SCP Foundation

Interviews with the creature (it is sapient and capable of speech) and history of its manifestations. It has been around for a long time.

So like, this is going to be the bulk of your narrative but like…what happens here? What story do the interviews tell? What does the history of it's manifestations add?

My concern is you don't really have a cohesive story around this so much as a weird DnD monster; and if you don't have the story down, this won't work.

The actual core anomaly feels…fine but a touch overcomplex perhaps: it has a lot of elements to it that feel a little like they don't necessarily add much; but without having a better idea of what you want to do with the article, I can't tell whether this overcomplexity matters. I guess at it's core my question is: why does this thing bother turning humans into wood in order to burn them in it's lantern instead of like, just using regular wood when it's in a forest? Like obviously narratively, that's more interesting; but the anomaly feels like it needs a motivation for this, y'know?

IMO: just have folk be tempted by a weird song they hear in the woods that makes them go 'wtf is that' and investigate; you don't need to like, making it so that they're forced to be affected by it (at least, that's what I'm assuming the cognitohazard does here)

After that, SCP-XXXX will approach the tree and cut it down.

This change is welcome, as it gives the SCP a bit of difference from the Beast.

It is theorized that it can teleport, but this hasn't been confirmed

Personally, I would just make it so that the pocket dimension has a connection to all forests in certain parts of the world. This adds to the creepy aspect, since you never know if any forest is ever truly safe.

Personally, I would like them to understand that not all anomalies are bad, like this one. It does turn you into a tree but it does so because its survival is at stake. Just like we kill animals to eat meat.

I feel this presents a bit of a conflict in your story. You say you want the SCP to be somewhat of a sympathetic figure, and show that some SCPs are just trying to survive, yet the way in which it turns someone into oil is by causing them to despair, give up, and die. This is somewhat cruel for an anomaly that we are supposed to feel sorry for. I would personally change it so that the turning-into-a-tree is merely a side effect of the pocket dimension. Yes, the SCP lures you in there, but it doesn't actually do anything to you besides harvest those that can't escape. Not a perfect fix, I'll admit, but it's just an idea of of mine.

The concept:
As Dr Hajovsky pointed out, this concept seems incredibly similar (if not identical) to "the beast", from Over the garden wall. -This immediately makes me skeptical that this could work as an article as is, as the similarities are far too close for me take the concept as its own thing.

- As it stands, I'd say some rather major revisions would need to be made on the concept for this to work as it own piece.

That said, the concept itself feels a little overcomplicated, as there are a ton of different elements and effects, that aren't really expanded upon or brought up again. (ie. why does it sing, specifically? how and why are people tempted to follow it?)

The narrative:
As for the narrative, while you do seem to have an idea for what you want to do, it's a bit hard to keep track of it, as the narrative and its main plot points (and conflicts) are spread throughout your responses.- I would recommend you edit you original post to reflect the current narrative.

That said, for the approach your looking to take (that being having sympathy for both sides), I feel there needs to be a stronger motive for the character to blow the lantern out so quickly. Currently, they just seem to do it because they actively want to hurt or trap the skip? -Considering this action goes against Foundation protocol, the character would need their own reasons to make such a decision that quickly.

Along with this, I'm not really seeing much of a payoff? as it stands the narrative just sort of ends after the lantern blew out, which on it own won't really be enough to an end an article. As there isn't much info/closure on the team that was sent into the forest, or much on how the Foundation got this information (along with how they would've reacted to it).

Red or green?
Due to my afore mentioned concerns, no-greenlight

Central Narrative: The Foundation has put its personnel to pose as rangers from different Governments in case of an SCP-XXXX manifestation. If this is ever the case, they are clear I engage it. Somehow, one of the rangers finds one of the wormholes that the creature uses that is functional. The Foundation is quick to secure the perimeter under the pretext of “a wild animal” and sends a reconnaissance team to investigate the other side of the wormhole. They enter and find an old mill at the base of a mountain. They enter the mill and find wood inside along with a journal. But the creature is nowhere to be seen. They take the book and some wood and return to the base.

Hook/Attention-Grabber: To travel around the planet from a forested area to another, it uses wormholes disguised as caves, trees and holes in the ground that only it can access. Analysis of the journal reveals that the creature was once human but it was transformed into this after an unknown event (the pages describing it were ripped). It appears that SCP-XXXX is doing this out of fear, as it sees humans trespassing its territory as a threat. Studies show that trees created via this reaction are the same as normal trees.

Currently, the hook doesn't seem to be communicated much in the narrative. The narrative kind of cuts off right before the payoff. Which as a result, makes the story as a whole feel a bit flat, as theres not much a buildup or explanation given by the end.

Along with this, there aren't really any characters shown, which makes it hard to get invested in anything emotionally, as the narrative more or less just consists of a couple events, where the skip gets researched.

As for the journal entries, I personally see them as little cliched in this case. As it stands, they just of offer passive exposition, which (to me), feels like a quick way to explain how the Foundation learnt so much about the skip so quickly.

- I would recommend maybe spreading this info out more, and giving the entries more of a unique edge, rather than just a series of events, with some pages scratched out for dramatic effect.- Try to give the skip some more depth, rather than just presenting it as an unknown entity.- How should the skip make me as the reader feel?

Red or green?
Due to my afore mentioned concerns, no-greenlight

If you would like me review this (or any concept) further, then please feel free to send me a PM or ask via IRC. Response times generally range from 2-12 hours over PMs. If your looking for additional critiques/perspectives in general, then I would highly recommend contacting the butterfly squad :)

Along with this, there aren't really any characters shown, which makes it hard to get invested in anything emotionally, as the narrative more or less just consists of a couple events, where the skip gets researched.

So, I added this commander that basically is the chief of the MTF involved in the exploration logs. I will put like a video/audio transcript detailing their conversation in the exploration missions.

As for the journal entries, I personally see them as a little cliched in this case. As it stands, they just offer passive exposition, which (to me), feels like a quick way to explain how the Foundation learnt so much about the skip so quickly.
I would recommend maybe spreading this info out more, and giving the entries more of a unique edge, rather than just a series of events, with some pages scratched out for dramatic effect.

Ok, instead of pages ripped, maybe pages with some unknown codes. The Foundation tries to translate the pages to find out more info. Let’s say that one page has info dating from the early 1800s and another tells the story of the creature from another planet/ dimension. There are also some other unknown strange entities depicted in the journal. In the end, they decode some of the pages and find out that it comes from another dimension.