#i really dont think its a good idea to edit surface-level details that early in the drafting process

[kl-writes]

SCP Writing Hacks

Disclaimer: I’m a “draft-first” writer, not an “outline-first” writer. Not all of this advice will work for you. These are just lessons I’ve learned from trial and error on the site. Some of this might be useful for writers elsewhere, but it’s pretty focused on the SCP writing process.

This is mostly aimed at other new/inexperienced writers. There’s no way around some level of failure, either with harsh crit on a draft or a failed article. But maybe this can help you find the right approach.

0. The only way to get better at writing is by reading and writing. Write many, many drafts. Stick with the ones you like. Trash the ones you don’t like.

1. The ideas forum is a helpful springboard, but other than as a filter for cliches or overdone tropes, it is not a good place to develop the actual idea.

This is because the feedback you get is going to be fairly “shallow” in terms of story. It can be okay for plot, setting, and gimmicks, but it won’t help you with your “story.” Or, more accurately, your theme and the heart of your story. If you look at the discussions there, you’ll see that a lot of the development going on is about lore. Now, I find this as a good venue for writer’s block. But what you need to be more concerned with at the beginning of your story is theme, emotion, and heart.

SCP entries aren’t really SCP entries, they’re stories. And stories need to be about something- there must be some change or lesson. This is best developed by trying to evoke an emotion in the reader. Common ones might be fear, wonder, dread, etc. in SCPs. Starting with the core and working out might be better than starting with the lore and making it matter to the reader. Sometimes you can get the core from the lore, but I’ve always found it easier to get the lore from the core.

Consider: Is the heart of SCP-3000 a fish that wipes minds, or is there something else driving the article? What parts of it draw you in as a reader, and where are the points of tension?

2. Don’t post your draft to the draft forum unless it is at least on its 2nd or 3rd draft.

If you have superficial typos, your crit will be about those and won’t be as helpful for getting your article to a place where it can be published. There are three rounds of editing you should go through: Content, Tone, Formatting.

Content should be focused around identifying the different ‘beats’ of the story, the rise and fall of tension. You should be able to identify the climax easily. Additionally, make sure the reader is receiving all the information they need, and in the right order. This is the most artsy part of the editing process, but it’s also (IMO) the most important. People will overlook tone and formatting errors if it’s a gripping story.

Tone is about cleaning up word choice and sentence rhythm/structure. This isn’t just about a clinical tone, it’s about readability. Authentic/believable is always better than factual/realistic. Readability is more important than authenticity. You can use a few footnotes, but don’t overdo it. It’s good to do your research and be scientifically accurate, but comprehension is more important than precision. “Ripple” will do just as well as (If not better than) “longitudinal wave,” even if the latter is closer to what is going on.

Formatting is just spell check, grammar, and making sure the format of your draft matches what’s on the site. Copy-paste your article into google docs (or Word), change the font, and read it out loud. This will catch 95% of your errors. If you feel like wasting paper, printing it out helps some people, but at least for me, bumping up the size and choosing a different font will work just as well.

Once you have done these steps, post your draft.

3. You don’t need a finished draft to seek crit in the IRC.

This one helps me out a lot. I get stuck pretty easily, since I have a hard time ‘powering through-’ I tend to edit as I write the first draft, which is a bad habit. However, if you’re about halfway through a draft, and stuck, looking for crit might be a good idea. There could be a flaw in the first part of what you’ve written that you haven’t caught yet. But be specific about what you’re looking for- if you’re trying to break writer’s block, quibbling over word choice probably won’t help you.

4. Most of your learning about writing should come outside of SCP.

I know that some people like to say that SCP is ‘publishing-quality,’ but it’s not. It’s SCP publishing-quality. There are some quirks in the writing style, commonly accepted on the site, that might make mainstream publishers gag. Similarly, there are published works that would make SCP readers gag. Philosophically, I think it’s better to focus on being a good writer rather than being a good SCP writer- if you achieve the former, than the latter is simply about learning the format.

For the beginning writer, I recommend TvTropes- this can help you dissect what it is you like about the books you read. A lot of the books about writing by writers aren’t very useful, or at least weren’t useful until I had been writing for years (Looking at you, Stephen King’s On Writing).

A few materials I found useful: Screenwriting is Storytelling, Understanding Comics/Making Comics/Reinventing Comics, On Writing (The second time I read it, five years later. It was dense and unhelpful the first time), Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling

When you practice writing, try not to practice in one genre. I’m pretty much all speculative fiction, but looking into mysteries and victorian-era literature has been extremely helpful for understanding stories. I also urge you to try multiple mediums.

5. Seek crit from multiple sources.

5-6 is a good number to aim for. 10-11 is better. Avoid making major content changes unless 2 people have looked at it, but make tone and formatting fixes as needed between critters.

WARNING: If someone just says “It looks nice” and has nothing else to say, that doesn’t count as crit. Your peers are in the IRC, too, make sure you are taking into consideration how much your critter has written, and what they have written. If you are writing a GAW article, you probably shouldn’t look for crit from someone who hates GAW.

On my most recent article, I kept looking for crit until someone (Who I checked was an experienced writer) straight-up told me to publish it.

6. The points don’t matter. Your goal should be to tell a story, not to get internet points. Unless there’s a dollar sign attached, you shouldn’t worry about the numbers.

Not really the best advice for new writers, but I’ve seen experienced writers on the site get stressed in chat because an article is dropping their ‘average.’ It’s far better to be risky, experiment, and get mixed reviews on an article than to bend to the whims of whatever’s popular. You will learn more, and that is far better in the long term. Remember: You are pouring hours of your life into a work of art and giving it away for free. Be patient with harsh critique, but understand that a “bad” article does NOT mean you wasted your time, or even that you lack talent.