I want to make clear right off of the bat that I am not involved in any official capacity with The Rosebush's staff, and am just an enthusiastic cheerleader.
Something that’s come up in discussion over with the Neo-Interactives general chat is that despite there being an appetite for articles, it seems that sometimes people weren’t sure of what to pitch, or didn’t know if people would be interested in reading what they had in mind, and the verve sort of fizzled out at some point.
Some people had already mentioned some ideas they’ve had simmering away in the background, but I figured collecting some responses into a tidy thread might help either inspire people, or help orient them in terms of what others are also submitting to the magazine, to make it all feel a little more inviting and less scary. Plus, who doesn’t love rabbiting on about plot bunnies?
As a reminder from their page, The Rosebush is a platform where ‘in-depth analyses, theory articles, discussions of craft, interviews, historical explorations, and so on, can be published,’ aiming for ‘substantial articles that increase our understanding of interactive fiction, from individual works or authors to design patterns, community structures and historical trends,’ with an explicit inclusion of parser and choice fiction, the communities surrounding IFComp, the SpringThing, the IFDB and so on, and adjacent groups such as the Choice of Games community and retro text adventures. They note that tabletop roleplay games, computer roleplay games, and choose-your-own-adventure books are not their primary topic.
Articles should ideally clock in at 1,500+ words, and authors can submit complete articles or short pitches, with no closing date for submissions and articles published on a rolling basis. Having worked with one of their editors, Mike Russo, to polish the interview with Manon I have published with them, it’s a very breezy process and very enjoyable. Mike’s a great guy.
Anyway, if you have any topics you’d really like to see in an article on The Rosebush, feel free to share below!