perpetuates an endless cycle of bad writing.

There are people on this planet who enjoyed Jack & Jill. That's a thought more horrifying than any SCP.
I really should do a thread on narratives, what makes a good narrative, what makes a bad narrative and how to write them competently. But I'm longwinded, so it'd probably be like 30 pages.

I mean, yes. If you don't understand the technical aspects and why things go the way they do, it really hurts your enjoyment. Like I couldn't imagine not knowing and identifying circular narratives because holy fucking shit, if you can make a circular narrative? You're a fucking master. Especially in a book series or TV series. If you can do that? You have mastered the narrative art. You get pleasure out of noticing how the narrative is working, the themes, the tones, why the story is written the way it is. Though, nobody really knows anymore or cares. They don't look at it analytically, which is sad. We've lost something. Which is why a lot of entertainment sucks. If the audience had a bare bones knowledge and saw how that made things infinitely more enjoyable, we'd be living in a far different world of entertainment.

And it does, really. And honestly, I don't have an English degree. But I cross all lines. I went from soft science to hard science (not an easy line to cross) and on top of that I know how to write. Was I trained? I did have a good high school creative writing teacher. That's about it though. I've been writing since I could hold a pen. I've consumed and dissected so many narratives its crazy. Every single thing I watch or read or even fucking listen to if its music, I look at its narrative structure. How its built. Why the things are put the way they are. For me, its automatic. I can typically tell when a writer pulled something out of his ass, had a plan and deviated or continued that plan to the bitter fucking end. Most people don't give a shit. But if you understand that, your enjoyment of pretty much literally everything you consume as entertainment will go up.

Its because they want to turn their brains off. They don't care about maximizing their enjoyment. They just want to sit there and not think. So yeah. It is horrifying, and you can basically blame the normie idiots who consume gruel like that because everyone wants that demo because they'll eat shit and tell you its pumpkin pie.

everything's relative tho, even outside the objective technicalities (which imo aren't necessary to enjoy something since it doesn't always add anything even when you know it) even the most pleb will agree that jack & jill is hardly on the level of shakespeare. they might not know why or could explain it, but they still understand the difference.
I fully and heartily fucking disagree with this. Knowing how and why everything comes together makes you appreciate the work even more. I've experienced it, people I know have experienced it, and I'm constantly reading about other people's experiences about how knowing the technicalities of something made them appreciate it and enjoy it more. You honestly couldn't be any more wrong.

They don't. They'll just say they don't want to think, turn their brain off and they'll tell you Shakespeare was better because its older. They don't have a fucking clue, because if they did, Jack and Jill wouldn't exist. People with shitty taste would, but if they had half an inkling why, the very bottom of the barrel would be different.
 
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Its because they want to turn their brains off. They don't care about maximizing their enjoyment. They just want to sit there and not think. So yeah. It is horrifying, and you can basically blame the normie idiots who consume gruel like that because everyone wants that demo because they'll eat shit and tell you its pumpkin pie.
"it's like being dead for 90 minutes, but you're eating popcorn"
-Rich Evans
 
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