Once your initial suggestion has been accepted, it's time to write the essay itself. Bear in mind the following:
Context: It is always important to bear in mind your audience when you write, and this time is no exception. Remember that you are writing first and foremost for the denizens of rec.arts.int-fiction. Members of the academic community may find themselves interested in what is written, but the contents, especially those that fall under the heading of "Craft" (see What We Are Interested In, above), are mostly going to be read by new or experienced game authors who want to improve their skills.
Therefore, it is redundant to explain basic terminology. If you are introducing new terms or ideas in your piece, then by all means explain clearly what you mean; but you don't need to preface an article on NPC behavior with two pages on what an NPC is. The book will include a glossary of prevalent IF terminology, and each section will be prefaced by a short introduction from the section editor. This leaves you free to focus on the matter at hand.
Diction: As anyone who reads competition reviews will know, r.a.i-f readers are impatient with spelling and grammar flaws. The editors will make sure that what winds up in the book follows the rules of standard English, but receiving an essay that requires a great deal of clean-up will not fill us with joy. Please read your submission over first before sending, run a spell-checker, etc.
On the other hand, you don't necessarily need to be excessively formal in your writing style. (Graham's writing in the "Craft of Adventure" is about perfect, if you want a sense of the level we're looking for here.) If you're writing a theoretical article that demands a slightly more academic style, that's fine, but strive to avoid excessive jargon or pomposity.
Spoiler policy: Spoilers will be permitted, in the cause of making arguments concrete that would otherwise be too abstract to be interesting. They will however be marked in advance so that the reader will be forewarned. Authors of articles should feel free to include them; the editorial staff will mark them appropriately.
Length: We're shooting for articles in the 2000-5000 word range for craft articles; theory articles may tend to be a little longer. If you have something that you really want to write that falls outside of those limits, do contact us, however; there may be a reason to make an exception. If you do write something that is too long, we may consider (with your permission) trimming it for the book, but publishing the full version on the web for those interested.
Format: Please email your submission to your editor in plain text form. When it comes time to prepare the book for printing we will apply a universal set of formatting conventions.
If you want to include graphics (though be aware that they will almost certainly wind up as black and white, since color printing is beyond the means of this project), you may include a JPEG, GIF, or PNG format copy of your picture.
In the event that you have material that you think would be best set off from the main text in a sidebar of some kind, you may append it under the heading SIDEBAR.
Feel free to ask if you have any doubts or questions about formatting issues.
References and Style Guidelines: References in articles should follow MLA style guidelines. If you are unfamiliar with these, you may find them online.
Because it is so difficult to distinguish clearly between different lengths of IF work, we are considering all IF as equivalent to a short story. Thus, the name of a work should be enclosed in quotation marks (e.g., Graham Nelson's "Curses"). The first reference to a given game in your article should be accompanied, at a minimum, by the name of the author and the date of the game's release, like so:
This device first appears in Andrew Plotkin's "Shade" (2000).If the game is a work of commercial IF, you should also cite the publishing house from which it came.
Where you make quotations from a game, you are encouraged to indent the quotation, and, where possible, give some indication of where in the game the quotation comes from. (The "About" text, examination of an object, description of the Attic, etc.)
Here follows a sample of acceptable content:
>search dust[Yada yada yada, including examples from other games, and then...]
You cannot, with your hands bound, so you close your eyes and blow...
Some beta-testers argue that if an object is mentioned in the game text, it should be implemented in the game world. Similarly, if an action is described in the game text, it ought at least to be recognized in the game world, thus preventing needlessly frustrating exchanges, such as this one, which follows several turns that focus on the state of the PC's hands:
Gratefully you rub your hands together, and notice for the first time - you are wearing a gold ring.
>rub hands
You can't see any such thing. (Ingold)
While "Fine-Tuned" (Dennis G. Jerz, 2001) implements a "hand" object for each PC and several NPCs, and even lists the inventory in response to the command "examine hands," the obsessive implementation of body parts and their respective clothing is a slippery slope. "Too much of this kind of realism can throw a game off balance" (Nelson 117).
Note that citing Ingold rather than "All Roads" is true to MLA style.
Additional Resources for writing and polishing your article.
Barring explicit permission from an editor, the deadline for initial drafts is May 31, 2002.