#differences abound in detail but we all are having fun & being ourselves

[unproduciblesmackdown]

shoutout to have written approx 9k & gotten to the point of this tayriawin wip where any kissing is happening

[oumakokichi]

What do you think about NISAmerica's localization of Ouma's lines in general, especially in chapter 5?

Both of these questions deal with pretty muchthe same issue, so I’ll be answering them both together. Also, Ouma’slocalization in particular is something I’ve been wanting to discuss ever sinceI got to about midway through Chapter 4 in particular, so now that I’m finallyfinished playing the localization in general, I’m glad to have a chance to talkabout it specifically. I’ll be saving my thoughts on the rest of thelocalization for other posts, but for this one in particular, I really do wantto talk about what happened to Ouma’s characterization in particular.

First and foremost, I want to say: these are mypersonal thoughts on the matter. I’m not here to bash on other people’stranslation work, moreso with the amount of effort and detail that’s requiredfor translation. Some of the errors that occurred throughout the course of thelocalization were not, in fact, due to any one translator but were instead thenatural result of what happens when you have four translators working ondifferent characters—that is to say, a simple lack of context and communication.Several lines were drastically mistranslated simply because the translatorsdidn’t know what the character immediately beforehand had said, and this causedsome confusion in the process.

However, it is a fact that much of Ouma’scharacterization, particularly in Chapter5, suffered as a result of this localization and the translation choices that weretaken. In fact, some of the most important, plot-relevant scenes concerningOuma were translated in a way that I believe makes it much more difficult forpeople who have only played the localization (and therefore had no access tothe original lines) to understand his motivations, his thought process, or hischaracter in general.

This entire post is going to be very, very long,namely because I tried to go in-depth and double-check all the originalJapanese text before writing. I’ve bolded some of the points I felt were mostpivotal to what the localization messed up. Huge spoilers for the whole gameare under the read more, so be careful if you’re trying to stay spoiler-free!

Ever since the localization released, I haveseen a considerable amount of Ouma hate (both in his character tags and thegeneral ndrv3 tag), most of which I expected. After all, it was pretty much thesame back when the original game was released and misinformation waseverywhere. I figured that while some people will certainly dislike Ouma thewhole way through, others would come to revise their opinions on him after thereveals about his character late into Chapter 5 and 6, and didn’t think much ofit other than that as I continued to play the localization for myself.

However, after finishing the last two chapters,I was… rather shocked to see certain aspects of his character weremistranslated and/or nearly left out of the game entirely. I’m sad to say thatI feel like, to some degree, there’s been arguably even more backlash and confusion regarding Ouma’s character nowadays thanthere has been ever since the original version of the game first released inJanuary. Back then, misinformation was abound, and while nobody knew what wastrue and what wasn’t without playing the game for themselves, most people took allinformation with a grain of salt. Since the localization is the “canon”adaptation of the game, however, that actually makes it much harder to clear upmisunderstandings or to explain that yes, sometimes even professionaltranslators can and do make translation errors.

To start with, I want to say that there arethings I like and dislike about Ouma’s translation in the localization, asthere are with the localization as a whole. I feel some aspects of his speechesand behavior were covered quite well—his FTEs in particular were very welltranslated, as were some of his more memorable speeches. In fact, one of myfavorite speeches in the entire game, the one in the Chapter 4 trial where hetalks about the painful, singular truth vs. gentle lies and the endlesspossibilities they offer, was translated spectacularly from start to finish.

However, there were some definite things abouthis overall translation that didn’t really sit well with me, even early on.Much of it has to do with tone, I think—although this is, of course, entirelysubjective and depends just as much on the translator’s preferences as it doeson the player’s.

Ouma is undoubtedly bratty, childish, and has atendency to tease and play pranks on others. But it’s also just as true that hehas nearly as many very serious, straight-faced moments with lines delivered ina perfectly calm, rational fashion. This localization made it… very hard todifferentiate between those two moments, in my opinion, just as it made it hardto differentiate between “mysterious brat with a childish streak that’sactually hard to hate” and “mysterious brat who is actually just downrightgrating and annoying.”

To give a more specific example, a lot of the dialogueand slang that was added to Ouma’s dialogue (both in optional segments and inthe overall plot) is funny maybe once or twice, but it fell rather flat to methe more it went on. “Hewwo”-speak, meme references from the last 2-6 monthsthat are kind of funny but will quickly be outdated by next year, and othersimilar translation choices made it really hard to focus on what Ouma wasactually saying, especially when many of these memes were thrown in all overthe place even in lines where he said nothing of the sort.

More than anything, the overall feeling anddelivery of many of his lines—including lines where it’s very clear he’s beingserious, rather than annoying or bratty—suffered as a result of trying to makehim sound “funny” most of the time. This happened a few times during theChapter 3 trial in particular, with Momota calling him “pure” (translatedas “naïve” in the localization, which works even if it doesn’t quite capturethe same feeling), and again when responding to Kiibo saying he could understandhow Himiko felt when grieving over Tenko and Angie’s deaths.

In both cases, the general feeling of Ouma’sdialogue was changed drastically. I noticed there were changes in thepunctuation (lines which were delivered very calmly and quietly in the original Japanese wereinstead punctuated with “!?,” which I suspect also drastically changed thedelivery of these lines in the dub, though I haven’t listened for myself yet),as well as changes with the entire phrasing.

In the original, Ouma responds to Momotacalling him “pure”/”naïve”/”innocent”/what-have-you with a very quiet line,almost as though talking to himself, which translates to roughly as follows: “It’sthe first time that anyone’s ever called a liar like me ‘pure.’” The emphasisin the original is very clearly on the fact that, while certainly playing thepart of an antagonistic force, Ouma himself disagrees with Momota’s blindbelief and faith in others and refuses to let go of his own paranoia. But atthe same time, he’s definitely somewhat surprised that someone would callsomeone like himself such a harmless-sounding word. Once again, it all tiesback in with Ouma’s projected image as a force of chaos, and the reality thathe’s much more childlike and hard to hate just under the surface.

By contrast, his line in the localization wasinstead changed to this: “No one’s ever called me naïve before. And from Kaito?Seriously?” Not only does this drop the entire “liar” theme of Ouma’s characterand dialogue in general, but the feeling is completely different fromthe original. The sudden finger-pointing at Momota isn’t anywhere in the originalline at all, and overall, it makes it feel much more like Ouma is throwing avery childish temper tantrum over being “name-called.” If I hadn’t known whathe said in the original line, I wouldn’t have thought it was a scene of anyimportance to his character.

The same goes with his line to Kiibo. In theoriginal, Ouma actually stops joking around entirely after hearing Kiibo’sclaim, and asks point-blank, very blank-faced: “Saying that you can understandhow she feels… So can a robot like you truly understand human emotion?” Thelocalization line, however, was this: “So you can understand how she feels. Isee… Wait! Robots can understand human feelings!?”

This is what I mean about the localizationchanging the punctuation and overall tone—while it might seem like the generalmeaning is the same, these two lines carry a very different feeling to them,and the latter makes it seem like Ouma is definitely teasing/bullying Kiibo asusual when it’s actually one of his most serious and soft-spoken lines in theentire trial up to that point. Again, it’s generally hard to get a feeling ofwhen Ouma is being serious at any point in the localization, or when he’ssaying anything important, as pretty much all of his lines, even the veryserious ones, have had their tone and feeling tweaked quite a bit.

And now, as for Chapters 5 and 6… well, the CGerror in the Chapter 5 trial was already disappointing enough (namely as itmade one of the most fun and enjoyable chapters look as though it had a verydumb, gaping plot hole that didn’t exist in the original), but I can vouch thatthe translation of Ouma’s final speech to Momota was butchered right at themost important part in the Chapter 5 post-trial. I translated the entirepost-trial to English myself quite a few months ago, so I was very excited tosee how NISA would handle it—only to find myself extremely disappointed when Igot there.

When Momota asks him why he lied and said heenjoyed the killing game, Ouma gives him a full explanation of his motives thatwe, the players, are encouraged to pick apart and decide for ourselves whetherhe was lying or not. In my opinion, the most glaring disservice done to Ouma’scharacter in the localization is the fact that they completely ruined thisexplanation, not only in the Chapter 5 post-trial but in Chapter 6 as well,making his entire character an incomprehensible, jumbled mess.

The explanation Ouma gives in his flashbackwith Momota is, quite literally, that he hates the killing game because of how many lives it took. He revealsthat it was all a lie he had to tell himself in order to survive, but the cruxof why he hated it so much was that he was horrified by the sheer loss of life.He specifically says, “人にやらされるゲームなんて…楽しい訳あるかよ…”The verb “やらされる” (also written “殺らされる”) means “to kill,” “todo someone in,” etc. So what he says,quite literally, is this: “As if there’s any fun… in a game that kills people like this…” A more natural-sounding translation would be something like, “As if agame that takes people’s lives like this… could ever be fun.”

The localized line, however, drops the ballentirely. It was translated as follows: “H-How could a game… that you’re forcedto play… be fun…?” This completely changes… well, everything about Ouma’s last words,his motivation, and his entire character. Rather than hating and detesting thegame because of the number of lives it took, and because he himself is morallyopposed to murder, it makes it sound as though he would be absolutely fine withthe killing game (and with killing in general) if only the participation wasn’tforced.

This…puts Ouma’s character into a considerably more negative light than the originalversion of the game, but the worst part of this mistranslation is that it continuesinto the next chapter and causes further misunderstandings. In Chapter 6,Saihara and Maki discover Ouma’s motive video in his room—which was somethingelse I translated before the game’s release.

One of the first and most important pointsabout Ouma’s motive video, mentioned almost right off the bat, is that Ouma andDICE strictly forbade murder. It was one of their two most important mottosas a group, the other being to commit “fun, laughable pranks.” His video is explicit about the fact that he and DICEas a whole didn’t condone murder. Andyet, incredibly enough, this line was removed entirely from his motive video inthe localization.

The originalJapanese is a little lengthy here, but I will post it just for the sake ofclarification:  “「人を殺さない」かつ「笑える犯罪」をモットーに、愉快犯的な犯行を繰り返す”DICE"には…王馬くんと共に活動する10��の優秀な手下���がいました。”

There really is not anything morestraightforward and explicit than “人を殺さない” (hito wo korosanai), literally, “don’t kill people.” I wish Icould understand where on earth NISA was coming from when the decision was madeto cut this out of his motive video, but honestly, it baffles me. Again, all itdoes is cast his character in a much more negative light while confusingcrucial facts about his character that weren’t ambiguous at all in theoriginal.

Forcomparison, the localization wrote his motive video as follows: “[Ouma] causedmayhem the world over as the leader of the secret organization DICE. And by ‘mayhem,’I mean petty nonviolent crimes and harmless pranks… Anyway, he had ten loyal goons working for him.” Before anyone tries tostate that “petty nonviolent crimes” is an equivalent substitute, it’s reallynot. Nowhere in the entire localizationfor his motive video does it mention that murder was expressly forbidden, northat it was the group’s most important motto.

Thiserror actually ruins the entire point of using Ouma’s motive video as a truthbullet during the Chapter 6 trial, when Tsumugi tries to keep claiming that hewas a member of the Remnants of Despair. Saihara specifically cites the videoas evidence that DICE couldn’t have been related to the Remnants of Despair,because their organization “forbade murder”—but this translation doesn’t matchup with the translation of Ouma’s motive video itself, or even with the truthbullet summary, neither of which mention that “no killing” was the mostimportant motto of the entire group.

Thecorrelation goes from “Ouma and DICE couldn’t be Remnants of Despair becausetheir organization expressly forbade murder” to “Ouma and DICE probably aren’t Remnants, maybe, because they like doingnonviolent crimes and pranks, I guess.” It’s much, much harder to make theargument that Ouma and DICE couldn’t be controlling a killing game when the “nokilling” rule is quite literally removed from the translation, only to bebrought up by Saihara as though it had already been mentioned before (and I’mguessing that was likely due to miscommunication and lack of context betweendifferent translators, just like I talked about).

There’sreally no other way to view this than as a glaring mistranslation, or else a deliberate,skewed decision taken to make Ouma seem… well, vastly different as a characterin the localization than he was in the original. There’s also no longer anylink between his motive video and his final words to Momota in Chapter 5.

Before, there was a very clear link between Ouma saying that he hatedthe killing game because of the lives it took, and the fact that his motive video then went on to mention that he and his organization specifically forbade killing people. But now there’s no correlation atall between Ouma saying that he hates the killing game “because he was forcedto participate” and his organization which does “petty nonviolent crimes.”

The reveals concerning Ouma in the original versionof the game are extremely important, considering that they help cast every single thing he’s ever said in acompletely different light once you go back and replay the game. Knowing thathe hates death and murder is central to understanding most of his character. Itexplains not only his decision to expose Maki’s talent to the group, but alsocasts many of his lines about how he’s “always thinking of everyone” and how he’s“acting for everyone’s sake” in a much more truthful light than they appearedat first glance. This is crucial to enjoying his character, in my opinion; as a“liar character,” the most surprising twist of all is to learn that he wastelling the truth a lot more often than anyone thought.

In thelocalization, however, it’s difficult to know what to make of him even afterall the reveals in later chapters—namely because these reveals were so badlytranslated and handled that they didn’t clear up much of anything about his character.Whereas in the original Japanese text, his motive video and final speech inChapter 5 very clearly establish that he hated death and killing on a verypersonal level, the localization makes it seem as though he simply hated being forced into the killing game, not theidea of the game itself.

Thefact that he and his entire group had a “no killing” motto is not brought up oremphasized in the least, other than Saihara’s single line in the Chapter 6trial. This means that something which should have been very clearlyestablished about his character is now only there if you squint in thelocalization—and even then, it doesn’t make any sense why he and DICE wouldforbid killing if he really just hated “forced participation” into any game ingeneral, so the entire reveal seems to come out of left field. In other words, it’s a very, very different portrayal of his character than what occurs in the original version of the game.

I couldhave dismissed the tone shifts and general mood whiplash of his translation inother parts of the game if only these very important aspects of his characterhad been included and translated accurately, at least. But the fact that theywere either omitted entirely as a matter of choice or else directlymistranslated makes it much, much harder for me to like the direction the localizationtook his character.

Ingeneral, it feels like the localization wanted Ouma to be a much harsher, crueler,and overall less sympathetic character than he was in the original version ofthe game. I personally believe that while it’s possible to understand him, his actions shouldn’t be excused—the originalnarrative already makes it quite clear that while his actions can be explained,they’re certainly not supposed to be excused or hand-waved away. He acts like a huge, god-awfulasshole on more than one occasion, and regardless of whether it was for thesake of trying to stop the killing game or not, he absolutely deserves to beput in his place for the stunts he pulled in Chapter 4.

However,skewing facts and downright omitting evidence is contrary to what a translationshould do. Unlike other translation differences, being a localization has nothing to do with it. Fan translations and localizations alike should strive to avoid altering the facts to suit how a character is portrayed. When there are several facts indicating that acharacter is not nearly as horrible, sadistic, or selfish as they’ve madethemselves out to be, I don’t think it’s right to simply leave those things outentirely.

Thefact of the matter is, Ouma is shown pretty explicitly to have been deeply,personally opposed to murder and killing—while one could argue that it’s only implied (heavily) to be thetruth in Chapter 5, Chapter 6 outright confirms it. There is really no way to argue against it. And the localizationcompletely robbed his character of those things and provided people with a verydifferent version of events than what actually happened. Things which should’vebeen spelled out are now only there if you read in between the lines, and Ouma’soverall characterization suffered pretty badly for it.

Peopleare free to like or dislike Ouma. I can certainly understand if they do dislikehim. He’s a morally grey character, who does morally ambiguous things; he’sdefinitely meant to be a polarizingcharacter. But I feel it’s unfair to provide people with only half the facts,or even complete misinformation, as this can alter and influence people’s opinions heavily.

I havemore to say on the localization as a whole, but I’ll leave that for a differentpost, where I can talk more about all the characters in general, as well aswhat I actually liked about it. I’m sorry for how long this got, but I hopepeople might read to the end and spread this around.

I want people to supportthe localization as much as possible—games getting localized and brought to thewest are rare enough as it is, so it’s a huge success that ndrv3 got alocalization like this! But I feel it’s also important to keep in mind thatthere are definite errors in the localization too, and that the differencesbetween the localization and the original game can often affect one’sperception of it.

Anyway,thank you both for stopping by. I hope I was able to sum it all up, and thankyou for reading.

[tannerahonesti95]

How Long Does Reiki Healing Last Stupefying Tips

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[evakteket]

Watchlist update!

Halla, lovely evak shippers ♥  We hope you’re all enjoying season 4 so far, and are being kind to yourselves and each other. Alt er love.

It’s about a week since the last WIP watchlist update, so here we go again!

We’re always on the lookout for new fics, so let us know in our ask box if you have any suggestions--there’s a lot out there to get through and we don’t want to miss the best of it!

Update summary:

Completed: 2 Added: 5 Removed: 0

News:

i guess that’s destiny doing it right by allyasavedtheday (@littlespooneven) NEW

Rating: mature. In this AU Even and Isak didn’t get together while they’re in school, but they meet in Barcelona the summer before Isak goes to uni. It’s a sweet and gorgeously detailed and extremely satisfying reunion fic so far, with the guys’ interaction being every bit as lovely and natural as in canon. We love the more confident Isak in this, and the Spanish summertime vibe. Don’t forget to get your Ed Sheeran on while reading. - kit and immy

Vi trenger ikke verden by Kudzibisa (Norwegian) NEW

Wrong number AU, coffee shop AU, Norwegian fic that flows like the show itself with beautiful interaction, hilarious turns of phrases and the clipped slang-y language of SKAM; this is a fic that hits pretty much all my buttons. If you can read Norwegian, don’t miss out on this. - immy

Straight Up (series) by @nofeartina NEW

From the second work in the series, this is rated explicit… and rightfully so, omg. It’s nearly impossible to say anything useful about this because we’re (hopefully temporarily) not very capable of expressing ourselves beyond vague rambling about “fluffy smut” and “hot” and “holy shit this is hot” and “have we mentioned yet that this is hot”.  We’ll let you know when we pick our jaws up off the floor.- kit and immy

Checking from Behind by DickAnderton (@wecanjustbreathe) NEW

A slight disclaimer is probably in order here, because I (Kit) am betaing this fic, but I’m too obsessed with it not to rec it. This is a hate-to-love AU, set in my absolute favourite of AU universes–college ice hockey! You don’t need to know anything about the sport to be intrigued by this fic, which definitely isn’t your standard Evak storyline. Warning: Isak and Even both explore relationships with women in this one, so see the author’s notes. -kit

Head Over Heels by LostInAdmiration (@call-this-a-mask) NEW

I’ll confess I have a soft spot for skateboarding AU. In this Jonas is the skateboarder, Isak is his friend filming and taking pictures. Of course, there’s also the handsome rival skateboarder… There’s attention to details and the guys feel real, it’s charming and angsty and well worth subscribing to. - immy

How In My Silence I Adored You by @dahlstrom COMPLETE

Completed, rec here.

Lost Boys (Not Ready To Be Found) by kittpurrson (@towonderland72) COMPLETE

Completed, rec here.

Still on the watchlist from last update:

Life Is Now. (and now, and now) by @flybynightgirl

This is an incredibly intense fic, written by an author who is intimately familiar with bipolar disorder. It’s hands down one of the best portrayals of an episode and its buildup/aftermath in the fandom so far. It’s post season 3, and has timestamps just like the show does – basically it’s a continuation of the season, and the conflict is far from over. Although there are a couple of moments when supporting characters make choices that seem ooc, the massive emotional pull of this fic is not to be underestimated. Not to mention that this fic also has humour and very lovely portrayal of friendships in abundance. - kit and immy

Falling (The World is Yours) by chips2

This is basically “what if Even was the main character of season 3?” It’s first person, present tense, so beware if that’s not your thing, but I love how it fleshes out Even’s backstory and thoughts and imagines a world for him beyond his relationship with Isak. An obligatory warning for people with experience of BPD–this fic does portray therapy sessions, and ymmv on how realistic they are. - kit

A Collection of Even & Isak’s First Kiss AU Shorts by @fandomlimb

Just what it says on the tin: first kisses, a different AU in each chapter. Adorable and fluffy so far. - immy

Spacewalker by evenvaltersen

How the hell you can make a Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo AU work with SKAM characters is beyond me, but evenvaltersen manages just that, in my opinion. This may be my obsession with Christiane F talking, but give it a go. Be warned: it’s every bit as gritty and sad as you can expect something based on a mostly true story about teen drug addicts in Berlin in the 70s to be, no fluff here. - immy

making new clichés by strangetowns (@douchenuts)

This is in its early days, but oh-so promising! It’s another Evak as best friends AU, but it’s incredibly well-written thus far and it has a very realistic, nuanced portrayal of their relationship, which is already just close enough that it has us absolutely stoked for the moment it tips over into feelings too big to ignore. - kit and immy

Those, who could not hear the music by UniversalParadox_13

This is also pretty new, but again shows a lot of potential to be one of the fandom’s most interesting AUs–this one has Even and Isak as ballet dancers. Although it can go a little overboard with the italics, this fic is already super interesting, has a well-done portrayal of the ballet world, and promises to eventually venture into *drumroll* smut territory. Yep. That got your attention, didn’t it? - kit

it comes in waves by @moonlitbird

Also known as the mermaid AU. Yes, you read that right: MERMAID AU. This mermaid tale (!) is beautifully written, and is probably the best fantasy AU this fandom has, with a perfect twist on Even’s disorder and how it wreaks havoc on the relationship. The entire premise is fascinating, and flawlessly executed, and Kit is basically obsessed with this right now, so you should check it out and head on over to fangirl it with her literally ASAP. OMG. - kit

with love, from anonymous by cosetties (@adamparishe) and iriswests (@westiris)

Fuck yeah well-written slow burn coffee shop AU! It’s also a secret admirer fic, and to be honest that sets off my skepticism, but this is such great fun and the fuckups and misunderstandings and coffee spills abound. It’s not entirely light-hearted; it comes with a dose of angst and frustration and the problems you can expect from life as well. - immy

Are You Lost? by @noorasevas

This Amsterdam AU is clearly written by someone who knows and loves their city, and we are so hooked on touristy Isak and urbane Even in this, as they manage to miss each other and lose each other and find each other. Of course Isak isn’t on his own here: the entire Boy Squad is on holiday together, and you can probably imagine how that rowdy group comports themselves in Amsterdam.

Scene Three, Take Two by @folerdetdufoler

This is a future-ish fic that deals with Even and Isak meeting and discovering their feelings again when they’re a bit older, post-breakup and Isak is a vet student. There’s a slight non-Norwegian issue here, and I’m not quite sure I buy Isak’s reasoning for their breakup, but this fic is very promising nonetheless–and all the more exciting for being the writer’s first in the fandom. Go show them some love.- kit

A Transference of Feeling by @rumpelsnorcack

This is a very well-written what if AU, with the premise that Isak transferred to Bakka instead of Even going to Nissen. Even is repeating his third year and Isak’s a transfer who knows nobody there. This fic has a few issues in terms of getting Norway right, but makes up for those problems with very intriguing relationship-building between Isak and Even. Switching up the setting really highlights how much the two of them actually needed to find each other. We’re definitely liking it so far. - kit and immy

The Weight of Us by verlore_poplap (@mimi-fics)

This is a very interesting fic, in part because it’s so different to a lot of the stuff in the fandom so far. Isak and Even meet when they’re older, and in serious relationships with Emma and Sonja–in case alarm bells are ringing, yes, Isak and Emma are together, but the author uses the context of their relationship to explore what would have happened if he’d repressed his sexuality, which I think is very cool. The author also treats Emma very fairly. The fic has a few minor niggles–Isak, for example, at one point performs a super rare kind of heart surgery–but overall this fic has me really intrigued, and I can’t wait to read the rest. - kit

hot like fire, take you higher by birthmarks (@fyfaenjonas)

Rating: mature. This is kink exploration. The author takes it slowly and gently up from Isak finding out what a kink is, through Isak and Even finding out what their kinks are, and well. Hot. There’s also well-written dialogue, there’s the boy squad and fluff and stressing the importance of communication with your partner, so it’s not just a PWP (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Get your cold flannel and go read. - immy

[stampington]

Get Published: April Calls and Challenges

Our Stampington publications want your submissions. If you are an artist or writer looking to have your work featured in one of our magazines, here are the April calls and challenges that our magazines are looking for. We encourage you to submit your work again even if you have tried before. The following magazines have upcoming deadlines of April 15th (unless otherwise noted), so this is your chance to see your name in print and get published! 

~Photograph by Claudia Guariglia

Bella Grace is a print publication devoted to discovering magic in the ordinary. Our aim is to touch the souls of our readers through beautifully penned stories and striking photographs that capture life’s beautiful adventure.

At Bella Grace, we believe that:

Every cloud has a silver lining.

An ordinary life can be an extraordinary life.

There is beauty and magic to be found everywhere.

It’s OK to embrace imperfection.

Life should be lived with a full heart and open eyes.

Bella Grace is currently seeking submissions from writers and photographer

What We Are Looking For

Narratives We are currently looking for original narratives and poetry that focus on the idea that “life is a beautiful adventure.” Submitted work can be about simple pleasures, life lessons learned, slowing down, embracing your authentic self, and more. Written submissions can include accompanying photography, but we will also pair writers up with photographers if necessary.

Photography Picture submissions should capture the spirit of Bella Grace. They should depict simple moments, bits of romance, feelings of happiness, etc. Photography can be submitted on its own and will be considered for use with narratives or as the background for some of the quotes featured throughout the book.

Lists Who doesn’t love making a great list? Creating lists can be a very effective and inspiring form of writing. They’re also incredibly fun to read! We aren’t looking for your grocery list; we’re looking for your life lists. A few ideas include 10 Ways to Turn a Day Around, 5 Times I Laughed Uncontrollably, and 15 Things I’d Tell My 15-Year-Old Self. Make it funny, make it sweet … the choice is yours.

Instagram Collections Who doesn’t love Instagram? As artists and creatives, it’s such a great way to beautifully share our days with others. It also serves as a diary to help us document our days. In each issue of Bella Grace we feature a few Instagram collections. We’re now opening this up to submissions! All you need to do is send 15 images that you feel capture your Instagram and a statement about what living a Bella Grace life means to you to bellagrace@stampington.com. If selected, you will need to provide high-resolution images that can be printed at 5″ x 5″, 300 dpi.

Ideas To Get You Started

We are happy to receive general submissions, but in case you need a few ideas to get you started, we are also looking for responses (photographic or written or both) to the following prompts:

Stories of Self-Love Most of us have our own bag of tricks we turn to when we need to show ourselves a little love and kindness. For our editor-in-chief, it’s a quiet night spent under her very favorite blanket and the first book in the Harry Potter series. It never fails to brighten her spirits. What is it you turn to? What’s your recipe for self-love? (Lists and narratives accepted.)

Small, Random Acts of Kindness It’s been said that you never know what another person might be going through, so it’s important to be kind with everyone. A small gesture, such as a flower placed on a car windshield or an anonymous note left for someone to find, can make a huge impact. For an upcoming issue of Bella Grace, we are hoping to gather as many ideas for committing random acts of kindness as we possibly can. Furthermore, if you have a story to share about the impact an act of kindness has had on you, we’d love to hear it.

You in a Song Wouldn’t it be great to have a theme song for yourself? One that would be played as though you were in a movie? Here in our office, we’ve been asking each other what a song about them would sound like, and what lyrics it would contain. Now, we want to issue the same question to you. If someone wrote a song about you, what would the lyrics be?

Super Sassy Bios One of the most challenging assignments can be to write a biography for yourself. No matter how short the requirement, the task can be daunting. While perusing blogs, we’ve spied some really clever bios, some so unique that we can’t help but feel we know that blogger. In 30 words or less, what can you say about yourself? Don’t be boring and follow the usual format. Make it fun and attention-grabbing.

Bella Grace is released on a quarterly basis: March, June, September, and December. Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis, but must be received on or before the following dates to be considered for a specific issue.

Deadline for submissions:

Summer Issue — January 15th • Autumn Issue — April 15th • Winter Issue — July 15th • Spring Issue — December 15th

For consideration, please send any of the above to:

bellagrace@stampington.com

Click here to download our guide for submitting photographs. It will also show you how to convert images to the correct size and resolution for this publication.

~Artwork by Lynne Suprock

If you’d like to share your inspiration and detailed, how-to instructions for creating beautiful jewelry with readers, we want to hear from you. Belle Armoire Jewelry covers a broad range of mediums, such as polymer clay, metal working, lamp work, wire-wrapping, mixed-media, and much more. Whether you create necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants, rings, or other jewelry, we welcome you to submit your artwork to be considered for publication. Deadline: April 15th

~Artwork by Ksenia Sergeeva

Prims features exclusively handcrafted folk art inspired by a bygone era that will captivate the imagination and enchant with its simple beauty. Artwork by primitive, folk, historic, and early Americana artists explore the traditional beauty of handcrafted art making. Included on the pages are dolls, paintings, mixed-media artwork, along with a mix of teddy bears, animals, and other primitive characters. Stampington & Company’s tri-annual publication is released every January for spring, May for summer, and September for autumn/winter.

Deadline: April 15th for the September issue

The Witching Hour During the wee hours of the morning, witches and warlocks are said to abound. For this challenge, we ask you to submit your favorite primitive interpretations of these spell-casting beings that fly through the midnight skies by broomstick. We encourage creativity, so feel free to use inspiration from any source — the piece simply needs to be primitive in style and fit into the challenge in some way. If you have further questions, please email us at prims@stampington.com. We look forward to seeing what crawls through our doors by the deadline on April 15th!

Deadline: April 15th, 2017

~Artwork by Kasia Krzyminska

Somerset Apprentice is published semiannually and is currently open to submissions from all our readers who wish to share their art with our audience. Somerset Apprentice provides a basic and thorough understanding of techniques geared toward people who aspire to make Somerset-esque art, but need to learn the fundamentals through easy-to-understand instructions and close-up photos. Somerset Apprentice focuses on the basic how-to’s of amazing artwork.

General Artwork Submission Guidelines All artwork must arrive at our offices on or before the published deadlines. We prefer submissions of original art. If original art is not available, our next preference is hi-res digital images (300 dpi at 8″ x 10″). All artwork must be identified with the artist’s name, address, email, and phone number clearly printed on a label attached to each sample. As artwork often gets separated from instructions during our selection process, we ask that you also inscribe your name and address somewhere on each piece of art. If you desire acknowledgment of artwork receipt, please include a self-addressed stamped postcard.

Deadline: April 15th

Click here to download our guide for submitting photographs. It will also show you how to convert images to the correct size and resolution for this publication.

Submission Guidelines | Back to Top

  ~Artwork by Linda Cowan Hall

Digital artwork is HOT right now, and we’re very excited about this great publication that features all digital designs. Somerset Digital Studio focuses on all things digital — scrapbook pages, ATCs, collages, heritage pieces, iPhoneography, photo manipulations, apps for digital designing — anything that is unique, distinctive, artistic and created digitally. In order to be considered for publication in Somerset Digital Studio, please send via email the following for each submission: a high-res image (300 dpi, at least 10 x 10 inches), a brief paragraph describing the artwork (who’s who in any photos or why you were inspired to create it), instructions on how you created your digital artwork including the specifics as to what tools, programs, etc. you used. To be considered for an article, please include a brief query along with at least 5 images to support your idea. Please include your name, email, and mailing address with every submission. Emailed submissions should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief at somersetdigitalstudio@stampington.com. Please put “Somerset Digital Studio” in the subject line. Somerset Digital Studio is published semiannually in March and September.

Deadline: April 15th

A Submission Form must be attached to your artwork. Click here to download this form.

Click here to download our guide for how to submit photographs. It will also show you how to convert images to the correct size and resolution for this publication.

Submission Guidelines | Back to Top

~Artwork by Diana Pisanelli

Different Point of View How many different looks can you achieve with one stamp? We are looking for cards made with the Different Point of View concept. Find you favorite versatile stamp and create several different cards using that image in new ways, and push the boundary of a single stamp. Remember to make your cards in the Take Ten style, and keep them quick and easy. For more inspiration, look at the samples in the magazine. Deadlines: April 1, 2017

General Cards We are looking for quick and easy stamped cards for this best-selling magazine. Send us your “ten minutes or less” artwork in any style, theme or color and we’ll send you a free issue if your artwork is published. Deadlines: April 1, 2017 Simple Article Ideas Have you made a simple project/collection of greeting cards with an intriguing or different technique? We are constantly tearing through card submissions hunting for the next feature article, and maybe it is your cards we are looking for! If you’ve seen an idea that you want to try or you would like to pitch us an idea for a collection of cards or tutorial, please feel free to contact us at taketen@stampington.com. We love bringing the best, easy stamping techniques to our readers! Deadlines: April 1, 2017

Quick & Easy Gifts Here at Take Ten, we are always on the lookout for quick and easy stamping techniques — but that’s not limited to cards! We’d love to see what you can create when you go beyond cards. Pick up your stamps, give yourself 10 minutes, and see what interesting stamped projects you can come up with. From tags and boxes to frames and gift bags, we want to see it all! Send us your best for a chance to be published in an upcoming issue of this quarterly publication. Deadlines: April 1, 2017

Masterboard  In each issue of Take Ten, we aim to include an example of a Masterboard, a self-made mixed-media patterned paper to use and re-use in your stamped projects. Pick up the latest installment of Take Ten to see an example of a Masterboard and how an artist has used her patterned papers to make a few cards featuring rubber stamping. Please send your samples of a Masterboard along with three to 10 samples of cards you have made with it. All cards should take 10 minutes or less to make each, and should include rubber stamping. Deadlines: April 1, 2017

Are You the Next Take Ten Guest Artist?  This department is dedicated to artists (many who began as loyal readers) who capture Take Ten style — original greeting card creations that incorporate rubber stamping into the design. If you are a dedicated stamper, this is your chance to show off what makes your talent unique, whether you have a signature inking technique, an anything-but-ordinary style, or a knack for layout designs. We would like to see new techniques, ones that are contemporary and one-of-a-kind, and vast themes. If you would like to audition to be a guest artist, we ask for the following: A minimum of 5 sets of 3 cards in each set (ideally, we would prefer 8 sets of cards in a similar theme), for a grand total of 15 – 24 cards. The best way to become familiar with what makes our Guest Artists stand out is to take a peek through our publication. For each set, keep in line with a similar color palette or theme. We’re dedicated to showcasing the very best artists, and we would love to feature your talented creations for all our readers to see! Deadlines: April 1, 2017 Click here to download and print our Submissions Form!

  The post Get Published: April Calls and Challenges appeared first on Somerset Place: The Official Blog of Stampington & Company.

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