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vellaphoria · 5 months

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hi hi! c: for the Get to know your fic writer! meme - 1, 17, 22, 56, and 67? (however many you'd like to answer!)

hiiiiii :D

thanks for the ask!! <3

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

It depends on what I'm going for! I think that broadly I'd prefer to write one-shots, but I'm very very bad at being concise in writing, so often they turn into multi-chapter fics without me noticing lol The fun thing about oneshots is that you can be Vague and leave people guessing about implication breadcrumbs left through the fic. But the fun thing about multi-chapter fics is that I do really love worldbuilding...

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

For a lack of inspiration, usually I have to step away from the project for a while. Trying to write while uninspired tends to do me more harm than good, and inspiration tends to find me at the most unexpected times. So chances are I'll be coming back to it pretty quickly, when the time is right.

For writers block, I usually bring the issue to my beta reader and we talk through it and brainstorm. Getting a second opinion is really helpful! Especially when the other person can see things that you've missed because you were the one writing it. So, shout out to my beta reader for being excellent (and also for enabling me lol) <3

22. Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

There are! But for different reasons. Style: I think that epistolary style can be done very well, but I'm not super good at it and have no particular desire to expand my writing skill set in that direction. POV: Likewise, first person and second person pov can be well done (harder with second person, imo), but they're not for me. I could probably write third person omniscient, but I much prefer third person limited because playing with perception and who knows what (and when) is really fun for me! The downside is that sometimes people reading my fic are like. Why didn't the POV character know this thing that they couldn't possibly have known at the time in the plot?? So I think that some people don't understand that third person omniscient and limited pov's are different things Genre: I'm really really really really not a fan of slice of life, as a genre. Or coffee shop AUs. Any genre where narrative conflict is deemphasized is a genre that I'm not super interested in reading or writing Tropes: I won't write AOB because I'm squicked out by the biological determinism and recreation of heterosexual gender dynamics in queer relationshps. Like, I know there are subversions that don't do that, but the majority of it plays it straight, so it's not for me. I also won't write pregnancy of any sort or child acquisition because the first squicks me out and the latter makes me uncomfortable. For DC-specific tropes, I won't write joker junior because the concept makes me sad. I've also been leaning away from a lot of the fanon tropes (i.e. stuff like Tim having a coffee addiction) because while they're fun as jokes, the way that some people are treating them as canon annoys me. Long answer is long lol

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

I like to think that I write pretty compelling relationship dynamics. Or at least I write them in the way that I want to read them, so. That's all that really matters to me at the end of the day <3

67. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

I prefer prompts and challenges since I get to interpret them broadly! Chances are that by they end, they've become completely independent ideas anyway XD

(questions are from this prompt list)

#jagn answers #ask games #gerryrigged #:D

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thekoreanlass · 6 years

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I’m not really a big fan of C-dramas or Meteor Garden, but who will forget this phenomenal drama that started from a Japanese manga until it became a TV series that probably has the most remakes? Taiwanese, Korean, Indonesian, and now a Chinese remake!

The Meteor Garden fever has surely converted people of all ages into fans, not just of the drama but the fictional popular quartet F4! Who would forget Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo, and Xi Men? The original boys brought us wonderful songs that most 90-ish kids would still remember and sing along to, which would definitely lead us back to memories of the Taiwanese version’s immense popularity.

At that time, I remember myself still being a kid, who willingly followed her older sister’s every whim and recorded every single episode on a tape recorder for her. Those were the dark times that I totally got sick of being in front of the television and the drama, but gladly Vic Zhou was there to grace me with his presence. I so loved Hua Ze Lei as a kid. He was my ultimate crush, that was probably why I started crushing on Yoon Jihoo as soon as the Korean remake took over a few years later.

More than that blast from the past feeling though, the hottest topic this 2018 is the comeback the drama is making through the Chinese remake, starring this generation’s most beautiful faces, Shen Yue (Dong Shan Cai), Dylan Wang (Dao Ming Si), Darren Chen (Hua Ze Lei), Connor Leong (Feng Mei Zuo) and Caesar Wu (Xi Men Yan).

Shen Yue feels very familiar to me after her ‘A Love So Beautiful’ drama aired in my country and boosted in popularity. The boys, however, are all new faces to me but I must say the moment I saw them I really felt good to see that they are taking over the F4 role. Maybe because they all just look so handsome and charming that their face value already makes the cut.

Anyway, I’ve been rambling about the randomest things, but that’s just because I feel excited to talk about the 2018 version after just watching it. I’m up to episode 6 of the drama, so I shall share my first impression about what happened from the beginning to that point.

Here goes nothing!

Catchy Start

What caught my attention when I started episode 1 is how it opened the story with Shan Cai asking ‘Have you ever wondered what will happen to you in the future?’ and concluding how her 18 year old self never thought something like that will happen to her while a scene of her throwing a strong flying kick to Dao Ming Si’s face plays in slow motion.

I think that, that flying kick on the face totally brings a huge head start to the drama, causing for curiosity to uproot as they left what happened a mystery and began the generic introduction of characters. Shan Cai being the ordinary girl who will luckily land the role of heroine in one hell of a rollercoaster ride. And there was also–lo and behold–the notorious F4, who seems even more perfectly described in this version (a really much improved background than their earlier versions!) that it is too good to be true. To fictitious, to say.

Nonetheless, the start of the drama really managed to grab my attention, so I’m giving them a perfect score for that.

Same but Different

So, we get the same thing but maybe with a Chinese twist to it? I’m not sure whether it’s because they want it to be different from its past versions, but this one definitely has a very unique taste to it.

They changed a lot of things like:

Shan Cai’s family background – The original Meteor Garden and even Boys Over Flowers portrayed her as someone coming from a poor family that barely made a living. Here, Shan Cai at least came from an average family with a mom that cooks and gets money from delivering takeouts and has a father that works as a bank manager (I think they said that was his job).

In the previous versions too, her parents look really pathetic to me. I mean, the father and mother were both selling off their daughter to Dao Ming Si / Gu Jun Pyo. But at least, the mother in the Chinese version is not that loud and annoying and although she still dotes on Dao Ming Si so much that she can sell Shan Cai out to him, at least, her father is there to become the buffer that stops her antics.

An even more perfect F4 – If that’s even possible! So, I know it’s kind of cliche now that the poor girl falls in love with the rich guy. It’s a common trope among dramas, but of course we don’t get tired of the rich and handsome guys of F4! As in never get tired of them!

And to make it much better–or worse? but that’s up to you–the drama made these four flower boys even more desirable bachelors. You’ll easily know about how different and better they are right from the first episode when a random Junior walks up to Shan Cai, Qing He and Li Zhen and tells them about the popular F4.

Dao Ming Si may be the forever pineapple haired guy (his hairstyle gets even better too!), but he’s now finally equipped with the knowledge of being able to speak three or four languages and a talent for business. The old Dao Ming Si can’t even get a quote right, which was really funny back then. He was handsome and rich, but not so smart. But now he can just be everything, well except for the short temper and his anger management problems plus obsession for Shan Cai.

Hua Ze Lei used to be just quiet and snobbish like a cold prince in the older versions, but this drama made it so that they could explain his introverted behavior as related from the slight autism he had when he was a kid and is supposedly cured by the great Teng Tang Jing. Can you even cure autism? I made my own research and gladly they said a minority portion of those people with autism get cured depending on the severity of their autism and the therapies they go through over the years, but its still debatable. However, giving this drama the benefit of the doubt, this is fiction. I’m not gotta criticize it for not knowing any better. For sure, they know what they are doing.

Mei Zuo and Xi Men – so they’re like the third in command in all the versions if you ask me. I’m pretty sure, in terms of appearance, they are of equal importance. Two obnoxious, overprotective friends with a tendency to womanize. I see women hanging around them everywhere, but that’s their role. It’s the casanovas that are more interesting to watch. However, like I said they are the ‘much improved’ versions: wherein Mei Zuo has an impeccable memory that they can never lose in the card game ‘Bridge’ and Xi Men has a liking for tea, due to his family background.

I’m not sure if this is going to sound nicer and may help them look smarter, but I think this version of F4 is the milder, much civilized guys. I mean, they don’t bully someone so randomly out of the blue and make their lives a living hell. Instead, as it was explained, they are so good at the card game ‘Bridge’ (that they even have a club for that!) that many people want to challenge them and to stop anyone from just randomly challenging them, they set an odd rule that you need to first receive the ‘Joker’ card as an invitation for a Bridge match.

That doesn’t sound like much what would bad boys do, right? It would have been nicer if they stuck to the original, but I guess this isn’t so bad either. At least, if they challenge somebody it would make much more sense. Plus, they look really cool playing that game.

Hello ‘Joker’! – So, bye bye to that red card that Dao Ming Si used to send his victims and say ‘hello’ to the less threatening ‘Joker’ card in your locker. Prepare to lose in the game of Bridge with F4 and eat some slippers as the consequence!

At least, it’s befitting for them to use the card, though, right?

College and Milk Tea – I get it every version of Shan Cai is different that’s why she’s a freshman in the Nutrition course here and she works part time at a milk tea shop called ‘Talented’ with Xiao Yu.

Fights and Reconciliations – Well, I remember Li Zhen–Shan Cai’s newfound friend–also liking Dao Ming Si in the past and because she’s jealous of Shan Cai she intentionally sets her up so that she looks like she slept with someone she met at a club.

The same friend betrays her in this version, but her reason is sort of different and somehow ‘coincidental’ and Shan Cai ends up forgiving her because she’s just that kind of person and Dao Ming Si can never have a say about it or kick her out of university since he doesn’t own it. But at least, all is well. And to be honest, I like how things ended up well between these two friends in this version, since the problem arose from something trivial and it’s just unreasonable for someone to drop out because they were being bullied for some petty reason, right?

Meteor Garden 2018 gets you hooked by these positive changes and makes the drama a bit lighter than its older versions that are leaning more on its dramatic quotient.

However, on another note, I must admit that Shan Cai didn’t experience as much hardship as the old Shan Cai did. Dao Ming Si bullies her in the most childish sense, plotting childish jokes that you can’t call disturbing. I guess, because he’s been sheltered for long enough and didn’t grow up dating girls left and right, that he is having a hard time expressing himself to her and with his very impatient personality makes him extremely possessive of her.

The lack of emotional turmoil boxes the potential of each of them to do even better in portraying their role, however.

So, in a nutshell, Meteor Garden looks totally brand new with the many additions, but still has more room to improve with the acting. Not saying, they aren’t good, but there got to be something more with that actor or actress. So, I’m looking forward to improvement until it’s 48th episode!

Fast Pacing

Is it just me or this drama is moving too quickly that I’m getting worried what more will they show in the next 44 to 48 episodes?

Not that I am complaining about the quick pacing, it’s just that maybe I am not used to it. The Taiwanese version really had a slow, agonizing pace that I would not really stick to it until the end if I had to do a marathon, while this one was just like leafing through pages in a book while only skimming it very briefly, which I think is good but pretty worrisome. Not unless they have more to show that won’t be dragging and not just a filler, then I guess the pacing should be fine.

Total Flower Boys

I can definitely say that this version totally left me drooling at the boys. All of them are really good looking you can’t say they’re a waste. They do have their different charms that set them apart from each other, but in total all of them are likable eye-candies!

I used to be a solid Hua Ze Lei kind of girl, but after watching Dylan Wang portray Dao Ming Si, I can’t help but fawn over the boy. He just fits the prickly, childish and short-tempered rich boy role that’s not too rough but not kind looking either. At some points, he’s cute and surprisingly I don’t despise him for childishly annoying Shan Cai.

The Strong-willed Wild Flower that often bends

You can say that Shan Cai is that heroine who doesn’t easily back down from a challenge. She’s always been stubborn and antagonizing, especially towards Dao Ming Si. She’s been consistent in this love-hate relationship they have that sometimes it’s hard to believe how they ended up together.

But I must say I sometimes feel anxious about Shen Yue’s version of Shan Cai. She’s a good actress and its nice she can easily tear up when an emotional scene comes up, but why do I feel like this Shan Cai is being more fickle now than before? She’s fickle that I find it annoying she lets Dao Ming Si kiss her without a fight even when she likes Hua Ze Lei. I think she sounds more like a pushover or a very easy person, especially when she lets Hua Ze Lei kiss her after just seeing him kiss another girl without any second thoughts and while bringing her along with him at the beach.

A Real Douche

Excuse me for my opinion, but now that I’ve watched this version, I can’t help but think Hua Ze Lei is the real douche here and not Dao Ming Si, who did nothing but devotedly love Dong Shan Cai, I mean, Lei may appear like a cool guy because he’s quiet and introverted and he doesn’t look like he can play any tricks at girls, but the thing is he keeps stringing Shan Cai along–even kissing her cheek without any proper reason and even if he didn’t like her back then when he did it–even if he likes Jing. He even follows her to Paris and lives with her, but just because she doesn’t make time for him and he’s not man enough to be able to save their relationship, that he leaves and shakes up Dao Ming Si and Shan Cai’s blossoming love-hate relationship.

Well, I’m not saying he’s bad, but still for sure no one wants to be the second option when it comes to the person you like. No matter what, a girl needs to have some self-respect and can’t treat herself unjustly by having false hopes that one day this stupid guy will look at you. And Lei shouldn’t be that guy that gives her false hopes just because he knew she likes her and then only goes back to her after realizing Jing doesn’t need him. That’s just plain stupid. Like seriously. I’d rather pick the person who genuinely likes me more and not the person who will only give me the second place. You won’t be truly happy with someone who only puts you second in his life.

Romance

It’s still so complicated like before that it’s unbelievable. I can’t say that there will be such romance in reality, but nonetheless, I totally feel like the chemistry between Dylan Wang and Shen Yue is like second nature to them that you may find them rather unarguably cute together and suited for each other. Together, they make my heart really flutter like a teenager and grin like an idiot nonstop.

Over all

Surprisingly, I think I am being won over by this drama to another level after watching its first few episodes. Of course, I had my own doubts upon hearing another remake is on its way, but with some leap of faith that it wouldn’t just be some cheap drama remake, I think that it’s worth the wait and the time I invested on watching it.

I can’t say that it surpassed the other versions, because they all have their different charms. But I can probably say that Meteor Garden 2018 managed to surpass itself. With its impeccable cast and the awesome production and directing, it surpassed expectations of most Meteor Garden fans.

Plus, add the fact that its very lighthearted in its element compared to the past versions and really much cuter that it must attract, too, the younger audience.

I will not dwell with the fact, though, that it’s pretty long for 40+ episodes times 40 minutes worth of TV viewing per episode and will just enjoy the flow of things while it can entertain me so I wouldn’t overthink about its length being a disadvantage at this time. Maybe they can use it to their advantage too, but who knows? Only time will tell.

Nonetheless, I will recommend this to anybody who just simply loves Meteor Garden at any day. You should try it if you’re up for another Meteor Garden fever and be charmed by the eternal F4!

I will rate this drama 4.7 out of 5 for surprising me and getting me hooked!

See you later for my On going and Final review for this drama in the future!

First Impression: Meteor Garden (2018) I'm not really a big fan of C-dramas or Meteor Garden, but who will forget this phenomenal drama that started from a Japanese manga until it became a TV series that probably has the most remakes?

#2018 #Caesar Wu #Chinese #college #Connor Leong #Darren Chen #drama #Dylan Wang #Meteor Garden #Remake #review #romance #Shen Yue #thekoreanlass

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