The one-year anniversary of The Escapist‘s inaugural issue is fast approaching. To celebrate, we here in the office have been doing a lot of drinking. Also having meetings and stuff, but mainly drinking. Lots and lots of drinking …
Where was I?
Oh yes. Part of producing a weekly magazine such as ours involves the continuing search for new and interesting subjects about which to write. Thankfully our shared hobby is continually providing and revealing juicy nuggets which have yet to be pondered fully. We have also been blessed to be associated with a number of fantastic contributors who manage to pull these various thoughts together into fabulous prose week after week. The approaching anniversary therefore belongs to them as much as to us.
Yet we always want more. The editorial staff at The Escapist is constantly on the prowl for new and exciting writers who may bring something new to the table, or who can share with us a view of something old, seen through fresh eyes.
To help bring the untapped talent of these undiscovered artisans into the light, we publish our twice-annual editorial calendar right up on our website, where anyone can see it. For prospective writers, this provides an opportunity to pitch story ideas targeted specifically for individual issues of the magazine, greatly increasing their odds of finding a receptive audience. Those of you who’ve been in the business for any length of time will recognize how unusual this is, but for our purposes it’s also necessary: in order to maintain a central “theme” for each issue, we kind of need to let folks know in advance what that theme will be.
If you haven’t seen our calendar yet, go HERE for a look.
At the above-linked page, you’ll also find a complete set of style and submission guidelines – everything a potential writer needs to tailor their masterpiece of prose to the standards of our fine magazine. I encourage anyone with any desire to ever write for The Escapist to give it a look. Wait, did I say “encourage?” I should have used a stronger word. Is demand too harsh? Something in-between then. Just look at it.
We’ve recently updated the calendar through the end of 2006, and we’re quite excited about the issues to come. “In Spaaace!” (July 18th), one of the first new issues, will take a look at games about space, and why even the worst of them can find a place in our hearts; “Get Off of My Cloud” (August 1st) will take a look at the dilemma of real-world problems invading digital worlds; “A Blank Canvas” (October 17th) should finally shed some light on the under-appreciated artists of the videogame industry: animators, visual artists, sound designers and coders; and “2020 Redux” (July 11th), for our anniversary issue, will take another look at what the writers of today think of the games of the future. That’s just to name a few.
Our second year at The Escapist promises to bring many new, exciting things as well as more of what you already love. It’s an exciting time for us, and I hope you’ll continue to visit and share it with us.
