One Last Time
This idea is based on my own personal longing to see someone one last time.
One Last Time
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» One Last Time
Summary:
Sweet peas that allow a person to see their deceased loved one one last time.
So you have the basic mechanics of the your idea down (Sweet peas that, when consumed, allow you to speak and touch a passed loved one for up to an hour). Very solid stuff. I can imagine what kind of approach this is going to get in terms of storytelling right away, because the kind of thing that happens with stuff like this is very typical and has been explored quite a bit in a lot of media. The show Pushing Daisies had a main character whose whole deal was that he could bring anything back to life for up to a minute when he touches them. Fun show, that was.
Anyhow, because this is a thing that gets explored often, I have to ask: What is your take going to be? What kind of story are you going to tell with this anomaly? You have your toy so to speak, and now its time to play with it.
Figure out a beginning, middle, and end for this story, then send me a Wikidot PM and I'll give it another look.
Thank you for the feedback, means a lot!
The kind of story I'm hoping to tell with this anomaly would be a bittersweet one that leaves the reader with a simple message; don't take the time you spend with the people you love for granted as time is fast and precious. It would explore the different reasons why people, Foundation personnel in this case, long to see their loved ones again and use this SCP, for example, to tell them that they love them since they couldn't before, to fix broken bonds or simply just to hear their voice again. While prior to their test they might feel negative emotions, like resentment, guilt, frustration or despair, they all come out of it with the same feeling, peace. I suppose it would focus more on the effect that it has rather than the anomaly itself, haha. I plan to convey these different stories in the form of test logs and interviews.
I hope this answers your questions and gives you an idea of the way I plan to go with this, I'll shoot you a PM to let you know I've responded! Please let me know if there's anything you want to know or if there's something that I haven't answered~.
Again, this isn't much road that we haven't traveled before with this concept. I should clarify that I'm looking for specifics.
A story has a cast of characters, a setting, a conflict, a climax, and resolution. The setting is mostly done for us on the site (being the SCP-verse, though it could be more specifically somewhere in that universe) and you don't really need a conflict in short fiction as long as the read is interesting, so we just need to fill out the rest as applicable.
Take some time to think about it. Who is your character focus? What do they use the item for? What are the circumstances of the item's discovery? How does the Foundation's involvement improve or worsen the situation? How does it end?
Ahh, I undersand!
The sweet peas were found after a field agent went to investigate Pietrapertosa because rumors were starting to spread around Southern Italy about these strange flowers that gave people 'hallucinations' of deceased family members. After the flowers had been located and the area secured, the Foundation dispatched a botany researcher, Dr. Leone, who was native to Italy. Once he had deemed the flowers to be safe enough to directly test, he picked one. He then saw his younger sister, Camilla, who had been killed during a home invasion when they were kids, she had hidden Leone inside of a small cupboard and pretty much scarified herself as there was only enough room for one small child. Camilla was the only person to die that night and Leone deeply blamed himself. After recovering from the shock of seeing his beloved sister right there in front of him as if nothing had happened, he sat and spoke to her (I'd explore more about the conversations in the article). Of course, after exactly an hour, Camilla disappeared with the parting words of “Thank you for the lovely time. Goodbye, Leone.”. After this, more researchers came and tried out the anomaly (I'd also explore 2 or 3 of these experiences in the article as well). Dr. Leone is currently the head of the research on this SCP.
It's currently under debate what exactly the 'hallucinations' are as it's unclear whether it really is just a hallucination caused by the sweet peas or if there's something more to it so, at the moment, the sweet peas and the hallucinations are classed as the same thing. Pietrapertosa as a whole is currently secured by the Foundation because since it's a relatively small town it would be too risky for civilians to living in Pietrapertosa in fear of them growing suspicious. The sweet peas are in no risk of being over picked and ceasing to exist as they've been seen to grow back within 5-10 minutes. Within reason, most Foundation personnel are allowed and encouraged to visit the sweet peas in their past time however, if the person has a history of mental health problems they are usually forbidden to pick them as it could be greatly upsetting for the person.
I hope I don't come off as rude, but I wrote something very similar. My SCP here has a very similar concept; A funeral bell, when rung allows a person to see a deceased loved one again, but only briefly. http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4551
By all means, I am not saying that you copied me or anything of the sort, heavens no! Nor am I offended or anything, like Rock said, its a common concept, and I really like your take on it. I would just reccomend changing a few thing around; as they are a bit similar in both concept and excecution. Reagardless though, this has still excited me!
Not at all, I'm happy that you told me that this idea is similar to your SCP as I wouldn't want to upset anyone!
Firstly, while I'm not sure what I can do at this point in time to change things around since this is just the basic premise, if this was to go into the drafting stage, I would definitely make sure to add in things that would set the two apart! Since I haven't gotten around to drafting yet, I would be more than happy to send it to you via PM, if I do ever draft it haha, so we can chat about and I guess get your approval that mine is different enough to yours, haha!
Secondly, I took a read of your SCP and I really enjoyed your take on this concept! The history was really to read as well as the tests~. (:
Finally, thank you for your feedback! I'm really glad that you enjoy my take on this and that it excited you, it's really nice to hear~.
I'd love to take a look at it and offer feedback and help you out if that's okay!!
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page revision: 7, last edited: 17 Nov 2020 06:16
