Tips for choosing your location for USK-SG Vol.2

To all the contributors to the USK-SG Vol.2 book,

This note is just to make sure that when you are submitting a sketch, you are choosing the right location. I know that it takes some time to write a story. So I do not want you to spend a couple hours writing about locations that will not get chosen for the book.

We've gotten quite lot of submissions already, but some of them fall into the grey area. And although we really want to say "OK, can lah!", some will have to be re-submitted because the location doesn't fit the overall theme of the book. We found that the word "meaningful locations" can be interpreted in other ways than what we intended. So to be extra clear, here are some things to consider when choosing a location.

The location fits the book if it's a place:
1. you grew up at.
2. frequent very often in the past or present.
3. where something interesting/important/life-changing happened to you.
4. where a building that was meaningful to you used to stand. (your story will help us imagine the past.) eg. If the building has been renovated, you can draw the new one and talk about the old version in your story.

It won't fit the book if it's a just a place:
1. that reminded you of another place you have fond memories of.
2. you sketched because it was very interesting to sketch
3. that makes you feel nostalgic but you don't have any history in that place.


Some grey areas:

1. Drawing the interior of your house - This is a bit tricky because the interior of your house could look like any house in the world. But perhaps if you said or showed how your house relates to singapore homes, that might work; the general public who reads this book will be able to relate or find more interesting. I would try to avoid drawing the interior if possible. Instead, I would draw the outside as it is more recognisable to everyone. Even if it is a simple HDB block. People can then say, show their friends overseas and say"my HDB book looks like this!"

Same goes for drawing the interior of your workplace.

2. You drew it because this is where you had a fantastic sketch outing with your friends. Hmmm. Well, then the outing would be why it is memorable and not because the place was meaningful to you. Try to avoid this also because the public who will be reading the book may not care about sketching or sketch outings. They just want to know what's interesting about this place you drew and how it relates to your life. We are using sketches to talk about that and not using our sketches and stories to talk about sketching (at least not in this book.)

3. You drew it because it is a place you always see since young and it is going to be torn down. Well, unless you had a direct interaction with this place, and have some history or incident happened here, I think it won't do because it is just not meaningful enough to you.

4. Drawing the scene outside your window. That may be meaningful to you, provided that your story does mention what you do around those places you see outside the window. Basically, the scene must be of places that are meaningful to you too. So that when people read your story, they can imagine you doing those things in those locations. eg. you drew your carpark. Then tell what happens to you in that carpark. You always forget where you park your car?


If you've found that your sketch you submitted didn't fit the theme, you are welcome to resubmit using the same submission form.

THANK YOU!