solmukohta book submission guidelines
The purpose of these guidelines is to ease and streamline the process of editing the book. By using certain standards in the phase of writing, we avoid to rewriting half of every article ourselves. So please, obey these guidelines.
1. the final deadline
The final deadline for all submissions is Friday, the 28th of December.
(You'll write during Christmas, we'll edit during new year's eve.)
2. length and structure
We recommend you to consider a title and a subtitle for the article. In addition, we recommend you to consider including a few sentences long caption in the beginning of the article.
Use subtitles in the article, to make it easier to read.
Consider wrapping up your text with a summary and/or conclusions.
We try not to restrict the length of your article; write as long a text as you need. However, texts less than 1500 words long are shortish, and over 10.000 words begin to be longish.
3. formatting
We prefer the texts in Rich Text Format (.rtf).
Use pseudo-HTML to signify formattings, to ensure that we don't lose them as we convert the files between programs. Examples: <i>italic</i>, <b>bold</b>, <u>underline</u>. <editor: this is the caption for the picture 3>Author eating candy</editor>.
Separate paragraphs with an empty line (two line breaks). Do not manually indent the paragraphs.
If you use footnotes, note them in text like this<1>. List your footnotes in the end of your article like this:
<1>In this case Stonerose is obviously wrong.
4. terminology
Take extra care with definitions when using the following:
culture
diegesis
hard core
in-game
indrama
meta (any word with the prefix)
narrative
off-game
simulation
theory (vs. model)
Pay extra attention to the distinction between role-playing, live-action role-playing and tabletop role-playing. In different countries, role-playing means different things. We presume that role-playing encompasses both larp and tabletop role-playing. If you mean only larp or tabletop, say so.
5. references
We prefer the European style in making academic references. For example, this sentence refers to a fictional text (Monola & Stonerose 2003a, 75-104). The surname of the author is mentioned, as is the year when the text was published. If the reference is to specific pages of the text, those are mentioned after the year. If the whole paragraph is a reference to an existing source, then the reference is at the end of the paragraph, after the period. Like in this case. (Monola & Stonerose 2003b.)
We prefer extensive citations. Many sources are not in English or are not commonly available (e.g. fanzines). Also, the study of role-playing is a multi-disciplinary area, so no-one is familiar with all the theories used in this book. Use long quotes, please. Remember to include the www-address to the source, if available.
At the end of the article, the whole list of literary references is presented in the following format:
- - Name(s) of the author(s) of the text, with the surname first
- - Year of printing in brackets. If there are a number of publications by the same author from the same year, these are distinguished by letters
- - Name of the text
- - If the text is an article that was published in a collection, the name of the editor and the name of the collection will be listed after the name of the article or essay, as well as the pages where the article appeared
- - At the end of a reference, the name of the publisher and the location of the printer are mentioned
- - When using www-references, include the date of referring
Examples:
Monola, Marcus & Stonerose, Jack (2003a): Diegesis in movement. Paradox Publishing, Vienna.
Monola, Marcus & Stonerose, Jack (2003b): Diegeses vs. Diegesis. In Parker, Peter (ed.) The brief history of academic flame wars 20-54. Scientific Publishers, Moscow.
When referring to a game, use the original, whole name of the game. Also, include the year and name(s) of the head organizer(s). It's also recommended to mention the location or country where the game was played, as well as a translation for the name.
6. notes on grammar and spelling
We strive for uniform spelling within the book. We prefer British English, but as we are not native speakers, we accept American English as well. In headings, use English capitalization rules.
Please use these forms:
diegesis (plural: diegeses)
gamemaster (one word, abbr.: GM)
larp (no caps)
live-action role-play (two hyphens)
role-play (with a hyphen)
rpg (no caps)
tabletop role-play
Please avoid the following:
arranger (when meaning an organiser [of a game])
chronicle (as a synonym for a campaign)
dungeon master
el”ytyminen (as a synonym for immersion)
laiv
lajv
LARP
LRP
narrator (as a synonym for gamemaster)
role play
roleplay
RPG
7. author descriptions
Please provide a brief description of yourself with the text -- maximum of 100 words.
A 104-word example:
Markus is 25-years old Master of Social Sciences from University of Helsinki, Finland. He majored in communication in 2003, writing a thesis on the organizations and communities in cyberspace. Markus has been role-playing since 1987 and larping since 1995 -- though he believes that these two are just two sides of one thing. He has organized a number of games, both tabletop campaigns and larps. Currently, he is a co-editor of Solmukohta 2004 book. Previously he has published articles and essays in the Danish Knudebook 2003, Panclou and Finnish Magus among others. Currently he works as the information officer of Finnish State Shipping Enterprise.
8. images
We prefer high-quality tiff and jpeg formats with images. Give every picture a caption.
9. discussion
Our semi-official discussion channel is the international Ropeanalyytikot-mailing list based in Finland. The language of the list is English. If you want to join the list, the www-address for subscribing is: https://www.ecyrd.com/mailman/listinfo/ropeanalyytikot
Currently there are approximately 50 members on the list.
