Interact-IF Pride Month Author Spotlight #6: The Lost Bride
As our final interview for the Pride Month Author Spotlight, we have @thelostbride-if, creator of The Lost Bride (demo) as our sixth author interview for Interact-IF's 2026 pride month, spotlighting LGBTQ+ games and authors! :)
We really enjoyed interviewing Pink, and learning more about how The Lost Bride allows players to explore how a queer MC might navigate a Victorian era society.
Check out the first, second, third, fourth and fifth interviews in our Pride Month Spotlight 2026 Event! Keep an eye out also for the final list of LGBTQ+ games and authors within the next couple of days!
1. Tell me more about yourself! What are some things new readers or long-time readers might not know about you?
To be honest there is not much to me as I am a pretty basic and boring girl lol. But besides writing, I do love chess. I'm a big chess nerd and have been playing it for years now.
2. Can you tell me a bit about your journey into interactive fiction and what you’re working on right now?
I haven't been in the IF space for long. I think I stumbled upon it by chance around 2 to 3 years ago.
The thing about me is that I've always loved story driven games, the likes of Dragon Age, Mass Effect, apps like Choices and Episode, Telltale Games, and so many others. I was always drawn to games that let me create my own mc and shape their story, so finding out about IFs was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I don't remember which game was the first one I played, but I think it was either Affairs of the Court or Zombie Exodus. Tho right now, some of my favourites are especially the ones that are heavy on story and relationships, gimme rom and story over heavy stats any day!
As for what I'm working on, I'm writing The Lost Bride, a retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula that allows you to play as Mina.
3. What inspired the game/story you’re currently writing?
For movies it would be the 1992 Dracula. It has this great atmosphere, gothic vibes, good acting and amazing costumes, and I love all the characters. It is one of my favourite adaptations along with Nosferatu, another great movie that leaned more into horror, which is also something I'm going heavy on in my game.
As for books, it is of course Bram Stoker's Dracula. It will always be among my top books ever.
Mina is one of my favourite characters, and I wanted to explore her and her relationships with everyone in the story.
I decided to turn it into an IF after I talked to my friend about the idea. He loved it and told me to go for it.
4. How does your game/story draw from, or feature, aspects of your queer identity / experience?
I am going to get a bit more personal here.
For a very long time, I was lying to myself about being bi and being attracted to women. Looking back now, the signs were always there lol, but it took me quite a while to accept it.
I wanted to explore that in my game when it comes to Mina, if you pick to be into women ofc.
How you feel towards your friend Lucy who always seems to stick close to you or the mysterious Dracula who keeps appearing in your dreams and showing up at the strangest times, or Van who does not seem to care about the gender norms of the time.
5. What are some of the most rewarding or challenging aspects of writing Interactive Fiction for you?
I will start with the hardest part, which is coding.
Coding an IF is really difficult. At the moment I am writing three different versions of the same scene for a single Ro, just because the Mc can feel very differently about him depending on choices you made. Coding flavour text is also hard even if fun to do, as you need to keep track of everything and make sure it all fits together. It also takes a lot of time to do.
The most rewarding part though is when all of that work comes together.
One of my favourite things is seeing ppl talk about the game and hearing their thoughts on the characters and the story.
6. What’s your approach to portraying queer characters, queer experiences/perspectives, or queer storylines in your IF?
I am trying to explore how a queer mc explores her feelings within a Victorian era society, where those feelings had no clear label. While they were not exactly accepted, women at the time could still show great affection towards one another which was very much encouraged.
7. What is one thing you hope to see in games or interactive fiction in the future—whether it be for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion, or just a personal itch you’d love to have scratched?
One thing I would love to see more of is the forbidden love trope, especially wlw ones. I just cannot get enough of them.
8. Are there any LGBTQ+ media, characters, stories etc. that live rent-free in your brain (or that you would like to recommend?
For books I would strongly recommend Dowry of Blood and Carmilla. IF you love gothic stories and wlw then it is worth picking up. For IFs I would recommend CC's games as everyone can enjoy them and they are super lgbtq+ friendly, and Ley Fay who is planning a wlw route in her game. As for games I would say Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Life is Strange! There is a lot of great stuff that I’m missing but that is what is on my mind right now.
