LurkD is a longtime author for the online fiction collective The SCP Foundation and shares their thoughts on how the writing format affects the writing process.

How did you approach the visual communication of containment procedures, from both an in-universe and out-of-universe perspective?

LurkD: I thought of a result I wanted and then laid out a path to get there. Conceptually we usually want to think of the entity first and then write procedures based on it. My approach on this one in particular was opposite. I knew that if I had a solid set of rules, that the rest would fall in place… or fail spectacularly. I’m glad the latter didn’t happen. People may not realize now but this was originally written for the short entry contest and I felt challenged to make an SCP without words… which sounds crazy because this is a writing community. I think it turned out well since it was received with an overwhelming response that I really didn’t expect.

Can you explain what some of the imagery you used means, and why you chose to present it the way you did?

LurkD: Most of my career was in heavy industry (mining/manufacturing) so I am very used to seeing warning labels/signs as I am nearly exposed to them every single day. I tapped into that aesthetic because it is meant to convey a sense of urgency and importance. The graphics for warning labels in the real world are specifically made to trigger our minds into paying attention and most of us respond to them in an expected way. It makes people pay attention I think; otherwise, they might miss something important. Sharp angles, contrasting colors, thick lines, etc. are tools that some safety organizations have found, probably through trial and error, that force us to take notice. Already people are very VERY visual beings.

Did you have any inspirations, both within the SCP universe and from other art styles, in terms of how this was composed?

LurkD: Not much really. I always try to come up with a wholly original idea when writing. Because of that, I tend to keep myself in a vacuum and let inspiration grow without much outside interference. People might think this is silly, but all of SCP-2521 was made in PowerPoint. It is the only “art” program I can access at work and I have very little free time at home. I used to work many nights and got stupidly good at making art in PowerPoint. It also just happen to marry with the industrial safety aesthetic I was going for as well and just seemed like an obvious launching point.

What do you feel the role of the containment procedures in an SCP article article?

LurkD: To create a sense of mystery or tributary into more story. However, I feel that people tend to jump around a lot when reading articles. I know that I am guilty of this myself as I usually skip over the containment procedures entirely and reference them later. I think being cognizant of that helps because then you can tailor the description and containment procedures to be separate entities but at the same time giving them enough congruence that the reader can connect the lines themselves.

Do you feel that 2521 communicates its containment procedures effectively, and is there anything you would change if you could go back and alter it?

LurkD: I actually had a few folks test them for readability before posting. I think currently that it is at its best iteration. There was a fine balance between “spoon-feeding” and “incomplete context”. What I mean is, I didn’t want things to be so obvious that the reader couldn’t draw their own conclusions themselves. Readers like those moments in the story where they feel like they discovered something that wasn’t in the text or was very indirect. SCP-2521 is full of those moments; rather it is the illusion of discovery. The conclusions are not plainly written out, but rather they are there to be deciphered visually. It is another way of processing information that people normally don’t get to tap into.

How long did the process of creating 2521 take, from conceptualization to creation?

LurkD: I conceptualized SCP-2521 in 2015 while on a trip to London. I spent the entire time kneading the idea in my head before I finally got back a week later and started laying it out. I think that overall it was about 3 weeks I think.

How important are the containment procedures of SCP-2521 to the rest of the article?

LurkD: I don’t know. As important as you want them to be? I mean, the main thing I wanted to convey in the containment procedures of SCP-2521 is its sense of ‘uncontainability’ and how important the control of information about it was. I think those are the main takeaways. The rest is for the reader to figure out.

What makes for effective in-universe containment procedures?

LurkD: Making sure that they enhance the story. Like salt on a steak, you want to be able to hit these little milestones during writing where you can invoke feelings from the reader. Doing that is very difficult, especially doing that consistently since it is such a subjective thing to judge. Actually, it is not a bad thing to kind of make different avenues and invoke different feelings, like how you read a story and now feel differently about it on the second time reading it.

One of my favorite SCPs of all time is SCP-1281… and the containment procedures are only 3 sentences. Nevertheless, just with those 3 sentences you can convey the following:

It is dead.

It could come back to life. The information about it is sensitive/taboo. Already I feel interest, as if I’m reading something I shouldn’t be. Now after reading it fully and going back to these procedures, I feel sympathy and slightly sad. Having ‘mileage’ on an article is IMMENSLY important and I feel like this isn’t talked about enough. If one can write something that begs to be read over again because there was so much at the beginning that was overlooked, then you’ve struck gold.

Are there any SCPs you haven’t written that have containment procedures you admire or enjoy?

LurkD: Oh, geez… let me dig into my old sandboxes.

So I had one that I was working on where the SCP was about reality benders living/working in a VR world where they were convinced that they were not reality benders but just regular people doing shit work. It was very elaborate in setting up the environment and how it handled the people working in this simulation. It might have been overly ambitious and kind of fizzled out.

Another I had was about a binary star system where one would beat box and the other would rap. I made it sound super serious in the containment procedures and description up until the transcript with the most ridiculous lyrics I have ever written. It made me laugh but that one floundered into deletion. I’ve yet to blow the dust off it since. But even reading it now, makes me chuckle. Sometimes your own humor is not funny to others. Such is life.

How do you feel about the containment procedures of SCP-173?

LurkD: For the time it was written… groundbreaking. It was the first time I could remember reading something in this format. It drew me in and my mind was hungry to learn more. Nowadays… its ok and does the job it needs to do. That’s all I feel about it now.