As promised (threatened? asked for?), here is a little snippet about how to write a recap back in the old days, and how I wrote them.
[Some background: I was under javabeans’ tutelage for my training period. She was presiding editor over the majority of my shows until 2017, although I did do a couple of shows under girlfriday as well.]
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The OG School of Recaps
Old-school longform recaps had a criteria of technical specs that they needed to meet in terms of format, wordcounts, and so on.
A recap has two main components: text and images.
The text aspect of a recap has three parts:
1) Intro
2) Base recap
3) Comment
The image aspect of a recap has two parts:
1) The header image
2) Screencaps to illustrate the recap
Today I’m going to tell you about INTROS.
The intro needs to be at least 50 words to fill the space correctly. They can be (and often are) longer, but you have to offset this against your total wordcount (more on that in future posts – maybe lol, if you want them).
Intros are important because they show up in the blurb box on the main page, so it’s the first thing anyone will read. For that reason, you also need to write them in a way that makes the reader want to click through. This one’s your hook – use it well.
Never put plot spoilers here – not just for that episode but also of any twists or reveals of previous episodes. Not everyone will be reading and watching these live, so you need to be mindful of the fact that people will come to these months and even years later.
Also think about how it displays under the show’s tag: in reverse. So if you click on the tag for, say, Kill Me, Heal Me, the list will begin with the final episodes and the episode count goes down as you go down the page.
Intros are hard to write: it has to be a precise mix of vague and specific – vague enough not to spoil, specific enough to lure you in. If you’re clever, you can write it with veiled meaning that is clear to someone who’s watching the show, but remains unrevealing for someone who isn’t (but may later). And avoid clichés – they’re boring.
Though the intro is the shortest component of the recap, it can often be the hardest to write. I made it a habit to write them at the very end, once I finished the rest of the recap, because that’s when they came easiest. The worst time to try to write it, I think, is the beginning. This is because once you’re done writing everything, you have a clear overview of what went down in the episode and what you think of it. So it’s easier to pick out themes and arcs, and weave them into little puzzle sentences. It’s actually fun at that point (though after you’ve been writing for 16-20 hours, nothing is fun except the thought either dying or sleeping).
That’s it for this post! If you guys like these, let me know and I’ll try to write more as and when the tiger takes me. If you’d like to be tagged for notifications, lmk in the comments! 💙
Also proofread, so you don’t repeat yourself. But you know when you’re most likely to miss your errors? When it’s 3am and your words are just squiggles and nothing means anything to you anymore.
Thank you so much for sharing the writing process! I must say, it sounds like such a labour of love! I could probably write one recap, and then wouldn’t have anything left to give (to anyone or anything)!😅 Did you have another job, or studies at the same time? I couldn’t imagine how that would be possible. How did you recover after these 16-20 hour marathon bouts of writing?
Back when I was writing papers and essays, I would write the intro last as well (although I’d come up with the thesis statement first and have a plan). It’s interesting to see how a very different type of writing can share that in common! Also, had you not pointed out the unique challenges of writing an intro for a recap, I would never have realised! It makes a lot of sense though, and as a reader, I really appreciate that there are no spoilers, but enough shared to draw me in – what a challenge! And please, please do tag me in future posts!😊
Thanks so much, now I want to read more of how you got everything done. When I read “classic recaps” I kept thinking how many recapper watched the episodes or how many times they pressed the pause bottom to be that specific.
And by the way, when I went down all your heart content I suddenly remembered how many dramas you and I loved to bits!!!
Thank you for this is interesting behind the scenes process @saya. I was always curious about how recaps were done, and you’ve given such a detailed description.
Your most impressive take on a drama was Watcher. That was such a complex drama to put into words, but you made it interesting and clear. A huge feat!
I love this. I’m an amateur editor-writer for a local medical journal and what you’ve outlined could work for several different types of writing. Scientific writing aside, a lot of what I write is more conversational with the reader, so I’m also looking for that intro hook for them to keep reading my article. Also, finding a subject that is interesting across subspecialties, or making a subject that may not be immediately relatable interesting and entertaining to read about. I hope you can mention this at some point, where people may not be watching the show at all, but find entertainment just reading the recap and how you interject blips of humor or exasperation into the recap. Sometimes I read to just get the recapper’s opinion of the show. That was missing after JB and GF left and the recaps became more just summarizations and honestly were really dull to read because I could never make out what the recapper really thought. We know there are bad dramas that people recap and half the fun is wallowing in shared misery when you’re watching it too—or sympathy for the recapper when they’re stuck with watching it and I have the luxury to stop!
Keep them coming! I’m saving them for future reference for myself, who plans to write full time when I retire.
Thank you so much Saya. I’d love to be tagged for future posts. Intros are indeed very tricky. In my one extremely lackluster try at writing a recap, I faced the most difficult while wroting the intros and comments DB style. They just need to be the right amount of ambigious and intriguing. That’s hard and cliches are tempting when you’re running out of creativity and time 😅
And this reminded me of when I was watching Start-up, and I was getting frustrated with the lies, I went to the show’s tag page and read the intros to find out how long the lies are gonna take to unravel. I found it and it was a good find for me. But after reading your post, maybe that wasn’t a very spoiler-free intro…
So in slight seriousness, would anyone be interested in me posting occasional material about recapping life in the old days? It feels like the entire recapping skillset is an obsolete one, but ultimately, I did get what I signed up for, which was writing mentorship from javabeans.
(I learned a lot – while suffering a lot – and all of that knowledge/experience lies wasted 😆 😅 😂 )
I’m also open to questions about life behind the curtain, and the kind of things you never got satisfactory answers for, if I know anything that I can share.
I won’t be disappointed, don’t worry, I just really love popcorn.😂
I do wonder where JB and GF are – I’ve seen a couple of their videos on YouTube (can’t remember when now but they were from years ago) and hope they’re still doing something they love.
Please share whatever you fancy – I’m 100% sure I’ll enjoy it. I loved what you said in that earlier thread about the point of recaps – I agree it’s about adding value via clarification, analysis and shared experience. I also really appreciate learning the cultural and language nuances that I wouldn’t have otherwise grasped. I’m so grateful for the writing here – I’m just sorry you weren’t fairly compensated for your work and devotion, and that at management level, they didn’t see the true value of what you do/did.
From what they’ve shared publicly, I believe both are involved in various aspects of The Swoon (“Netflix’s community for global fans of K-content” according to the internet), which operates arms on youtube and IG. Not sure about the videos coming back though, it looks like an abandoned project now.
To be quite honest, even we (the writers around at the time) don’t really know what happened/why she left DB, that was all upper management stuff we weren’t privy to – here one day, gone the next is what it seemed like. But she’s well and healthy as far as I know although kdrama is no longer her day job – she’s still doing something she really loves, so you can rest assured nothing untoward has happened to her!
While I’m curious about the whereabouts of previous recappers, (I know laica and festerfaster are with you at DOF, gummimochi, no idea) I’m actually quite interested in what you talked about recaps and edits. As a very jaded writer, I’d love to know the recap process if you’re comfortable sharing it.
Not big headed at all you all put in a lot of time and effort and share your thoughts in such depth so we the listeners can tell you love doing it. Even though it’s hard work as it is a lot to do that and all the promotion social media etc. alongside watching dramas and working etc. So bask in the positive feedback and keep enjoying it so it doesn’t become a chore. Once you lose the joy it will cease to be a fun listen.
Did you rejoin under your same email account? I ask because I notice your fanwall has history dating back more than two years.
I left DB myself (voluntarily) in 2018 and asked the admins to remove my account, but when I rejoined last December I used my same email account and noticed that DB seemed to recover some of my old comments from before.
I had a staff writer account alongside my ordinary user account – I was locked out of that, but I still have my normal account and all associated comments, and of course the posts I authored are still attributed to me. (I notice your first comment here was actually on one of my posts – Pretty Noona finale recap!)
Since comments are linked to the email you use to sign up, even if you terminate your user account but then rejoin with the same email, the system is designed to link all those previous posts back to you. For a full fresh start, you’d have to use a different email address.
I’ll be frank, I’m one of the two (that I know of) who so offended management that they showed us the door, but most others have left for personal reasons. Many of the previous writers started while they were students, and then as they moved into FT working life, they moved on from DB and are busy in their various fields. (A lot of them are active on social media, i.e. twitter or instagram.) I, on the other hand, was a sucker for punishment and didn’t leave even when I should have, so ultimately I guess we can say they did me a favour!
Not to mention that new DB management didn’t really value its writers as anything more than replaceable parts. They also fiercely resisted the change the site needed to remain dynamic and relevant. For example, DB has never regained its site ranking from the pre-blackout period, and there are many reasons for it, but poor management is chief among them.
Nevertheless, timely, high quality content always wins out at the end of the day, and for actual years, they didn’t even do that – not because they couldn’t, but because they wouldn’t. 🤷♀️
Thank you for telling us real reasons behind what we experience of DB lately. If not for the community here, I suppose many would have left the site a long time ago. And I so agree with you on so many points. But before I attributed the reason behind it to not having recappers with personality, so the recaps feel bland at best (with recaps that make me feel like I’m watching that episode again without being anything more than a mere recap, I don’t know why I should read it) and boring at worst.
I don’t think there is anything we can do with the management team because this is how they chose to do it, but you are brave and I think it’s good to speak it out so that others also know about this. And I just checked your website yesterday and I loved the post about Sh**ting Stars! Completely agreed on that.
Reading into why this happened has really frustrated me. You write insightful, funny, unique pieces for YEARS, and then The Good Detective comes along and you get unceremoniously axed? For the record, your review was excellent, of course. There are pieces of yours I still think about because they stand out – the Sassy Go Go recaps and the Solomon’s Perjury ones, for instance. Your voice is wonderful and the joke’s on them for not seeing it! I’m sure you’re at the point where you can laugh about this now, but I’m so sorry anyway.
Yay to freedom of speech at Dramas Over Flowers~ 🥳
Thanks so much @frabbycrabsis, @egads, @mmmmm, @parkchuna, @ndlessjoie, @reply1988, @redfox and everyone else, your support and kind words mean a lot to me. I’ve said it in every year-end review I wrote for DB that it was you guys who made it worth it – I never said that lightly.
If you ask me from my dual perspective as both a reader and a writer on the site, the drop in quality came when jb&gf took their hands off the editing. Frabby, you mention Solomon’s Perjury: that is the show I will always remember that the editor broke me and nearly destroyed my ability to write. I have never seen someone with such a frightening ability to turn good writing into bad and not know it. (I am still traumatised, lol.) During that time, every recap was stripped of personality and voice, that was their editing style. I had to second-guess nearly every word I wrote, every comma I placed, not knowing what they’d come for or why (and they’d never tell you why). Edits would change my intended meanings (or worse, even introduce errors that had not been there before), and I couldn’t question them. Or if I did, I’d be met by knife-like silence. The other writer who was also Dear John-ed? It was at this time, for this exact reason (if I haven’t misrepresented them).
When the administration changed, I was relieved (surely nothing could be worse than the last two years, right?), and it was better in terms of being able to write freely. But with the total departure of the OG team, so too went the vision and vivacity as the site entered a period of what seemed to me stagnation by intent. The new team clung to the wrong kind of continuity and focused on doing things as they were “always done”, and so large parts of the site continue to feel like a museum of heydays past – the static pages remain static, the drama ratings page hasn’t been updated since 2017, the header dates back to 2014 but at least it replaced that horrible 2007 one. And notice how the blurb at the top of WWW never changes? (You will now lol.)
Old writers soon made way for new, and as time went on, I was constantly not getting anything I asked for, with shows going to new recruits instead. And ngl, that was really upsetting and frustrating. Under the previous administration, I had finally earned the seniority to ask for a show and get it (instead of being randomly assigned – which worked out dreadfully with Criminal Minds LOL but amazingly with INAR XD).
[Sidenote: when you cover a show, you have to make sure you it fits your schedule, and my turnaround time was never more than 2 days – if an episode aired on Tuesday, for example, my recap would be in by Thursday, and under the old administration, it generally would be published immediately. Shows were assigned based on availability/schedule and seniority did rule for high demand shows – like me finally getting a Lee Jun-ki show while jb was in the house? Wouldn’t have happened if she wanted it!]
But longform recaps are exhausting to write (and mine always took embarrassingly long), and by then it was also clear that what readers wanted and needed was shifting – it wasn’t like the old days of waiting forever for subs. The subs were available long before the recaps were. In the time it took to produce a belaboured, boring recap, readers who just wanted to talk about the episode(s) had been forced to find other outlets. I recall a long period where recaps would appear after the next week’s episodes had already aired.
To me, the point of a recap is to add value to the experience of having watched the show itself – I don’t need a blow-by-blow recounting. I, too, watched the episode. What I need is to know someone else is feeling what I’m feeling. I need points of confusion clarified. I need the writer to remember what I forgot. I need a thorough dissection of the hour we watched. If it came to it, I’d prefer to dispense with the recap and expand the analysis. At a point, very little of what I was reading here was giving me remotely what I came here for. It was maddening and frustrating and SO easy to fix.
During the blackout period, I had a chance to experiment with shortform pieces (see: A Poem a Day/You Who Forgot Poetry, Mother) which I offered to do for free for my own enjoyment – I could turn these out fast when I didn’t have to mire myself in the minute-by-minute detail that full recaps require. (PS, I love fights in a recap because you can cover like 5 mins of show with a single sentence: ‘they fight’ XD)
I also wanted us to move overall to short format recap-review hybrids (i.e. weecaps but I hate the word weecap) and longform reviews: it would solve the timeliness problem, be more interesting to read if we focused on reaction and analysis. As a bonus, we could cover more shows at the same cost (because weecaps are even more woefully underpaid than longform recaps, BUT easier to write, with a rapid turnover time).
A note about this though: Whatever we were writing, long or short, the remuneration is not remotely proportional or anywhere near in line with industry standards. Under the new admin, there was also little acknowledgement of writers’ goodwill and hard work, and when the axe finally dropped on me, I realised that they didn’t see my work as having any intrinsic value, which was never true of the previous admin. The previous admin didn’t love me, but I always felt they valued my published work, and they understood the love I had for it – which I believe is evident in everything I wrote.
This brings me to an interesting problem though: why should writers put in more effort than they’re paid for? Every time I read a blindingly terrible piece, I lose my mind for a bit (why is it so bad? WHY IS IT SO BAD?) and then remember, wait, they’re being paid so little, why should they work harder? They are, in fact, working smarter, which makes me a little rueful when I consider how much self – how much labour, how many woman-hours – I poured into my own work. I should’ve worked smarter, too. Well – I tried, but this is where it got me, lol.
I probably would’ve carried on, disgruntled but committed, but the summer of 2020 brought us a few things: George Floyd, the unaddressed racism of Backstreet Rookie, and DB’s failure to take a clear anti-racist position despite so many of us asking for it. I offered an essay* on the topic but was turned down on the understanding that they wanted to write something themselves. They never did, and their communications with me took a decidedly cool turn.
And so on a particularly give-no-effs morning, I wrote my “damning” comment on the GD review about DB not loving me back – which honestly was lighthearted and I didn’t think was a big deal – and boom, game over!
And so leaving out the petty, sordid little details, that’s the story.
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[*My essay can now be found on the DOF website, titled ‘Diversity in Dramaland’.]
It has, hasn’t it? I think the biggest change is…well, deciding to change, and trying new things, and getting rid of the things that aren’t working so well anymore (like the very late longform recaps). But this question may be better addressed to present staff!
So i went back to read the Good Detective review and now i remember, i did read your comment and wondered what happened! I hope you’re in a happier place now! Also wondering if i should watch Good Detective..
I really loved S1 of GD and highly recommend if you like a bit of midnight bromance with your ambiguous morality and general murder mystery! Bear in mind the first two eps are so-so – following that, the show consistently got better by the episode! (I gave it a garbled review as my top drama of 2020 in our Year End Yak podcast of that year if you want to listen to me lose my words lol)
I haven’t started S2 yet, but I hope it’s as good and I look forward to it! I’m actually a bit scared of watching it because a) if I watch it, it’ll get finished, and b) I’m afraid I won’t love it, which would be really sad because I love S1 so much. 😅
I particularly fondly remember the Sassy Go Go recaps because at a point, I was like, damn restraint, I am COMING IN – and then proceeded to comment to my heart’s content under my chosen alias for that year – I can now tell you fishfingers_fb was MOI. (Hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing or shameful under that alias LOL)
God I laughed to myself so much. I commented so much, I laughed so much, and I had fun being a ‘regular beanie’ again, without the weight of the staff ID. (Also were those the yellow box days? Somebody asked in the AMA about why staff don’t comment on their own recaps – I think these days they probably should with the engagement so low. In those days we were advised by the boss beans to hold our peace (unless for corrections or clarifications) – we had our 4K words to say what we wanted, the comment space belongs to the readers. And of course, in the old site, the author’s comment always had the yellow box – great if you were going in to do some official business like break up fan-wars, but dreadful if you wanted to make a quiet little comment. The yellow box was kind of like the equivalent of the teacher being in the room at lunchtime, and it gave us undue weight in the conversation. So it wasn’t a hard and fast proscription, but it was sensible advice for most situations.)
Those kinds of restrictions are nuts to me – this is a blog, and obviously we want to interact with the authors! If they put all their points on the table and go silent, even after we pour out heart into engaging with them, then that’s not much fun.
I’ll tell you what, I don’t remember fishfingers_fb 😂
But I CAN tell you that Sassy Go Go was the first thing I commented on here, and I have you to thank ❤️
I love that you’ve now got Dramas Over Flowers to add as much flair and personality into a piece as you want. I actually recommended your Diversity in Dramaland post to a friend the other day, because it’s brilliant and it comes back to me every now and then!
Everything you’ve summed up here about Dramabeans since, like, 2017, is particularly frustrating because we were all saying exactly the same things. We were screaming in empty comment sections that change needed to happen, that the posts were long and boring, that the site was a ghost of what it had been. Loads to us fled to Rabbit, and then Discord, because the show stifled the conversations we wanted to be having. Frankly, it’s baffling that it took so long for those criticisms to stick, and for a lot of us that long overdue change came too late.
You know what, staff doing minimal commenting was a pretty sensible policy for its time. Remember site engagement was really high then – a popular show was getting hundreds of comments on average, and honestly, by the time you’ve pounded out your 4K, haven’t slept for days, and your wrists are hurting like hell, you’re frankly quite relieved your job is done 😅 (also I am the worst worst worst for replying to comments so anything to get me off the hook is taken with a smile and a thank you). And the yellow-box power can’t be understated: on the old site, when the author of a post commented, their comment came up highlighted in a yellow box! It made us feel awkward an conspicuous, like we were shouting when everyone else was talking. But it was a guideline not a rule – if anyone asked us something directly, or if we really had something to say, we could. And there are certainly times when it’s helped me to have that policy to fall back on, particularly when I got hostile, fighting comments (which we all did from time to time). It stifled the temptation to go out and unnecessarily defend your opinions, and it allowed readers the freedom to say what they wanted to say.
But yes, things are definitely different now but it’s not my problem anymore!
I think the podcast came from a place of hunger and discontent as well: what we were producing was what we wanted to consume, and what we wanted to consume was something we couldn’t find anywhere. I had no idea how satisfying and enriching to my life it would become, but yes, yes, and yes: it is marvellous to be able to flex your own ideas, to be experimental, to not answer to editors who don’t like you. I think my writing is less “perfect” now, and certainly less voluminous, but I’m working with people who love me, and whom I love, who respect me and whom I respect. And we’re able to build each other up, and do our best to live up to what we believe in. And at the end of it all, that matters more and most.
also how dare u not remember the magnificent fishfingers_fb (the fb stood for ‘for breakfast’ – because what is better than fishfingers for breakfast? NOTHING.)
I believe she also commented A TON on Signal recaps. Wait, unless that was a different alias. I don’t remember now, I laundered my aliases every year or two 😂😂😂
Okay beanie pals, we’ve finally unwound the full complement of our year-end festivities on the Dramas Over Flowers podcast! So in case you missed it, it came in 3 parts:
– Part 1 is a general look back at the trends of 2021.
– Part 2: This was our very own Goguma Awards, with all the fun categories like “Most Hallyutastic” and “Best Use of Covid” (see here for full list!)
– Part 3: Our Editor’s Picks on our personal best dramas of the year, plus our inaugural Listener’s Choice Awards for best and worst dramas.
If you haven’t listened yet, you should! It’s my favourite podcast 😂
Jasmine is my go-to, but I probably have 10 different teas in my cabinet right now. I have a flower blooming tea that is just pretty to look at as it seeps.
Hi everyone, here’s our latest What’s Up in Dramaland episode. We spend some time talking about the Atlanta shootings and anti-Asian racism – how we feel about it and what kind of response is needed at times like these.
We also give some cultural and historical context on the Joseon Exorcist cancellation and controversies, and look forward to April dramas.
On a personal note: talking about racism and anti-racism to a mixed audience is always a very fraught experience for a person of colour, and one we never take lightly. But we felt like it was something we had to explicitly address, not just to work through our own anger and grief, but also to counter the direction of some of the discourse that we’ve observed.
I hope, whatever perspective you are coming from as you listen, that it gives you a clearer understanding of structucal racism and the part we all play in it, and the part we can play to dismantle it. Because anti-racism is not a feeling, it’s not a declaration that once you give it, you can go home – it’s work, and it’s work that you continuously have to do and keep doing.
Click the link up top ^ for detailed shownotes including links to further resources and reading.
I haven’t started it yet. But if it makes you feel any better I took you advice and picked up Beyond Evil and so far (episode 3) I’m enjoying it a lot. Which, as you know, was always going to be about 50/50 with you and me. 😉
Just dropped our special episode on school bullying!
We talk about about the recent scandals, the reality of school life in Korea, and how to deal with it as fans when our faves fail us.
We were joined Professor CedarBough Saeji, who you may know as ‘The Kpop Prof’, and she had a LOT of insider insight to share, and covered the topic with a lot of breadth and depth. If you have an hour, do listen!
Check out the blog post for the fancy links and references here.
That you can be sued for defamation (and tarnishing someone’s reputation) even when you can prove that you’re telling the truth is so fundamentally messed* up.
Thank you so much for another excellent episode! I loved being able to learn a bit more about what is happening in real life. It helped me see bullying from a more macroscopic perspective, as a systemic and structural problem. It also led me to reflect on the positives of a hierarchical society (e.g. respect for elders, mentoring relationships between people of different ages, etc.) and then the challenges that these hierarchies pose, especially within a competitive society, which CedarBough Saeji addresses. So much food for thought!
We recorded this ep just as the Park Hye-soo news broke, so that’s the story we discuss. We’re in the middle of planning a special episode on everything else (esp the awful Ji-soo revelations), so keep an ear out for that in the next week or two.
Timestamps:
News and updates:
02:00 You’re Beautiful: email from Kristi
04:24 “Adversarial Banmal”
07:45 Park Hye-soo bullying allegations, Dear M postponed
23:13 Star writer Kim Eun-sook ascends to executive creator of new show
Upcoming:
26:38 Mouse (see ep.85!)
27:04 Navillera
30:13 Monthly Magazine Home
35:00 Joseon Exorcist
40:55 Oh! Master (Oh My Ladylord)
Feeling (physically) very crappy lately so can’t wait to listen to this when I get off work! Also very interested to see what you have to say in the next podcast after all the terrible Ji-soo stuff.
Wow I wonder why you like this entirely random image of some random (VERY EXCELLENT) dude! 😂
Aww I’m so sorry to hear about the crappiness! Please take it easy and use your spoons carefully and I hope you feel better quickly!
Also very interested to see how this episode turns out – we’ve got a special guest and we’re taking a slightly different angle on the topic. Look out for it! I’ll probably post it here either way, if I haven’t passed out in a corner, exhausted by the editing of it 😅
I salute you! How did you checked out all those dramas and still managed to write these delightful reviews?
I only could watch like 4 and have already dropped 2 of those because it was overwhelming. Now you’re telling me I need to make times for Times, too?
Yeah, it has not been quite the heights of epic I was hoping for, but I guess you can’t win them all! Check out Times though, if you enjoy time-bending shenanigans!
I feel really bad that you watched it and hated it XD XD XD I’m so sorry! I always try to disclaim that my taste is never a guide! Maybe you can just enjoy the reviewing and when the show finishes, check out a Jo Seung-woo highlight reel! 😅
Not at all your fault!! If anything, it is testimony to your fine writing 🙂
I will certainly be following your reviews, and yes, maybe do exactly as you suggest 😉 one can never have enough of JSW on screen.
hahaha. I’m not quite sure this will be a show for you (yet) – it’s flashy but a bit faulty, unless you would enjoy JSW regardless…I would say go for Times instead, or Beyond Evil. Both of those are your manor!
I tried to comment but WordPress swallowed my attempts (or do you have moderated comments?). This is what I wrote:
Please do more.
I was thinking about the suitcases. If you suppose they are time machines (pretty much a given with that blue glow), with the twist that if you get too far away from them (or perhaps if you die?) then you snap back to your original time, then maybe Tae-san:
– was kidnapped by the glow-eyed helmet gang
– tried to escape by travelling forward in time (or was sent?)
– through a flux capacitor error, arrived at 30,000 feet
– was hit by the white aeroplane of doom and killed/separated from the suitcase
– ended up as a dead body in his own time, severely mutilated.
There are obvious problems with this (eg the trailer has Seo-hae running around unencumbered by suitcases) but maybe Tae-san’s story is something like this.
Speaking of tropes, I feel the ex-as-therapist fits right into the violation of medical ethics required for any drama (not only K-, it’s pretty much universal).
Also, we have established that the FL is a hearty if idiosyncratic eater, which is definitely a thing (spoonworms, anyone?). Bonus points if she’s a messy eater, jackpot if a rice grain or strand of ramyeon on her cheek requires sensitive yet shockingly forward wiping away by another character.
Also, when the pixellated footage of the body appeared I thought “at least they’ve avoided that physically impossible American trope where they say ‘Enhance’ at the computer and… oh, damn!” Apparently Korean for ‘Enhance’ is ‘Hyung!’
I assume this is titled Sisyphus because Seo-hae will end up rejuvenated in her own time and will go back again… and again… and…
Rushed comment because Episode 2 will make it look stupid in about 3 hours. Enjoying this show so far.
no sorry! I hope we’ll see you a lot! And I understand, I also kind of shrink away from commenting. I’ll write it all up, then run away without posting it. 😅
In other news, I\’ve sort of been roped into doing this thing semi-regularly: Drama Addict Diary.
Uh, it\’s difficult to explain, but all I can say is that if you are interested in reading stuff I write, you may enjoy it. Maybe. Or will be sensibly run away and find somebody with a longer attention span. Hee! I make no apologies 😂
This is what I\’m doing instead of writing my book 🙄
PS, feedback always welcome, requests always considered, talk to me~
haha I am very quiet on twitter! my MO is to only look at my notifications, post every so often when I am sure I won’t regret what I’ve said when I’m 80, and vigorously avoid everything else! (which apparently is also how we have missed each other!)
LMAO and I am the opposite. I usually end up semi-regretting half of what I say the very next morning 😛
Though it’s a good thing you haven’t seen me spazz about my kpop boys and Seo In Guk cuz that is always embarrassing in retrospect😂
So I’m way behind on Run On, but I hear it is THE BEES’ KNEES, and to that end, Paroma (@festerfaster), Anisa (@laica) and Rimi (@greenfields) will be hosting a livestream on Sunday for our very own wrap-party! It’s live, it’s interactive, it’s probably going to be a little bit silly, but it will be 1000% better with you there. Can you come?
That’s Sunday the 14th of February, 2021 (yep, Valentine’s Day, and you know the best way to spend it is with a drama you love!)
I sincerely hope everyone is doing as well as possible, staying safe and looking after each other. It’s really been a year, hasn’t it?
Even aside from pandemic concerns, it was a year full of change and difficulties for me on the personal front, but I have taken joy in the friends I have here, and I hope I’ve been able to send back a little of that joy to your days, too, at least on the K-drama front, even if it’s not here on Dramabeans.
I’ve been keeping busy with the podcast – I (finally) learned how to edit audio earlier this year, and after a lot of aborted attempts at the whole process, finally FULLY produced an episode with the Forest of Secrets 2 special. I’m proud of me, I thought I’d never get there!! *pats self*
We had a lot of milestone moments in 2020 with Dramas Over Flowers, from producing some groundbreaking episodes, getting a proper website, doing weekly coverage on airing shows, and welcoming guest writers, to doing our first livestream, meeting fellow fans face-to-face (well, as face-to-face as pandemic living allows!), and joining a podcast network.
I have no idea what this year will bring – does anyone!! – but I hope and pray that you find peace and security in these challenging days of our lives, and also are able to appreciate the many daily blessings that remain to us despite our hardships.
And finally, let me leave you with our end-of-year opus, The Year-End Yak, which is THE LONGEST YAK (ever?), but I hope you’ll have as much fun listening to it as we did producing it. We’re particularly excited about our own end-of-year awards, the Goguma Awards, and there’s some good stuff inside, if I do say so myself! (I don’t want to spoil it for you, but honestly, Lee Joon-hyuk…)
I finally got the time to listen to the podcast!!!
Thanks so much for such a heartfelt defense of one of the best dramas this 2020 has given us.
I liked what you said about liking it better than Forest of Secrets 2, mainly because the FoS2 experience was a collective one, and I totally concur. Discussing it in the fan wall and on every recap was really helpful to notice those little details that I skipped, and I loved all the discussion it brought on so many issues. But watching The Good Detective I was on my own: my doubts, my rage, my frustration was just mine, so I think that’s why I feel so close to it.
You put on words my exact feelings about it!!!
Excited to share this piece about drama endings with you all, a special guest piece courtesy of a very well-loved beanie. Please check it out and leave a comment for her if you have some time!
As a PS, we haven\’t said it officially, but we welcome thoughtful guest posts if you have something to say about a show/theme – especially if you\’re missing the outlet of the TOTM prompts. If you have something you really want to write about, feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] outlining your idea (i.e. a pitch), and we\’ll come back to you. 💙
Hope everyone is safe and warm and generally happy wherever you are – not just today, but may all your days be secure and kind, and spent in beloved company. 💙 💙 💙
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:17 PM
DRAMABEANS DIARIES: INAUGURAL EDITION
As promised (threatened? asked for?), here is a little snippet about how to write a recap back in the old days, and how I wrote them.
[Some background: I was under javabeans’ tutelage for my training period. She was presiding editor over the majority of my shows until 2017, although I did do a couple of shows under girlfriday as well.]
——————————
The OG School of Recaps
Old-school longform recaps had a criteria of technical specs that they needed to meet in terms of format, wordcounts, and so on.
A recap has two main components: text and images.
The text aspect of a recap has three parts:
1) Intro
2) Base recap
3) Comment
The image aspect of a recap has two parts:
1) The header image
2) Screencaps to illustrate the recap
Today I’m going to tell you about INTROS.
The intro needs to be at least 50 words to fill the space correctly. They can be (and often are) longer, but you have to offset this against your total wordcount (more on that in future posts – maybe lol, if you want them).
Intros are important because they show up in the blurb box on the main page, so it’s the first thing anyone will read. For that reason, you also need to write them in a way that makes the reader want to click through. This one’s your hook – use it well.
Never put plot spoilers here – not just for that episode but also of any twists or reveals of previous episodes. Not everyone will be reading and watching these live, so you need to be mindful of the fact that people will come to these months and even years later.
Also think about how it displays under the show’s tag: in reverse. So if you click on the tag for, say, Kill Me, Heal Me, the list will begin with the final episodes and the episode count goes down as you go down the page.
Intros are hard to write: it has to be a precise mix of vague and specific – vague enough not to spoil, specific enough to lure you in. If you’re clever, you can write it with veiled meaning that is clear to someone who’s watching the show, but remains unrevealing for someone who isn’t (but may later). And avoid clichés – they’re boring.
Though the intro is the shortest component of the recap, it can often be the hardest to write. I made it a habit to write them at the very end, once I finished the rest of the recap, because that’s when they came easiest. The worst time to try to write it, I think, is the beginning. This is because once you’re done writing everything, you have a clear overview of what went down in the episode and what you think of it. So it’s easier to pick out themes and arcs, and weave them into little puzzle sentences. It’s actually fun at that point (though after you’ve been writing for 16-20 hours, nothing is fun except the thought either dying or sleeping).
If you want to see my intros in the wild, scroll to your heart’s content!
——————————
That’s it for this post! If you guys like these, let me know and I’ll try to write more as and when the tiger takes me. If you’d like to be tagged for notifications, lmk in the comments! 💙
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:18 PM
hm, I think this is as pretty as this formatting is going to get. oh well.
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:29 PM
Also proofread, so you don’t repeat yourself. But you know when you’re most likely to miss your errors? When it’s 3am and your words are just squiggles and nothing means anything to you anymore.
PS, it’s past 3am 😭
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:31 PM
So go the eff to sleep and check it over again in the morning and THEN submit.
^ true story (x100)
dramadillo
August 21, 2022 at 6:40 AM
Thank you so much for sharing the writing process! I must say, it sounds like such a labour of love! I could probably write one recap, and then wouldn’t have anything left to give (to anyone or anything)!😅 Did you have another job, or studies at the same time? I couldn’t imagine how that would be possible. How did you recover after these 16-20 hour marathon bouts of writing?
Back when I was writing papers and essays, I would write the intro last as well (although I’d come up with the thesis statement first and have a plan). It’s interesting to see how a very different type of writing can share that in common! Also, had you not pointed out the unique challenges of writing an intro for a recap, I would never have realised! It makes a lot of sense though, and as a reader, I really appreciate that there are no spoilers, but enough shared to draw me in – what a challenge! And please, please do tag me in future posts!😊
Eazal
August 21, 2022 at 12:57 AM
Thanks so much, now I want to read more of how you got everything done. When I read “classic recaps” I kept thinking how many recapper watched the episodes or how many times they pressed the pause bottom to be that specific.
And by the way, when I went down all your heart content I suddenly remembered how many dramas you and I loved to bits!!!
I ♥️ bad dramas
August 21, 2022 at 2:31 AM
Thank you for this is interesting behind the scenes process @saya. I was always curious about how recaps were done, and you’ve given such a detailed description.
Your most impressive take on a drama was Watcher. That was such a complex drama to put into words, but you made it interesting and clear. A huge feat!
parkchuna 🍉
August 21, 2022 at 4:45 AM
I can’t go wild on the old posts yet, but it’s 2022 and Kim Seul Gi still hasn’t gotten the star she deserves!
Ally
August 21, 2022 at 7:13 AM
I love this. I’m an amateur editor-writer for a local medical journal and what you’ve outlined could work for several different types of writing. Scientific writing aside, a lot of what I write is more conversational with the reader, so I’m also looking for that intro hook for them to keep reading my article. Also, finding a subject that is interesting across subspecialties, or making a subject that may not be immediately relatable interesting and entertaining to read about. I hope you can mention this at some point, where people may not be watching the show at all, but find entertainment just reading the recap and how you interject blips of humor or exasperation into the recap. Sometimes I read to just get the recapper’s opinion of the show. That was missing after JB and GF left and the recaps became more just summarizations and honestly were really dull to read because I could never make out what the recapper really thought. We know there are bad dramas that people recap and half the fun is wallowing in shared misery when you’re watching it too—or sympathy for the recapper when they’re stuck with watching it and I have the luxury to stop!
Keep them coming! I’m saving them for future reference for myself, who plans to write full time when I retire.
💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
August 23, 2022 at 3:18 AM
Heck yeah sign me up haha love to know the behind the scenes, even if I’m drawn to a different kind of writing than specifically recaps.
wapz
August 23, 2022 at 8:58 AM
Thank you so much Saya. I’d love to be tagged for future posts. Intros are indeed very tricky. In my one extremely lackluster try at writing a recap, I faced the most difficult while wroting the intros and comments DB style. They just need to be the right amount of ambigious and intriguing. That’s hard and cliches are tempting when you’re running out of creativity and time 😅
wapz
August 23, 2022 at 9:00 AM
Most difficulty while writing*
Yeah I guess I didn’t make it thanks to the typos as well 😂
Midnight
August 25, 2022 at 2:24 PM
I would like to be tagged! Because although I check db fanwall every day I hadn’t seen your post until now
Midnight
August 25, 2022 at 2:33 PM
Also, I loved reading this! Thank you.
And this reminded me of when I was watching Start-up, and I was getting frustrated with the lies, I went to the show’s tag page and read the intros to find out how long the lies are gonna take to unravel. I found it and it was a good find for me. But after reading your post, maybe that wasn’t a very spoiler-free intro…
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 10:17 AM
So in slight seriousness, would anyone be interested in me posting occasional material about recapping life in the old days? It feels like the entire recapping skillset is an obsolete one, but ultimately, I did get what I signed up for, which was writing mentorship from javabeans.
(I learned a lot – while suffering a lot – and all of that knowledge/experience lies wasted 😆 😅 😂 )
I’m also open to questions about life behind the curtain, and the kind of things you never got satisfactory answers for, if I know anything that I can share.
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 10:18 AM
PS, ICYMI: https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1330957/ 🤭
dramadillo
August 18, 2022 at 11:57 AM
🙋🏻♀️🍿
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 12:57 PM
😂
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 1:07 PM
Now I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed haha – I was thinking stuff like, ‘here’s writing feedback jb gave me, read it and weep’
dramadillo
August 18, 2022 at 1:41 PM
I won’t be disappointed, don’t worry, I just really love popcorn.😂
I do wonder where JB and GF are – I’ve seen a couple of their videos on YouTube (can’t remember when now but they were from years ago) and hope they’re still doing something they love.
Please share whatever you fancy – I’m 100% sure I’ll enjoy it. I loved what you said in that earlier thread about the point of recaps – I agree it’s about adding value via clarification, analysis and shared experience. I also really appreciate learning the cultural and language nuances that I wouldn’t have otherwise grasped. I’m so grateful for the writing here – I’m just sorry you weren’t fairly compensated for your work and devotion, and that at management level, they didn’t see the true value of what you do/did.
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:32 PM
Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
From what they’ve shared publicly, I believe both are involved in various aspects of The Swoon (“Netflix’s community for global fans of K-content” according to the internet), which operates arms on youtube and IG. Not sure about the videos coming back though, it looks like an abandoned project now.
I did spot jb in an article I read recently, which was a surprise, but very interesting and on my favourite topic, here: https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/transmigration-dramas-chinese-korean-time-travel
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:26 PM
okay, it is done – check out my latest post, though your popcorn might outlast it! 😂
Ally
August 18, 2022 at 12:47 PM
Nice! I have one. Where did Heads go and are they still writing somewhere?
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 12:57 PM
wow Ally, starting with the hard ones!
To be quite honest, even we (the writers around at the time) don’t really know what happened/why she left DB, that was all upper management stuff we weren’t privy to – here one day, gone the next is what it seemed like. But she’s well and healthy as far as I know although kdrama is no longer her day job – she’s still doing something she really loves, so you can rest assured nothing untoward has happened to her!
Ally
August 18, 2022 at 5:16 PM
Ah, that’s good. Yeah, I miss her very insightful and knowledgeable recaps.
I’ve learned a lot of history from her recaps.
Eazal
August 19, 2022 at 1:49 AM
I am, I am!!! Pleeeeaaaaseeeeeeee!!!
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:27 PM
Check out my latest post! I hope it’s not boring 😅😅
wapz
August 19, 2022 at 12:28 PM
While I’m curious about the whereabouts of previous recappers, (I know laica and festerfaster are with you at DOF, gummimochi, no idea) I’m actually quite interested in what you talked about recaps and edits. As a very jaded writer, I’d love to know the recap process if you’re comfortable sharing it.
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 7:25 PM
my friend, it is done, especially for you ^^ – check out my latest post!
wapz
August 23, 2022 at 8:52 AM
Awesome, thanks! Will head over to it.
Saya
July 15, 2022 at 6:14 AM
Two years ago today, DB kicked me out ~
a never-before-told story lol
mugyuljoie is preciousss
July 15, 2022 at 6:50 AM
For being too fabulous, insightful and funny?
mugyuljoie is preciousss
July 15, 2022 at 6:52 AM
I have to get my fill from your site and podcast now.
Saya
July 15, 2022 at 11:37 AM
Luckily they haven’t fired me yet 🤣
Saya
July 15, 2022 at 11:36 AM
haha, let me see…*takes out eyeglasses* yes that’s exactly what the email said! (now go and read the Good Detective review comments with new eyes! XD)
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
July 15, 2022 at 7:47 AM
Good to see you back. The podcast is great.
Saya
July 15, 2022 at 11:41 AM
Thank you for (still!) listening!
PS – Am I a bighead if I agree that the pod is great? (It is! I love it! I love you for listening!)
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
July 15, 2022 at 11:55 AM
Not big headed at all you all put in a lot of time and effort and share your thoughts in such depth so we the listeners can tell you love doing it. Even though it’s hard work as it is a lot to do that and all the promotion social media etc. alongside watching dramas and working etc. So bask in the positive feedback and keep enjoying it so it doesn’t become a chore. Once you lose the joy it will cease to be a fun listen.
Ghost of Tim (eccentric observations from a male perspective)
July 15, 2022 at 7:58 AM
Did you rejoin under your same email account? I ask because I notice your fanwall has history dating back more than two years.
I left DB myself (voluntarily) in 2018 and asked the admins to remove my account, but when I rejoined last December I used my same email account and noticed that DB seemed to recover some of my old comments from before.
Saya
July 15, 2022 at 11:53 AM
Hello Ghost of Tim!
I had a staff writer account alongside my ordinary user account – I was locked out of that, but I still have my normal account and all associated comments, and of course the posts I authored are still attributed to me. (I notice your first comment here was actually on one of my posts – Pretty Noona finale recap!)
Since comments are linked to the email you use to sign up, even if you terminate your user account but then rejoin with the same email, the system is designed to link all those previous posts back to you. For a full fresh start, you’d have to use a different email address.
Ghost of Tim (eccentric observations from a male perspective)
July 15, 2022 at 12:14 PM
Yup, that makes sense. Thanks for confirming.
mmmmm
July 15, 2022 at 8:08 AM
Oh no! And I always wonder why so many old recappers stopped recapping!
Saya
July 15, 2022 at 12:14 PM
I’ll be frank, I’m one of the two (that I know of) who so offended management that they showed us the door, but most others have left for personal reasons. Many of the previous writers started while they were students, and then as they moved into FT working life, they moved on from DB and are busy in their various fields. (A lot of them are active on social media, i.e. twitter or instagram.) I, on the other hand, was a sucker for punishment and didn’t leave even when I should have, so ultimately I guess we can say they did me a favour!
Not to mention that new DB management didn’t really value its writers as anything more than replaceable parts. They also fiercely resisted the change the site needed to remain dynamic and relevant. For example, DB has never regained its site ranking from the pre-blackout period, and there are many reasons for it, but poor management is chief among them.
Nevertheless, timely, high quality content always wins out at the end of the day, and for actual years, they didn’t even do that – not because they couldn’t, but because they wouldn’t. 🤷♀️
egads
July 15, 2022 at 4:41 PM
You and others are sorely missed, but I’m super glad to still get your (and your cohosts, of course) insights on DOF.
owl 🦉 🫰
July 15, 2022 at 10:36 PM
What is DOF?
mmmmm
July 15, 2022 at 11:54 PM
Dramas Over Flowers
parkchuna 🍉
July 15, 2022 at 8:49 PM
That’s so sad to know 😩🙁
mmmmm
July 16, 2022 at 12:00 AM
Thank you for telling us real reasons behind what we experience of DB lately. If not for the community here, I suppose many would have left the site a long time ago. And I so agree with you on so many points. But before I attributed the reason behind it to not having recappers with personality, so the recaps feel bland at best (with recaps that make me feel like I’m watching that episode again without being anything more than a mere recap, I don’t know why I should read it) and boring at worst.
I don’t think there is anything we can do with the management team because this is how they chose to do it, but you are brave and I think it’s good to speak it out so that others also know about this. And I just checked your website yesterday and I loved the post about Sh**ting Stars! Completely agreed on that.
You all are sorely missed! ♥️ ♥️ ♥️
frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
July 16, 2022 at 3:04 AM
Reading into why this happened has really frustrated me. You write insightful, funny, unique pieces for YEARS, and then The Good Detective comes along and you get unceremoniously axed? For the record, your review was excellent, of course. There are pieces of yours I still think about because they stand out – the Sassy Go Go recaps and the Solomon’s Perjury ones, for instance. Your voice is wonderful and the joke’s on them for not seeing it! I’m sure you’re at the point where you can laugh about this now, but I’m so sorry anyway.
Yay to freedom of speech at Dramas Over Flowers~ 🥳
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 8:17 AM
Thanks so much @frabbycrabsis, @egads, @mmmmm, @parkchuna, @ndlessjoie, @reply1988, @redfox and everyone else, your support and kind words mean a lot to me. I’ve said it in every year-end review I wrote for DB that it was you guys who made it worth it – I never said that lightly.
If you ask me from my dual perspective as both a reader and a writer on the site, the drop in quality came when jb&gf took their hands off the editing. Frabby, you mention Solomon’s Perjury: that is the show I will always remember that the editor broke me and nearly destroyed my ability to write. I have never seen someone with such a frightening ability to turn good writing into bad and not know it. (I am still traumatised, lol.) During that time, every recap was stripped of personality and voice, that was their editing style. I had to second-guess nearly every word I wrote, every comma I placed, not knowing what they’d come for or why (and they’d never tell you why). Edits would change my intended meanings (or worse, even introduce errors that had not been there before), and I couldn’t question them. Or if I did, I’d be met by knife-like silence. The other writer who was also Dear John-ed? It was at this time, for this exact reason (if I haven’t misrepresented them).
When the administration changed, I was relieved (surely nothing could be worse than the last two years, right?), and it was better in terms of being able to write freely. But with the total departure of the OG team, so too went the vision and vivacity as the site entered a period of what seemed to me stagnation by intent. The new team clung to the wrong kind of continuity and focused on doing things as they were “always done”, and so large parts of the site continue to feel like a museum of heydays past – the static pages remain static, the drama ratings page hasn’t been updated since 2017, the header dates back to 2014 but at least it replaced that horrible 2007 one. And notice how the blurb at the top of WWW never changes? (You will now lol.)
Old writers soon made way for new, and as time went on, I was constantly not getting anything I asked for, with shows going to new recruits instead. And ngl, that was really upsetting and frustrating. Under the previous administration, I had finally earned the seniority to ask for a show and get it (instead of being randomly assigned – which worked out dreadfully with Criminal Minds LOL but amazingly with INAR XD).
[Sidenote: when you cover a show, you have to make sure you it fits your schedule, and my turnaround time was never more than 2 days – if an episode aired on Tuesday, for example, my recap would be in by Thursday, and under the old administration, it generally would be published immediately. Shows were assigned based on availability/schedule and seniority did rule for high demand shows – like me finally getting a Lee Jun-ki show while jb was in the house? Wouldn’t have happened if she wanted it!]
(tbc.)
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 8:18 AM
But longform recaps are exhausting to write (and mine always took embarrassingly long), and by then it was also clear that what readers wanted and needed was shifting – it wasn’t like the old days of waiting forever for subs. The subs were available long before the recaps were. In the time it took to produce a belaboured, boring recap, readers who just wanted to talk about the episode(s) had been forced to find other outlets. I recall a long period where recaps would appear after the next week’s episodes had already aired.
To me, the point of a recap is to add value to the experience of having watched the show itself – I don’t need a blow-by-blow recounting. I, too, watched the episode. What I need is to know someone else is feeling what I’m feeling. I need points of confusion clarified. I need the writer to remember what I forgot. I need a thorough dissection of the hour we watched. If it came to it, I’d prefer to dispense with the recap and expand the analysis. At a point, very little of what I was reading here was giving me remotely what I came here for. It was maddening and frustrating and SO easy to fix.
During the blackout period, I had a chance to experiment with shortform pieces (see: A Poem a Day/You Who Forgot Poetry, Mother) which I offered to do for free for my own enjoyment – I could turn these out fast when I didn’t have to mire myself in the minute-by-minute detail that full recaps require. (PS, I love fights in a recap because you can cover like 5 mins of show with a single sentence: ‘they fight’ XD)
I also wanted us to move overall to short format recap-review hybrids (i.e. weecaps but I hate the word weecap) and longform reviews: it would solve the timeliness problem, be more interesting to read if we focused on reaction and analysis. As a bonus, we could cover more shows at the same cost (because weecaps are even more woefully underpaid than longform recaps, BUT easier to write, with a rapid turnover time).
A note about this though: Whatever we were writing, long or short, the remuneration is not remotely proportional or anywhere near in line with industry standards. Under the new admin, there was also little acknowledgement of writers’ goodwill and hard work, and when the axe finally dropped on me, I realised that they didn’t see my work as having any intrinsic value, which was never true of the previous admin. The previous admin didn’t love me, but I always felt they valued my published work, and they understood the love I had for it – which I believe is evident in everything I wrote.
(still tbc.)
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 8:19 AM
This brings me to an interesting problem though: why should writers put in more effort than they’re paid for? Every time I read a blindingly terrible piece, I lose my mind for a bit (why is it so bad? WHY IS IT SO BAD?) and then remember, wait, they’re being paid so little, why should they work harder? They are, in fact, working smarter, which makes me a little rueful when I consider how much self – how much labour, how many woman-hours – I poured into my own work. I should’ve worked smarter, too. Well – I tried, but this is where it got me, lol.
I probably would’ve carried on, disgruntled but committed, but the summer of 2020 brought us a few things: George Floyd, the unaddressed racism of Backstreet Rookie, and DB’s failure to take a clear anti-racist position despite so many of us asking for it. I offered an essay* on the topic but was turned down on the understanding that they wanted to write something themselves. They never did, and their communications with me took a decidedly cool turn.
And so on a particularly give-no-effs morning, I wrote my “damning” comment on the GD review about DB not loving me back – which honestly was lighthearted and I didn’t think was a big deal – and boom, game over!
And so leaving out the petty, sordid little details, that’s the story.
–
[*My essay can now be found on the DOF website, titled ‘Diversity in Dramaland’.]
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 8:20 AM
Look forward to my new series: DRAMABEANS DIARIES 🤣
coming soon* to a fanwall near you
—
*or never**
** unless someone actually wants it
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 9:01 AM
also @midnight
mugyuljoie is preciousss
August 18, 2022 at 10:22 PM
@saya I want ALL your writing.
mmmmm
August 19, 2022 at 11:25 AM
I second @ndlessjoie’s comment. Your comments are fun to read already!
Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
August 18, 2022 at 12:41 PM
I get the impression that the writing has gotten better, and more lively recently.
Am I imagining things or has something changed? Anybody know what’s going on??
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 1:02 PM
It has, hasn’t it? I think the biggest change is…well, deciding to change, and trying new things, and getting rid of the things that aren’t working so well anymore (like the very late longform recaps). But this question may be better addressed to present staff!
parkchuna 🍉
August 19, 2022 at 8:47 PM
It’s true, at least the ones i read. I thought i just got lucky with the recapper.
parkchuna 🍉
August 19, 2022 at 9:26 PM
So i went back to read the Good Detective review and now i remember, i did read your comment and wondered what happened! I hope you’re in a happier place now! Also wondering if i should watch Good Detective..
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 5:28 PM
Thank you! Yes, I am definitely happier ❤️
I really loved S1 of GD and highly recommend if you like a bit of midnight bromance with your ambiguous morality and general murder mystery! Bear in mind the first two eps are so-so – following that, the show consistently got better by the episode! (I gave it a garbled review as my top drama of 2020 in our Year End Yak podcast of that year if you want to listen to me lose my words lol)
I haven’t started S2 yet, but I hope it’s as good and I look forward to it! I’m actually a bit scared of watching it because a) if I watch it, it’ll get finished, and b) I’m afraid I won’t love it, which would be really sad because I love S1 so much. 😅
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 10:32 AM
ALSO FRABBY
I particularly fondly remember the Sassy Go Go recaps because at a point, I was like, damn restraint, I am COMING IN – and then proceeded to comment to my heart’s content under my chosen alias for that year – I can now tell you fishfingers_fb was MOI. (Hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing or shameful under that alias LOL)
God I laughed to myself so much. I commented so much, I laughed so much, and I had fun being a ‘regular beanie’ again, without the weight of the staff ID. (Also were those the yellow box days? Somebody asked in the AMA about why staff don’t comment on their own recaps – I think these days they probably should with the engagement so low. In those days we were advised by the boss beans to hold our peace (unless for corrections or clarifications) – we had our 4K words to say what we wanted, the comment space belongs to the readers. And of course, in the old site, the author’s comment always had the yellow box – great if you were going in to do some official business like break up fan-wars, but dreadful if you wanted to make a quiet little comment. The yellow box was kind of like the equivalent of the teacher being in the room at lunchtime, and it gave us undue weight in the conversation. So it wasn’t a hard and fast proscription, but it was sensible advice for most situations.)
frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
August 18, 2022 at 1:57 PM
Those kinds of restrictions are nuts to me – this is a blog, and obviously we want to interact with the authors! If they put all their points on the table and go silent, even after we pour out heart into engaging with them, then that’s not much fun.
I’ll tell you what, I don’t remember fishfingers_fb 😂
But I CAN tell you that Sassy Go Go was the first thing I commented on here, and I have you to thank ❤️
I love that you’ve now got Dramas Over Flowers to add as much flair and personality into a piece as you want. I actually recommended your Diversity in Dramaland post to a friend the other day, because it’s brilliant and it comes back to me every now and then!
Everything you’ve summed up here about Dramabeans since, like, 2017, is particularly frustrating because we were all saying exactly the same things. We were screaming in empty comment sections that change needed to happen, that the posts were long and boring, that the site was a ghost of what it had been. Loads to us fled to Rabbit, and then Discord, because the show stifled the conversations we wanted to be having. Frankly, it’s baffling that it took so long for those criticisms to stick, and for a lot of us that long overdue change came too late.
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 2:58 PM
You know what, staff doing minimal commenting was a pretty sensible policy for its time. Remember site engagement was really high then – a popular show was getting hundreds of comments on average, and honestly, by the time you’ve pounded out your 4K, haven’t slept for days, and your wrists are hurting like hell, you’re frankly quite relieved your job is done 😅 (also I am the worst worst worst for replying to comments so anything to get me off the hook is taken with a smile and a thank you). And the yellow-box power can’t be understated: on the old site, when the author of a post commented, their comment came up highlighted in a yellow box! It made us feel awkward an conspicuous, like we were shouting when everyone else was talking. But it was a guideline not a rule – if anyone asked us something directly, or if we really had something to say, we could. And there are certainly times when it’s helped me to have that policy to fall back on, particularly when I got hostile, fighting comments (which we all did from time to time). It stifled the temptation to go out and unnecessarily defend your opinions, and it allowed readers the freedom to say what they wanted to say.
But yes, things are definitely different now but it’s not my problem anymore!
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:12 PM
I think the podcast came from a place of hunger and discontent as well: what we were producing was what we wanted to consume, and what we wanted to consume was something we couldn’t find anywhere. I had no idea how satisfying and enriching to my life it would become, but yes, yes, and yes: it is marvellous to be able to flex your own ideas, to be experimental, to not answer to editors who don’t like you. I think my writing is less “perfect” now, and certainly less voluminous, but I’m working with people who love me, and whom I love, who respect me and whom I respect. And we’re able to build each other up, and do our best to live up to what we believe in. And at the end of it all, that matters more and most.
frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
August 18, 2022 at 11:15 PM
I genuinely forget how many comments the site used to get (and the little highlighted comment thing), and now I understand 😂
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:00 PM
Comment was deleted
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:03 PM
that was refreshing
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:19 PM
also how dare u not remember the magnificent fishfingers_fb (the fb stood for ‘for breakfast’ – because what is better than fishfingers for breakfast? NOTHING.)
I believe she also commented A TON on Signal recaps. Wait, unless that was a different alias. I don’t remember now, I laundered my aliases every year or two 😂😂😂
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:55 PM
…so Signal was a different alias 😂
frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
August 18, 2022 at 11:16 PM
You changed them up to keep people off your tracks, smart 😈
Saya
August 20, 2022 at 5:30 PM
I’m still shocked I wasn’t rumbled immediately – no matter which way I look at it, I still always sound like me to me 😂
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 3:42 PM
WAIT Sassy was your first comment?? Haven’t you been here for forever though? 😆
oh wait 2015 was forever ago
frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
August 18, 2022 at 11:14 PM
Yep, sure was 😂😂😂
frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
August 18, 2022 at 11:17 PM
God, I grew up around you guys 😂🤦🏼♀️
Don’t wanna look back on whatever takes I had when I was fifteen 😂
Saya
August 19, 2022 at 3:20 PM
…we’ve all been on the internet too long 😱
redfox
July 16, 2022 at 6:06 AM
wait. They kicked you out when I am the more infamous troublemaker a rude bitch????
I am a failure and a disgrace
mmmmm
July 16, 2022 at 9:13 AM
You are NOT! I always love your braids!
Saya
August 18, 2022 at 8:21 AM
🤣
Saya
January 28, 2022 at 6:58 PM
Okay beanie pals, we’ve finally unwound the full complement of our year-end festivities on the Dramas Over Flowers podcast! So in case you missed it, it came in 3 parts:
– Part 1 is a general look back at the trends of 2021.
– Part 2: This was our very own Goguma Awards, with all the fun categories like “Most Hallyutastic” and “Best Use of Covid” (see here for full list!)
– Part 3: Our Editor’s Picks on our personal best dramas of the year, plus our inaugural Listener’s Choice Awards for best and worst dramas.
If you haven’t listened yet, you should! It’s my favourite podcast 😂
Saya
January 13, 2022 at 3:50 AM
Wow, it’s been a while since I logged in here.
I am contemplating tea.
Ally
January 13, 2022 at 4:45 AM
Always drink the tea.
Saya
January 13, 2022 at 6:28 AM
What’s your favourite?
Ally
January 13, 2022 at 10:01 AM
Jasmine is my go-to, but I probably have 10 different teas in my cabinet right now. I have a flower blooming tea that is just pretty to look at as it seeps.
mindy
January 13, 2022 at 5:29 AM
Sayaaa!!!
Tea is always a good idea.
Saya
January 13, 2022 at 6:13 AM
hiiii!! <3
re tea: when it's drunk or when it's
spilledpoured gently into a saucer and stared at? 😂korfan
January 13, 2022 at 6:11 AM
It’s always a good time for tea!
Saya
January 13, 2022 at 6:29 AM
I agree! Unless it has caffeine and it’s past 3pm. Then it’s strictly caffeine-free herbal tea!
bbstl 🧹
January 14, 2022 at 3:18 PM
Hi Saya! 🙋🏼♀️
Hope you enjoyed it 🫖🍵
Saya
January 28, 2022 at 6:42 PM
Yesss always!
Saya
April 3, 2021 at 9:35 AM
Hi everyone, here’s our latest What’s Up in Dramaland episode. We spend some time talking about the Atlanta shootings and anti-Asian racism – how we feel about it and what kind of response is needed at times like these.
We also give some cultural and historical context on the Joseon Exorcist cancellation and controversies, and look forward to April dramas.
On a personal note: talking about racism and anti-racism to a mixed audience is always a very fraught experience for a person of colour, and one we never take lightly. But we felt like it was something we had to explicitly address, not just to work through our own anger and grief, but also to counter the direction of some of the discourse that we’ve observed.
I hope, whatever perspective you are coming from as you listen, that it gives you a clearer understanding of structucal racism and the part we all play in it, and the part we can play to dismantle it. Because anti-racism is not a feeling, it’s not a declaration that once you give it, you can go home – it’s work, and it’s work that you continuously have to do and keep doing.
Click the link up top ^ for detailed shownotes including links to further resources and reading.
Saya
March 28, 2021 at 4:50 PM
Sisyphus eps 11-12 review: https://dramasoverflowers.net/2021/03/28/sisyphus-the-myth-episodes-11-12-review/
apparently I am the only person here who is loving it 🤣
Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
March 28, 2021 at 6:12 PM
I’m actually enjoying it quite a bit. Parts of it. With my brain in the “off” position.
Maq
March 28, 2021 at 7:06 PM
I’ve seen clips of episode 11 and 12 on youtube. Seo-hae and Tae-sul are cute.
LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
March 28, 2021 at 7:47 PM
I haven’t started it yet. But if it makes you feel any better I took you advice and picked up Beyond Evil and so far (episode 3) I’m enjoying it a lot. Which, as you know, was always going to be about 50/50 with you and me. 😉
mindy
March 28, 2021 at 8:11 PM
*whispers* I’m still stuck in the middle of ep 11… but @ally-le told me the payoff is great once I DO finish it!
Ally
March 29, 2021 at 6:18 AM
I like it! I don’t care about the sci-fi element at all. I just like JSW in this! He’s awesome!
Saya
March 20, 2021 at 8:13 PM
Just dropped our special episode on school bullying!
We talk about about the recent scandals, the reality of school life in Korea, and how to deal with it as fans when our faves fail us.
We were joined Professor CedarBough Saeji, who you may know as ‘The Kpop Prof’, and she had a LOT of insider insight to share, and covered the topic with a lot of breadth and depth. If you have an hour, do listen!
Check out the blog post for the fancy links and references here.
Eazal
March 21, 2021 at 2:11 AM
Thanks for sharing. Really insightful!
Cloggie
March 21, 2021 at 4:07 AM
That you can be sued for defamation (and tarnishing someone’s reputation) even when you can prove that you’re telling the truth is so fundamentally messed* up.
*stronger terms are available
OLakes
March 21, 2021 at 10:30 AM
Great episode! Thanks for sharing!
dramadillo
March 30, 2021 at 9:25 AM
Thank you so much for another excellent episode! I loved being able to learn a bit more about what is happening in real life. It helped me see bullying from a more macroscopic perspective, as a systemic and structural problem. It also led me to reflect on the positives of a hierarchical society (e.g. respect for elders, mentoring relationships between people of different ages, etc.) and then the challenges that these hierarchies pose, especially within a competitive society, which CedarBough Saeji addresses. So much food for thought!
Saya
March 12, 2021 at 6:27 PM
Sisyphus 7-8 review that took way too long to write, and is ALL OVER THE PLACE: https://dramasoverflowers.net/2021/03/12/sisyphus-the-myth-episodes-7-8-review/
egads
March 12, 2021 at 7:06 PM
I watched the first two episodes, and from what I recall ALL OVER THE PLACE is kinda on brand for Sisyphus, but maybe I’m wrong.
Saya
March 20, 2021 at 8:14 PM
I am totally enjoying it! I think I’m more all over the place than the show, haha!
Saya
March 5, 2021 at 6:22 AM
We recorded this ep just as the Park Hye-soo news broke, so that’s the story we discuss. We’re in the middle of planning a special episode on everything else (esp the awful Ji-soo revelations), so keep an ear out for that in the next week or two.
Timestamps:
News and updates:
02:00 You’re Beautiful: email from Kristi
04:24 “Adversarial Banmal”
07:45 Park Hye-soo bullying allegations, Dear M postponed
23:13 Star writer Kim Eun-sook ascends to executive creator of new show
Upcoming:
26:38 Mouse (see ep.85!)
27:04 Navillera
30:13 Monthly Magazine Home
35:00 Joseon Exorcist
40:55 Oh! Master (Oh My Ladylord)
mindy
March 5, 2021 at 7:56 AM
I like the image used… 🙂
Feeling (physically) very crappy lately so can’t wait to listen to this when I get off work! Also very interested to see what you have to say in the next podcast after all the terrible Ji-soo stuff.
Saya
March 5, 2021 at 4:03 PM
Wow I wonder why you like this entirely random image of some random (VERY EXCELLENT) dude! 😂
Aww I’m so sorry to hear about the crappiness! Please take it easy and use your spoons carefully and I hope you feel better quickly!
Also very interested to see how this episode turns out – we’ve got a special guest and we’re taking a slightly different angle on the topic. Look out for it! I’ll probably post it here either way, if I haven’t passed out in a corner, exhausted by the editing of it 😅
Saya
February 26, 2021 at 7:00 PM
Somebody thought it would be fun to rank and review all of last week\’s premieres: A Drama for Every Day of the Week, and Wandering Reviews of All of ‘em
Dramas inside:
– River Where the Moon Rises
– Sisyphus: The Myth
– Beyond Evil
– Vincenzo
– Times
now I am going to bed for the rest of my life, goodbye 😭
Saya
February 26, 2021 at 7:01 PM
it *was* fun, but like all fun, it came with a price
Ally
February 26, 2021 at 7:32 PM
You are amazing.
Saya
February 27, 2021 at 7:39 AM
💙💙💙
stberry
February 26, 2021 at 7:49 PM
I salute you! How did you checked out all those dramas and still managed to write these delightful reviews?
I only could watch like 4 and have already dropped 2 of those because it was overwhelming. Now you’re telling me I need to make times for Times, too?
Saya
February 27, 2021 at 7:39 AM
We have to make time for Time! 😄😄 Thank you for such a nice compliment, you brightened up my day!! 💙
Saya
February 25, 2021 at 4:37 PM
Sisyphus, Episode 4: https://dramasoverflowers.net/2021/02/25/sisyphus-the-myth-episode-4-review/
mugyuljoie is preciousss
February 25, 2021 at 9:21 PM
I’m sad to say it didn’t capture me at all and I quit before finishing the first episode.
Saya
February 27, 2021 at 6:04 AM
Yeah, it has not been quite the heights of epic I was hoping for, but I guess you can’t win them all! Check out Times though, if you enjoy time-bending shenanigans!
pickleddragon
February 26, 2021 at 8:03 PM
Saya, don’t do this to me. Your reviews make me want to watch scenes just for CSW, but the show itself is 🙈I can’t.
Saya
February 27, 2021 at 6:03 AM
I feel really bad that you watched it and hated it XD XD XD I’m so sorry! I always try to disclaim that my taste is never a guide! Maybe you can just enjoy the reviewing and when the show finishes, check out a Jo Seung-woo highlight reel! 😅
pickleddragon
February 27, 2021 at 6:56 AM
Not at all your fault!! If anything, it is testimony to your fine writing 🙂
I will certainly be following your reviews, and yes, maybe do exactly as you suggest 😉 one can never have enough of JSW on screen.
Saya
February 24, 2021 at 4:11 PM
Sisyphus, Episode 3: https://dramasoverflowers.net/2021/02/24/sisyphus-the-myth-episode-3-review/
(bonus Dark refs for @leetennant lol)
LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
February 24, 2021 at 4:28 PM
Aaarrggghhh! People, stop trying to make me watch this show!
Saya
February 24, 2021 at 4:31 PM
hahaha. I’m not quite sure this will be a show for you (yet) – it’s flashy but a bit faulty, unless you would enjoy JSW regardless…I would say go for Times instead, or Beyond Evil. Both of those are your manor!
LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
February 24, 2021 at 4:39 PM
At least you didn’t come back and say “You and Sisyphus are a perfect match. Never believe anything else”.
Saya
February 24, 2021 at 4:41 PM
oh my god I should have, damn!
but also that is not a line to be used lightly, so I will only use it for a confirmed match XD
Saya
February 18, 2021 at 3:40 PM
Episode 2 review of Sisyphus is LIVE: https://dramasoverflowers.net/2021/02/18/sisyphus-the-myth-episode-2-review/ courtesy of Anisa (@laica)
Come and play!
Saya
February 17, 2021 at 4:33 PM
I writed a pretend-review on Sisyphus: Episode 1
come and read and talk to me 😱😱😱
Saya
February 17, 2021 at 4:34 PM
Is this post-DB recapping? 🤣🤣🤣
Dramas found by chance
February 18, 2021 at 4:46 AM
I tried to comment but WordPress swallowed my attempts (or do you have moderated comments?). This is what I wrote:
Please do more.
I was thinking about the suitcases. If you suppose they are time machines (pretty much a given with that blue glow), with the twist that if you get too far away from them (or perhaps if you die?) then you snap back to your original time, then maybe Tae-san:
– was kidnapped by the glow-eyed helmet gang
– tried to escape by travelling forward in time (or was sent?)
– through a flux capacitor error, arrived at 30,000 feet
– was hit by the white aeroplane of doom and killed/separated from the suitcase
– ended up as a dead body in his own time, severely mutilated.
There are obvious problems with this (eg the trailer has Seo-hae running around unencumbered by suitcases) but maybe Tae-san’s story is something like this.
Speaking of tropes, I feel the ex-as-therapist fits right into the violation of medical ethics required for any drama (not only K-, it’s pretty much universal).
Also, we have established that the FL is a hearty if idiosyncratic eater, which is definitely a thing (spoonworms, anyone?). Bonus points if she’s a messy eater, jackpot if a rice grain or strand of ramyeon on her cheek requires sensitive yet shockingly forward wiping away by another character.
Also, when the pixellated footage of the body appeared I thought “at least they’ve avoided that physically impossible American trope where they say ‘Enhance’ at the computer and… oh, damn!” Apparently Korean for ‘Enhance’ is ‘Hyung!’
I assume this is titled Sisyphus because Seo-hae will end up rejuvenated in her own time and will go back again… and again… and…
Rushed comment because Episode 2 will make it look stupid in about 3 hours. Enjoying this show so far.
Saya
February 18, 2021 at 5:46 AM
oo fixed and replied! GREAT theories!
Dramas found by chance
February 18, 2021 at 6:05 AM
Thank you! Sorry to be so impatient. Commenting somewhere for the first time is always a bit of an emotional deal for me.
Saya
February 18, 2021 at 3:41 PM
no sorry! I hope we’ll see you a lot! And I understand, I also kind of shrink away from commenting. I’ll write it all up, then run away without posting it. 😅
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 1:30 PM
In other news, I\’ve sort of been roped into doing this thing semi-regularly: Drama Addict Diary.
Uh, it\’s difficult to explain, but all I can say is that if you are interested in reading stuff I write, you may enjoy it. Maybe. Or will be sensibly run away and find somebody with a longer attention span. Hee! I make no apologies 😂
This is what I\’m doing instead of writing my book 🙄
PS, feedback always welcome, requests always considered, talk to me~
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 1:31 PM
perhaps @blnmom @obsessedmuch
ObsessedMuch
February 23, 2021 at 5:27 AM
Ooooh yes! I am interested! Checking it out right after typing this in.
I am not very active here anymore hence the late reply.
Saya
February 25, 2021 at 5:40 PM
I hope you are okay and doing well wherever you are though! <3
ObsessedMuch
March 1, 2021 at 6:36 AM
I am!
Also I am on twt (very loud on it though) and we follow each other 🙂
Saya
March 5, 2021 at 6:25 AM
haha I am very quiet on twitter! my MO is to only look at my notifications, post every so often when I am sure I won’t regret what I’ve said when I’m 80, and vigorously avoid everything else! (which apparently is also how we have missed each other!)
ObsessedMuch
March 5, 2021 at 8:48 AM
LMAO and I am the opposite. I usually end up semi-regretting half of what I say the very next morning 😛
Though it’s a good thing you haven’t seen me spazz about my kpop boys and Seo In Guk cuz that is always embarrassing in retrospect😂
isa: I'm not a serial killer I'm just really passionate about things
February 12, 2021 at 4:50 PM
Oh, Im looking forward to reading this! And the background is very pretty.
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 5:06 PM
isn’t it? paroma chose it and I love it! (have fun reading!)
FlyingTool
February 12, 2021 at 6:39 PM
Loved your list. Needed you on the Vagabond watch!
Saya
February 15, 2021 at 3:16 PM
y u remind me of that waste of time drama blergh!
but the op credits were AMAZING
blnmom
February 14, 2021 at 10:41 PM
Yay!
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 1:21 PM
Hello friends!
So I’m way behind on Run On, but I hear it is THE BEES’ KNEES, and to that end, Paroma (@festerfaster), Anisa (@laica) and Rimi (@greenfields) will be hosting a livestream on Sunday for our very own wrap-party! It’s live, it’s interactive, it’s probably going to be a little bit silly, but it will be 1000% better with you there. Can you come?
That’s Sunday the 14th of February, 2021 (yep, Valentine’s Day, and you know the best way to spend it is with a drama you love!)
The time is 11am EST / 4pm UK / 9.30pm IST.
You can set yourself a reminder on youtube by clicking through here: https://youtu.be/VH2cusH5Wqk
Saya
January 1, 2021 at 7:37 AM
Aaaahhh how is it 2021 already?
I sincerely hope everyone is doing as well as possible, staying safe and looking after each other. It’s really been a year, hasn’t it?
Even aside from pandemic concerns, it was a year full of change and difficulties for me on the personal front, but I have taken joy in the friends I have here, and I hope I’ve been able to send back a little of that joy to your days, too, at least on the K-drama front, even if it’s not here on Dramabeans.
I’ve been keeping busy with the podcast – I (finally) learned how to edit audio earlier this year, and after a lot of aborted attempts at the whole process, finally FULLY produced an episode with the Forest of Secrets 2 special. I’m proud of me, I thought I’d never get there!! *pats self*
We had a lot of milestone moments in 2020 with Dramas Over Flowers, from producing some groundbreaking episodes, getting a proper website, doing weekly coverage on airing shows, and welcoming guest writers, to doing our first livestream, meeting fellow fans face-to-face (well, as face-to-face as pandemic living allows!), and joining a podcast network.
I have no idea what this year will bring – does anyone!! – but I hope and pray that you find peace and security in these challenging days of our lives, and also are able to appreciate the many daily blessings that remain to us despite our hardships.
And finally, let me leave you with our end-of-year opus, The Year-End Yak, which is THE LONGEST YAK (ever?), but I hope you’ll have as much fun listening to it as we did producing it. We’re particularly excited about our own end-of-year awards, the Goguma Awards, and there’s some good stuff inside, if I do say so myself! (I don’t want to spoil it for you, but honestly, Lee Joon-hyuk…)
Love and finger-hearts to you all 💙💙💙
Saya
January 1, 2021 at 7:43 AM
And listen out for some beanie voices in there! We had some really wonderful listener notes, thank you 💙💙
@cloggie @saner @leetennant @greenfields @rueffie (hope I tagged you right!)
Saya
January 1, 2021 at 7:46 AM
PS @eazal, check out the Good Detective love, I agree that it hasn’t got the recognition it deserved 😢
Eazal
January 1, 2021 at 8:10 AM
Oh! I will check this the minute I arrive home!!!
I can’t say enough times how good this drama is!!!
mugyuljoie is preciousss
January 1, 2021 at 8:15 PM
It’s on my list after I finish School Nurse Files.
Eazal
January 2, 2021 at 3:16 AM
I finally got the time to listen to the podcast!!!
Thanks so much for such a heartfelt defense of one of the best dramas this 2020 has given us.
I liked what you said about liking it better than Forest of Secrets 2, mainly because the FoS2 experience was a collective one, and I totally concur. Discussing it in the fan wall and on every recap was really helpful to notice those little details that I skipped, and I loved all the discussion it brought on so many issues. But watching The Good Detective I was on my own: my doubts, my rage, my frustration was just mine, so I think that’s why I feel so close to it.
You put on words my exact feelings about it!!!
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 1:15 PM
Oh this is so beautiful, thank you!!!
dramadillo
January 1, 2021 at 11:27 AM
Congrats on all those exciting achievements and milestones!❤️
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 1:16 PM
thank you!! we didn’t get there alone – it was because of everyone’s support and love, so it’s a collective achievement really!
mugyuljoie is preciousss
January 1, 2021 at 8:16 PM
I’m excited to listen!
Saya
February 12, 2021 at 1:17 PM
*cough* *returns 6 weeks late* I hope you enjoyed it!!!
mugyuljoie is preciousss
February 13, 2021 at 2:46 AM
I did. Thank you!
Saya
December 31, 2020 at 2:37 PM
Excited to share this piece about drama endings with you all, a special guest piece courtesy of a very well-loved beanie. Please check it out and leave a comment for her if you have some time!
The Sense of an Ending: A Writer’s Take on Final Episodes
As a PS, we haven\’t said it officially, but we welcome thoughtful guest posts if you have something to say about a show/theme – especially if you\’re missing the outlet of the TOTM prompts. If you have something you really want to write about, feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] outlining your idea (i.e. a pitch), and we\’ll come back to you. 💙
LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
December 31, 2020 at 4:06 PM
Great post.
Saya
December 31, 2020 at 4:16 PM
Isn’t it!
bbstl 🧹
December 31, 2020 at 6:35 PM
What a great essay! Now I will watch kdramas with these questions in mind 👍🏼
mugyuljoie is preciousss
January 1, 2021 at 8:33 PM
I’ve been missing said Beanie.
Saya
December 25, 2020 at 4:18 AM
Last call for Yak Tea! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yak-tea-tickets-133491656137
Hope everyone is safe and warm and generally happy wherever you are – not just today, but may all your days be secure and kind, and spent in beloved company. 💙 💙 💙