| This is our first time writing a proposal like this, so suggestions are welcome from anyone who's available to help! I know Dr. Graff is busy these days, but I'd love to get her input on this. |
Author(s): Dr. Jefferson, Jr. Rsr. Fredericksen
Page Type: SCP case file (prospectively "SCP-C555")
Keywords: Metafiction, hypothetical, format screw, wordplay, short story, keter
Elevator Pitch: The Elevator Full of Pitch can only be documented as though one were pitching a story about it.
Central Narrative: The Elevator Full of Pitch does not exist; unfortunately for the SCP Foundation, it is very close to existing. Our story would detail the SCP Foundation adapting to this new species of threat with the help of the Hear-Me-Out Squad, a task force made to deal with anomalies that exist in the hypothetical realm.
The Hear-Me-Outs eventually realize that the only thing which can hold the Elevator Full of Pitch in place is a recursive, all-encompassing "elevator pitch", which frames the situation as a proposal for a fictional story about it — an elevator pitch for an elevator pitch for an Elevator Full of Pitch. Imagining (correctly, not that they would know it) that their world is a fictional one, they devise the sort of people and culture that would result in the Elevator Full of Pitch occurring to someone as a short story, and then getting pitched to that person's peers. With that worldbuilding in mind, they write a story around the Elevator Full of Pitch that safely cocoons it in a web of confusing metafiction.
The stakes of their failure: if someone provoked the Elevator Full of Pitch into existence, it would dump several tons of resin into every single elevator; this would kill the occupants and render vast swaths of modern infrastructure unusable. So, no pressure.
Hook: This could be a potentially fascinating, or at least entertaining, work of metafiction. Drawing on the critique systems we use for SCP case file stories, we've devised a unique anomaly that bridges the divide between the process and the end result — after all, some stories are just about conveying ideas, and we're taking this to its logical conclusion.
Another fun hook: The text of this proposal would be used verbatim as the story itself, and also in-universe as the documentation for the Elevator Full of Pitch. It would certainly be unique.
Additional Notes: We don't want to have to answer the question of 'what happens if the elevator pitch is actually accepted and expanded on', so for everyone's sake, let's try to keep this in development hell.
| Thanks for reading our proposal! Be sure to leave a comment with your feelings, and any suggestions you might have. |