Four Swords: Winter's Delight 2023 is live and the event open!
It has been a lot of hard work, not only for myself, but also for all of our featured artists and writers, and for our technical editor. That said, it's finally here: Winter's Delight 2023, the e-zine.
You can view and download it, either by clicking on the image or by clicking here. It will take you to a PDF shared through Google Drive.
Alternatively, you can follow the instructions here to get a print copy.
The zine itself contains:
New fanart by nine artists
New fanfics by six writers
Three interviews with prominent and active fans in the Four Swords fandom
An overview of a fan's online shop with Four Swords themed items
Seven reading recommendations from fellow fans
The final results of the Fandom Awards
31 prompts for artists and writers in December
You might find the fanart posted by the individual artists on their social medias (full information on where to find them in the zine) throughout December. The fanfics might appear on Ao3, where our official collection for 2023 is Winter's Delight: A Four Swords Calendar (2023).
We invite all fans of Four Swords, on Tumblr or elsewhere, to join us in making this December a creative and joyful month for the fandom. Use the prompts (or not), take inspiration from other artists and writers (or not), and share what you create (please do!). Even if you don't consider yourself a creator of any sort, we would love for you to feel like you can test the waters this December.
Our themes this year are WINTER and COZY NIGHTS, so if you create anything pertaining to these, feel free to tag us (@fswintersdelight) so that we can see and share your creation with others! Our overall guidelines for participation can be found here, and an individual post with our December prompts here.
Finally, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has made this zine special: our general editor, @pokegeek151; our artists, @astrolabe-blade, @dergshadow, DKS01 Gaming, @fourswordsfairworld, @kaenith, @mckittyarts, @nextik, @sleepygremlin11, and @umbrenshadow; our writers, @1esor2, @adel-memes, @vagueandominousvibes, @zarvasace, @pokegeek151, and @hey-adora; and our interviewees, @hauntinghyrule, @hey-adora, and @zarvasace. This zine would never have seen the light of day without you. Thank you.
Hugs, spice, and all things bright,
Kalh
PS: We're testing printed options for those who might want a hard copy. Assuming it works as it should, we will provide the necessary documents and instructions for individual printing through Lulu.
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@fswintersdelight day 6 is about recipes! I’ve made this soup a bunch, it’s nice and light on my stomach but it feels really hearty and creamy. It feels like a cream soup without the cream, thanks to the potatoes. Big fan.
Ngl I forgot the zine was going to be out now but omg time passed so quick! Anyway! I would like to thank Kahl ( @vagueandominousvibes ) for hosting this event and letting me be a part of it, thank you so much dude :DD it was truly wonderful!
And you know me, predictably as a Blue and Shadow truther I gotta write about them so here is a fluffy banter of two morons spending the holiday together :^)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Almost all our Featured Artists & Writers have now completed their contributions to our e-zine, and we have come to the conclusion that we would like to diversify the e-zine.
In addition to new fanart and fanfics, we would like the e-zine to also include:
Fandom Awards
Fanfic Recommendations
Creator Interviews (fandom-specific, no personal details required)
December Prompts
And this is where we ask your help. We have a brief list of people we would love to interview and will be reaching out to them in the near future, but for fandom awards, fanfic recommendations, and December prompts we would love the Four Swords fandom's help.
Fandom Awards
To further spread joy and brightness in December we have decided to do an unofficial Four Swords Fandom Awards season. We say unofficial, because there is no reward for having the highest score, beyond bragging-rights. The primary goal of this is for fans to show that they appreciate each other.
The awards are divided into two sections — one for followers, and one for artists & writers:
You can give however many awards you would like, as long as you do it before the 1st of November!
Here's the form to do so.
Fanfic Recommendations
We want to help people find enjoyable fanfics in the month of December. To do so, we need your help. What's your favourite Four Swords fanfic?
Tell us what it's called and what you like about it, and we'll include it in the recommended readings section of our e-zine! If you don't want your name to be sited under the recommendation, you can choose to be anonymous.
Here's the form to recommend fanfics.
December Prompts
Do you have any ideas for writing and/or arts prompts related to our themes, WINTER and COZY NIGHTS? Drop us an ask!
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For all those who want a physical print of Winter's Delight: A Four Swords Zine, the PDFs are now available to download here. This is a Google Drive folder containing the files "Print_cover.pdf" and "Print_interior.pdf". These have been tested and adjusted to fit Lulu's printing system. You will need both files to order a print copy through Lulu.
(We also want to put in print here that we make no money off of this, nor do any of the artists, writers, or interviewees featured here. This has been, and continues to be, a wholly voluntary project. The only costs involved are printing and shipping costs, which are paid directly to Lulu upon ordering.)
To place your order, do the following steps:
Download "Print_cover.pdf" and "Print_interior.pdf".
Go to https://www.lulu.com/create.
Scroll down to 'Magazines' and click 'Print Your Magazine'.
Click 'Start Your Magazine'.
At this point Lulu might ask you to either sign in or create an account. Follow directions on screen.
Once you have signed in or created an account, you should be taken to a page called 'Start Your Project'. Here you want to make sure you select all the correct options.
Under 'Select a Product Type', ensure 'Magazine' is selected.
Under 'Select a Goal', ensure 'Print Your Magazine' is selected.
Under 'Magazine Details', use any variant of "Four Swords: Winter's Delight 2023" for 'Project Title', select 'English' as language, and select 'Entertainment' as category.
Click 'Design Your Project'.
Under 'Interior File Upload', upload "Print_interior.pdf". This may take a moment. You may here receive a notification that some of the content in the file has a low resolution. Disregard this notification. This is due to the section breaks in some of the fanfics, which have printed perfectly fine in the test copy.
Once the PDF has been uploaded, continue to 'Book Size and Page Count'. These sections should have been automatically filled in, but if they haven't, ensure the book size says 'US Letter (8.5 x 11 in / 216 x 279 mm)' and the page count '110'.
Under 'Interior Color', select 'Premium Color'.
Under 'Paper Type', select '70# White - Coated'.
Under 'Magazine Binding', select 'Paperback'.
Under 'Cover Finish', select either 'Glossy' or 'Matte'. The test copy is matte, but if you prefer a glossy cover, it makes no difference with regards to the final price.
Under 'Design Your Cover', select 'Upload Cover File' and upload "Print_cover.pdf". Again, this may take a moment.
Once the PDF has been uploaded, you can check under 'Magazine Preview' that all the pages have been uploaded correctly.
When ready, click 'Review Magazine' towards the bottom of the page.
You will be taken to a new page called 'Review Your Magazine'. Here, click 'Confirm and Publish'. Once it has processed, you should be able to order your copy.
We have now confirmed a fantastic line-up of artists and writers for the e-zine — some of whom you saw last year and some who are new — and we still have five spaces left!
If you're into Four Swords or Four Swords related AUs, or if you know someone who is, and if you want to help make this December a warm and welcoming month, consider signing up to our e-zine by filling out this form. For guidelines, see our pinned post.
Hi and welcome to Winter's Delight: A Four Swords Calendar!
Some of you may remember us from last year, when we ran the Four Swords Advent Anthology (FSAA) event. We received a lot of constructive feedback afterwards. A number of you felt the FSAA was too restrictive, due to being based on a the Advent calendar (a Christian item), and that it might not be welcoming to other faiths, cultures, and nationalities.
We have listened to you and rebranded. This year, the event will run throughout the entirety of December, and be open to more participants.
Winter's Delight is organised by fans of the Four Swords games and manga, for the fans of the Four Swords games and manga. Like last year, it is hosted by @vagueandominousvibes​.
ABOUT
Winter's Delight covers the 1st to the 31st of December. In the months leading up to it, we invite artists and writers to prepare pieces of fanart and fanfiction, to be posted on Tumblr (and, if the participants chose so, to our Ao3 collection) in December to spread joy and delight in the Four Swords fan community.
Each year we have two themes. To represent the name of the event, one theme will always be WINTER. The other is determined through submissions from fans and voting. Submission for themes this year is open until the 13th of August, whereupon a poll will be posted on our Tumblr on the 14th of August and voting can commence. The poll will be open until the 20th of August.
Last year, we had a limited number of available spaces for artists and writers to sign up for. This year we invite anyone interested to post fanart and/or fanfiction on any day in December (subject to the guidelines listed below). If you do participate, please tag us (@fswintersdelight​) so we can reblog your piece and help even more fans see your work!
OUR E-ZINE
Having seen the wonderful fanart and fanfics people contributed last year, we wanted to create an e-zine for Winter's Delight 2023 to collect everything in one place for everyone to enjoy.
Due to the amount of work a zine requires, there will unfortunately only be a limited number of spaces for featured artists and writers this year, as we test the waters and acquire necessary skills.
We therefore have 15 spaces total, with 5 of those spaces reserved for writers.
All fanart and all fanfics will be appropriately credited, with links to social media accounts upon request. The e-zine will be made available as a PDF-file linked on our Tumblr for people to view and download.
Our e-zine works on a first-come, first-served basis. If you would like to sign up, please fill out and submit our form by the 31st of August:
https://forms.gle/FixJLK9te9Wz5LPy8
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
DISCLAIMER: These guidelines are applicable for anyone participating in the Winter's Delight 2023 event — as an artist or writer participating in December, or as a featured artist or writer in our e-zine.
One OR both of the themes has to be visible in the submission. The themes for 2023 are: WINTER and [TBC]*.
The submission must include character(s) and/or setting(s) from either the Four Swords games or the Four Swords manga.
We do NOT accept mature or explicit content. This is a family friendly event.
We welcome all ships and AUs.
All written submissions should be in the range of 500–8,000 words. (We are at this time unfortunately only able to offer proof-reading or editing for featured writers.)
Art can include short comics.
Due to the turbulent times we live in, we want to be extremely clear that when we say this is a family friendly event, we mean 'family friendly' to include LGBTQ+ and other minorities. Discriminatory or derogatory visuals/language will not be accepted, and may lead to you being banned from the event.
*The second theme of 2023 is to be confirmed in the poll on @fswintersdelight​, available from Monday the 14th of August.
SUBMISSION PROCESS: GENERAL PARTICIPANTS
For general participants, the Winter's Delight event runs from 2nd of December to 30th of December. You may, on any day in this space, post your submission(s) on Tumblr. There is no limit on how many submissions you can participate with, and we would be delighted to see multiple submissions each day.
All we ask is that you please adhere to the guidelines outlined above, and tag us (@fswintersdelight​) so that we are notified of your post and can reblog it. Please also provide appropriate tags/warnings for your submission(s).
Our tag this year is: #fswintersdelight2023.
If you are submitting a fanfic and would also like to post it to Ao3, please consider adding it to the appropriate Winter's Delight subcollection.
SUBMISSION PROCESS: FEATURED ARTISTS & WRITERS
DISCLAIMER: This process is only applicable to artists and writers featured in our e-zine.
The e-zine is to be made available on the 1st of December. To accomplish this, the deadline for signing up is 31st of August. If there are still spaces available after 31st of August, submissions will re-open for a limited time.
If you are successful in claiming a space as a featured artist or writer, you will be contacted in the first week of September. After you have been contacted, you will have until Sunday the 17th of September to provide a draft of your piece.
NOTE: If you are a writer and require proof-reading/editing, this is your final deadline for sharing the draft you wish proof-read/edited. Comments and edits will be returned as soon as possible.
The deadline for submitting the final version of your piece is the 30th of September. To submit your piece, please share it with us via the method in which you were contacted (Discord or email, as provided in the sign-up form).
Should anyone drop out or not submit their piece by this deadline, backup artists/writers will be contacted in October (see deadlines for backup artists/writers below).
The host of Winter's Delight 2023, @vagueandominousvibes​, will spend November producing the e-zine, and make it available on our Tumblr as a PDF for reading.
If you have not been contacted, but have agreed to be a backup artist/writer, you will be contacted in the first week of October if any spaces become available. You will then have until Tuesday 17th of October to provide a draft of your piece. The deadline for submitting your final version is the 31st of October.
BACKUP ARTISTS & WRITERS
When you sign up to be a featured artist or writer, you get the option to be a backup artist/writer for the e-zine.
This means that if there are more people signed up than there are spaces available, you can be on our backup list in case one of the featured artists/writers has to drop out or doesn't submit their piece in a timely manner.
If you agree to be a backup artist/writer, you will be contacted in the first week of October if any spaces become available. You will then have until Tuesday 17th of October to provide a draft of your piece, with your final deadline for submitting a completed version being the 31st of October.
LIST OF IMPORTANT DATES
13th of August:Â Deadline for sending in ideas for second theme.
14th of August: Voting for second theme opens on @fswintersdelight​.
31st of August: Deadline for signing up as a featured artist/writer.
17th of September:Â Deadline for sharing a draft. FEATURED ARTIST/WRITERS ONLY.
30th of September:Â Deadline for sharing final piece. FEATURED ARTIST/WRITERS ONLY.
17th of October:Â Deadline for sharing a draft. BACKUP ARTIST/WRITERS ONLY.
31st of October:Â Deadline for sharing final piece. BACKUP ARTIST/WRITERS ONLY.
1st of December: E-zine made available on @fswintersdelight​.
2nd–30th of December: General participants share their pieces on Tumblr.
31st of December:Â Final piece of the event posted by the host of the event.
THANK YOU FOR SPREADING THE WORD!
With your help we can make this December a kind, loving, welcoming, and vibrantly joyful month.
I look forward to finding out what our second theme for Winter's Delight 2023 is going to be, to see everyone's fantastic artworks, and to read all the fanfics you share for the event.
Hugs, spice, and all things bright,
Kalh
CONTACT
Tumblr: @fswintersdelight​ (EVENT)
Tumblr: @vagueandominousvibes​ (HOST)
Ao3: Winter's Delight: A Four Swords Calendar. Collection moderated by @WriterKalhsScribbles.
