 Guaranteed this is functioning before I actually do today. Okay. Hey there, Foundation staff. Welcome to Skip Dutation Live. My name is Sherman, and in case you're new to the channel, this live stream is for hanging out with me while I do recording. I have got my microphone set up, laptop ready to record, mic is checked. Let me open up the YouTube chat. Do-do-do, live streaming, do-do-do, please work, do-do-do. We're gonna do the live stream thing. That's my live stream dance, apparently. All right, so we're in the stream, heading over to the control room, and the chat is up. Excellent, let's, I don't need to see anything except the chat, so I'll put that there. Cool. All right, live stream chat is up and running. So if you guys wanna hang out on the stream, that's the place to go, YouTube slash, site 42 slash stuff, whatever. Today's recording, we're going to be doing a Sherms Declassified on how to write an SCP. Now, there is a wonderful, crazy thorough guide on how to write an SCP on the wiki, and it's really, really long, and it's really, really dense, and I'm certain that a lot of people don't read the whole thing. So what we're gonna do today is we're gonna summarize. We're gonna get the bulk of the general points out there, and we're gonna steer people to go read it, because honestly, if you wanna be a good writer, you've gotta be a good reader. And so if you wanna write, there should be a way to test that everyone's read that entire guide, because brain, smart, right, good. Exactly, you know what I mean. So we've got our audacity, we've got our chat, and send out the Discord announcement. Yeah, if any of you are on Discord, check the links below this because we will have a Site 42 Discord channel now. That's pretty cool. Everyone's chatting and talking about writing and stuff like that. Talking about the shows, talking about writing scripts and things, and SCP writing stuff. So yeah, if that's the thing you're into, awesome, join us on that. So now it's time to get down to the script. So, phase one, introduction. Hey there, Foundation staff, Sherm here. Welcome to Sherm's Declassified Skip Survival Guide. Today, we're gonna cover one of the most fundamental topics to our community, how to write an SCP. First and foremost, I am adapting from summarizing and sometimes straight up lifting text. It's rat. All right, let's back that up. Adapting from summarizing and sometimes straight up lifting text from the wonderfully thorough how to write an SCP guide on the wiki. It is brilliant, go read it. It is very long, so consider this an introduction to concepts covered. But seriously, if you want to be a good writer, it's assumed you should also be a good reader. Go read the whole thing. Link in the description and whatnot. To start, you should have a bare minimum of three things with an additional optional fourth. Number one, an idea for an anomaly. You can get ideas from anywhere, things that scare you, things that trip you out, creepy pictures, funny pictures, everything could be an idea if you looked at it from the right angle. Sidebar, probably don't try to say, oh, I saw this awesome character from a show and they're an SCP now. That's probably not gonna fly. Pop culture is fairly off limits. Number two, reasonable containment procedures. Remember that the foundation motto is secure, contain, and protect, not destroy, destroy, and destroy. We want to study these things, not get rid of them. We also aren't monsters. Well, most of the time, sorry, 231-7. So we will give... Drat. Let me go back and check that. I'm not sure I like some of that. Welcome to the chat, whoever's here. Just to study these things, not get rid of them. We also aren't monsters. Well, most of the time, sorry, 231-7. So we will give... Oh, nice, I like how I read that. That works for me. All right, let's cut that up. Ah, good morning, Archie Budge. Or good afternoon, Archie Budge. Or good late afternoon, depending on where you are, time's unwise. How are you doing today? But put that in. Ah, good evening to you, Archie Budge. And sometimes straight up... All right, so there we go. With the time, sorry, 231-7. Sorry, 231-7. All right, continuing on. Go down, scroll down. So we will give reasonable amenities to humanoid SCPs so we don't blow up the on-site shrinks budget. Last but not least, don't blow the containment budget on useless minutia. Not everything needs on-site nukes or exacting specifications to contain them. If you think it does, make sure you justify why those things are necessary. Number three, a description. And here's where we get to talk about technical writing and clinical tone. When I say technical writing, I mean that many articles on the Wiki get downvoted to deletion immediately because the writer didn't bother to spell check, use proper grammar, or even make complete sentences. Don't be that kind of author. Write your article, leave it alone for a day, come back and see if you can find any errors and clean it up. If you can't find any, send it to a friend or put it in the drafts form to get some outside critique. If you wouldn't get an A in writing class for it, it won't survive on the Wiki. Regarding clinical tone. A standard SCP document is written from the perspective of an SCP researcher and our researchers are chosen because of their exceptional professional aptitude. They would not put fart jokes in a technical document and neither should you. You also shouldn't write this like a horror novel using oodles of adjectives. One of the biggest charms of the SCP style is how we hide the horror behind of the near of plain description because we see this all the time and it ain't no thing. A great example from the style guide, if describing a werewolf, you should not write, the entity is a 10 foot tall wolf man with glowing crimson eyes and teeth like decors. It's howls and shivers down your spine as if you instinctively know that we are its prey. Instead, write something like, the entity is a cane in biped approximately three meters in length. It has luminescent red eyes and prominent incisors. Its vocalizations universally trigger a fear reflex in human subjects. Number four, a B story. This one is optional, but as the site has evolved, it seems to be the big trend. Looking back on series one, there are many articles that are, this is an anomaly, what acts weird and that's weird to us. So let's keep it in a box and that's it. But from series two onwards, having a story to tell besides, we found a weird thing that does a weird thing is typically the norm. The B story can be related to how your object was created, who created your object, what your object is attempting to do when it gets loose, what it was doing when you found it, anything really as long as it is interesting, we can be weaved, draft. Man, I had a really good streak going there. I made about three minutes without a mistake. Combo. Time, sorry, two, three, one, dash seven. So we will give reasonable amenities to you. That is fair, RG. I do understand, I think the chat has a delay to it. So it's like, you've asked a question and then a little while later, the question comes up. That's why I actually like to say the question on the stream because even now, once we get done with the stream and I upload the archive, no one sees the comments. So you're like, oh, he just stopped talking and started talking about another random thing unless I address the person who asked it and what they said first. But we cope the way we can, right? Anything at all as long as it is interesting. This can be weaved throughout your containment and description sections and can be, oops. This can be weaved throughout your, nope, can't say that word today. This can be weaved throughout your containment and description sections and can be expanded upon with test logs, recovered journals, exploration logs, recovery logs, et cetera. I'm not saying you need any of those extra bits at all. You just need to do as much as it takes to make your story clear and interesting. As a personal example, the SCP I wrote started with the main section and two addendums, but expanded to six addendums as extra bits of story grew organically. All right, so now you have the base four things you need to write an SCP. I'm gonna take a very abridged look at some extra details. Actually, I said that pretty well. I'm sorry that I have to delete that. Draft, no keyboard, go away. Go away, Google Docs, stop messing with me. Four things you need to write an SCP. I'm going to take a very abridged look at some extra details that will help round out your SCP writing experience. Again, for more tips, go read the main guide, dang it. First-timers rule, make sure your SCP can be understood by someone if it were their first visit to the site. We want to welcome more people to the fan base after all. Censorship, redactions, data expunged, and black boxes should be used to create mystery and draw your reader in or used to cut out irrelevant data such as names, dates, or times, the way that a secretive organization would likely do. Always make sure that you know what's behind the censorship. Don't just block it out so you don't have to write something, we can tell. Also, never censor any of your container procedures. How are we supposed to contain it if you don't tell us how? Measurements, the foundation uses the international system of units. So don't measure in feet or inches, you dirty Americans. Signed a dirty American. Danger level, making something super gory or the most dangerous thing ever, nomadically make it interesting. You can make a universe ending entity that drowns us all in pig grizzle but you have to write it in an interesting way. Cross-linking, do it. It's a great way to interweave our universe. Just get permission from the author of the article that you want to cross-link to and as a site preference, try linking to non-series one articles if you can. There are so many more than just those first thousand articles. Show some love, huh? There are so many more than just those first thousand articles, show some love, huh? I cracked my knuckles during that last sentence so I had to say it twice. There are so many more than just those first thousand articles. Show some love, huh? Oh man, we are almost there. This is gonna be a quick live stream because we are killing it today. Show some love, huh? And this brings me to my final tip, which is also a tip for writing in general. There are no 100% unbreakable rules to writing when, Oh, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp. Oh, burping on a live stream. That's pretty disgusting. Sorry, guys. Take too many deep breaths in rapid succession. Here we go. Nope, not here we go. I don't remember what I just said. Archie wants to know, if it ever stops being weird to hear your own voice sounding different, not even a little. And no matter how many character voices I do, going lower, going higher, doing researcher dialect, doing a Southern accent, all these weird characters I do for different things, soldier voice. I can always hear myself. So I always hear like, this is what I sound like. This is what I sound like. That's so weird. Every time it never stops being weird. You just gotta fight through it. When done well, you can break one or all of the rules I've just laid out and make a good article if you write it well. Some of the best articles on the wiki play with format in interesting ways. Drat, I miss the word the. I miss the word the. Ooh, too close. Little too close. Let's cut a little bit of that, boom. That should make it a good pace. Drat, the microphone clicked. I have to re-record that line. When done well, when done well, you can break one or all of the rules I've just laid out and make a good article if you wrote. Some of the best articles on the wiki play with the format in interesting ways. And you can do that too, provided you put in the study and the work. After all, you have to understand the rules before you are capable of breaking them in interesting ways. Whew, we made it. If you want to throw your own writing tips in the comments, please do so. We'll get into more detail guides about certain subjects later on. So go ahead and request one if you like. Thank you guys for tuning into another episode of Sherm's Declassified Skip Survival Guide. If you like what we're doing on the channel, do that like, share and subscribe Mumbo Jumbo. And if you really like what's going on around here, hit up the Site 42 Patreon or the Site 42 Store and support the channel that way. See you next time, Foundation Staff. Hey, Yintown and Pabs made it right at the end. It's okay, I'm gonna take a quick speed through and make sure everything's good since it's a short read. And we can hang out for that section. What did I just do? Oh no. All right, so here we are. And I always give it one listen through at like 200% speed just to make sure I didn't like get any mic clicks or anything. Hey, Penguinator. It's okay, today turned out to be a really short, oh my God, it's only been 17 minutes. Guys, I'm gonna high five myself for knocking this out so quick because normally it takes me like an hour and a half. Hey, buddy. Yeah, we just finished the last line of dialogue. This was a quick one. My live streams are normally an hour to like three hours but let me go through this real quick and make sure I didn't break anything. And play chipmunk speed. Okay, so here's the real question. Pab says it sounds like the end of a commercial where they say all the effects of the side effects of the drug. So what are the side effects of a site 42 live stream? Go. Let me cause paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, nightmares. Yeah, yeah, well. Hey, Jack, welcome. Ooh, happiness and confusion. Yay. Terms and conditions may apply and he's next happening redacted or ultimate vengeance made out of teeth and wire. Do not fall under our warranty. You're on your own. Nice. Hyperactivity, itchiness, a feeling of being watched, twitchy, just throw conditions becoming either immune to or even more annoyed by high pitched voices. And yes, Jack, I will put the Discord and the site links and the, what's the phrase I'm moving for and the link to the guide in the description because I want everyone to go. They have to go read that guide so they can write SCPs real well too. Do do do. All right, so there are no big clicks or any missing garish errors in there. So, oh, because I record the live streams on my phone, I can't actually make a description. Funnily enough, I'm using my cell phone as a camera right now. And so all I can do is type in the name. But what if, interestingly enough, I came to, see now he's got me curious. I wanna know if I can put the links in the live stream. So if I go over here, I'm gonna widen this up. A default on the web page, that would be just peachy. Ads, Slates, Cards, Info and Settings, Info and Settings. Oh my God, the blood is blue and the moon is red and the sky is dark black. Oh God, it's so dark, help, help, help. Ooh, okay, here we go. Here's the thing, I take this button, do do do. I come over here, do do do. Take this over here, Discord's in the way. Get out of my way, Discord. Take this link, set it over here. Put it on this little editing page right here. Save changes. All right, did it magically appear below hand? Below hand, is that a word? That's not a word. But is there a description now? Did I make a description happen? Did we go? God, I love karaoke, karaoke is the best. Jack says it works, excellent. So we now have a description and everything is brilliant. That is my Site 42 freestyle karaoke for the day. Brilliant. Do do do, do do do. I got that there. I can go back to the live control room so I can see your chat again. It's 1.15 in the afternoon for me. Boom. Okay, so now we have links. So those links are to the Patreon page, if that's the thing you wanna do. The store, if that's the thing you wanna do. And the Discord server, if that's the thing you wanna do. If you all do anything of those things, links, description. And I'm gonna find a way to make that the default so that those things always show up because that would be super cool. I think I know what setting to do there, I just never did it before. All right, so now that we've got that, we've got that, I can save that Audacity project and that can be our editing for now. Save project as Audacity projects, SDSSG, how to write an SCP, SDSSG, how to write an SCP. Oh, that's so good. That's the new hip hop, that's the new cheerleaders anthem of the year. That's our new Hollaback girl. Oh God, oh God, why? So I've got that, I can edit that in like 10 minutes and have that up. But I released, I'll probably do that on Monday because I did 3,001 today. I don't wanna take away from 3,001 because that is a giant release. Did you guys get the opportunity to see 3,001 yet? Thank you, Jack, for the Hollaback girl. And thank you, Penguinator, for, I'm gonna say that one, glee, glee, SCP. Hope it doesn't locate me. Just wearing lab suits with them, go white palms, nice. So I was not, I'm sorry, Chris, that you have that mental image. That's not the, that's not the, I don't look good in cheerleading uniform. I promise you that, it's not a good thing. Yeah, 3,001 is 51 minutes long. It's insane. My first giant guest contributor, Eric Peabody, did the narrative. So he's doing the actual, what's the phrase I'm looking for? He did the actual documentation. And then it switches to me and I do all the, I do all the Robert Scranton acting stuff. I might have accidentally did a Russian accent for a second. Sometimes I accidentally slip in and out of accents, except all of my accents are bad. So it's never a good thing if I do an accent anyways. The only accents I have at all that might work is I can go a bit Southern. And for some reason, if I'm very, very careful with it, my New Zealand accent isn't terrible. And that's cause I shotgunned both seasons of Flight of the Concords in like record time. And I love those guys. So if you watch SCP-008-J, which is Jeff, Jeff is from New Zealand. And so I did a New Zealand accent and it actually didn't turn out terrible. So yeah, that's everything. I'm gonna edit the heck out of this. Thank you guys for jumping on the live stream for a little bit. Hit up the links in the description if you wanna do stuff like that. And I will see you guys in the next stream with the next SCP, probably Monday. Not sure when Monday. It's always different cause my day job is not consistent. But sometime Monday, yay. See you guys later. Cheers. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Oh, not off.