Learning From Writer Sunbaes: MDL Articles Revisited Part 1

Introduction

I am a newbie in writing articles for MDL. As I was writing my second article, I did some research and dug out older MDL articles. After flipping through 100+ pages of 2000+ articles, I found many interesting articles that, in my opinion, are uniquely reflective, informative, and/or entertaining. Now I want to share them with you to enjoy. Also, if you are looking for ideas to write, you may get some inspiration. If you want to refresh a specific topic of an article, please contact the writer for consent.

My purposes for writing this article:

to promote past articles, that got buried under newer articles, to be read or reread,
to recommend ideas to other writers of various unique topics to write about,
to give tribute to the article writers for their hard work.

❤ Thank you all the writers who gave me your consent for me to use your articles, for your support and your excitement.

❤ Thank you, editor Jojo for giving me advice and help during the writing process.

The titles are linked to the original articles

Articles Featured

In Part 1, the articles are from Kaye, RisefromBlackAshes, AnanyaS, gooheajung, akai-kitsune, ReikaBleu, Dubu, Ugly Duckling, Jeana, and 3GGG.

Unsatisfactorily Single: Dramas and Romantic Expectations

"You start seeing these picture-perfect first dates, swoon-worthy kisses, devoted leading men and you wonder: am I missing something?"

Published just five days before Valentine’s Day, the writer’s article hit home for single drama watchers who read it around the holiday. She and her readers discussed whether they watch romantic dramas because they are single, or stay single as a result of watching dramas. Check it out!

Article Ideas

We need more reflective articles like this, especially during times when people get depressed or lonely easily, such as on Valentine’s Day, end-of-the-year holidays, or broadly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contemplative articles are not depressing; on the contrary, they give food for thought to enrich our journey in dramaland.

The Art Of The Idol Drama

"Highlighting the difference between an idol drama, and a drama with an idol in it, along with the good and bad that come with idol dramas/movies."

The writer’s article is informative since we tend to label every drama with an idol in it as an idol drama. As someone who’s not familiar with the Asian music industry, therefore don’t know who’s an idol and who’s not, I often read comments complaining about the acting skills of the main actor/ actress idol in it.

Article Ideas

The author gave examples of Korean and Japanese idols. I wonder if someone can write articles on idols from different countries, or movies/dramas depicting idol’s or actor’s struggles in life and career.

5 Stages of Drama Addiction!

"These are the 5 stages of drama addiction that everyone has to go through!"

This article entertained me as I read through the stages. I realized I was at a critical stage, only to find out that some people in the comment section added more stages, lol!

Article Ideas

Anyone here can write their own drama ‘addiction’ by recording their dramaland journey into a hilarious but contemplative article!

Korean Entertainment and Its Toilets

"Gooheajung shares Korean entertainment's fascination with toilet scenes and more... "

By only reading the title, you will predict the writer’s article is amusing. The first time I watched an Asian show with a toilet scene was the PSY’s Gangnam Style MV, way before I came into the dramaland. Since then, after watching so many Asian dramas, I can say I am quite comfortable watching toilet scenes from any country!

Article Ideas

Anyone want to write more about… toilets??? Or at least, other unthinkable items from other countries.

Remakes: Win or Lose!

"Why don't we give remakes a chance? This MDL'er has given it much thought and hopes to share her thoughts with you."

Reading her article got me to rethink remakes. I can be quite judgmental with remakes. The emotion you feel the first time you watch the original drama cannot compare to the emotion you feel while watching the remakes.

Article Ideas

Remaking a drama is quite an interesting phenomenon that can give tons of ideas for writers to write about. For example: remakes from original novels/cartoons to anime to dramas to movies. Or, remakes from one country to another country. Or, in the case of Thai lakorns: remakes from one decade to another decade.

Takuya Kimura’s Hair Style Evolution

"Takuya Kimura's hairstyle definitely deserves an article of its own. "

The writer definitely is the actor’s fangirl. She wrote four articles in MDL dedicated to Takuya Kimura. The idea for this article came from comments on her previous article about the actor’s hair.

Article Ideas

Other writers, especially those who are fans of an actor or an actress, can write an article like this! Wait, this is not an Ultra Fan Guide (or used to be a Stalker Guide) type of article? Not really. Writers can apply the same idea to an actor/actress’s hairstyle or fashion style. Any popular actor and actress who has acted for many years must have evolved in their appearances, including fashion, hairstyle, makeup, etc.

A Male’s Perspective: The Significance of Gender

"Aurorae's analysis of gender's influence and impact on dramas and viewers."

This article is very insightful: I ended up not only reading the article but also the comments that answered the questionnaires given by the writer. While reading, I could not help but agree with his statements.

In targeting the female audience, for example, I saw a lot of Chinese period dramas. Production teams tweaked the history and custom to romantic stories that favor modern women. Historically, by custom the imperial and noblemen have concubines. The romance dramas make it so that the MLs love their FLs so much that they only have one woman and do not keep concubines.

Article Ideas

The concubine topic can probably become an article by itself. Other writers can pick gender-related genres. Or, if you want to refresh this topic with newer dramas, please contact the writer first. Writers can also research the comparison between younger/teenage and older/working adult female audiences.

Translators’ Lifestyle Explained By Memes

"Funny article which describes the difficult and often funny lifestyle of translators!"

The writer is an active Asian drama subber for a Slovak/Czech website. She explains her journey as a subber. Reading her article definitely WILL make you appreciate drama subbers better, and no longer demand that they sub faster or more dramas.

She also wrote a sequel to this article in Translators’ Lifestyle Explained By Memes Part II.

Article Ideas

Writers can interview subbers, or share their experience of ‘subbing’ a drama for personal purposes, or even tips on how to watch a drama in the raw version. I read this statement many times. Watchers just end up watching the raw version although they don’t understand the language. How can they do that, I wonder?

An MDL-er’s Eternal Plight: Ratings

"Rate a drama high? Or rate a drama low? For some MDL users, this is a never-ending dilemma. Find out why!"

The writer coined “rating-induced anxiety”, a drama disease that is localized only in the MDL community. I swear I didn’t have this problem until I joined this site, lol. A few months ago I was highly anticipating a popular drama, only to be disappointed, after watching a few episodes I dropped it. I wrote my mini-rant with my low rating in the comment section. BIG MISTAKE! I got several arguments. What the writer mentioned about the anxiety is true, for a few days, I felt scared of incoming messages every time I logged into MDL!

Article Ideas

The drama rating on this site can be a good topic for writing an article. How about articles on fake ratings? I saw this several times, especially in C-dramas, where a drama gets a 10 rating, and it has not even aired yet! Why? Also, many times the rating is low for Japanese and Thai dramas. For example, despite being warned that a lakorn has a sensitive theme, people still watch it then rate it low and rant about it.

Popular Visual Cues found in K-Dramas [Part 1]

"Ever noticed the visual cues k-drama directors use to establish the relationship between two or more characters? This article will cover two of the most prevalent ones, as well as their variations and applications through several examples. "

As a toddler in Asian dramaland (yes, I am only one year old), I have not watched any of the K-dramas mentioned by the writer, only the C-drama Legend of Fu Yao. However, I learned a lot from her articles, as one reader commented, it’s like sitting in a film class. Before I could notice good directing in dramas, I just didn’t know the vocabulary.

This article is a part of a series that continues to:

Article Ideas

For article ideas, probably we can never write an article as exceptional as the writer’s, I know I cannot. However, we can apply what we learned at school or our work expertise in writing articles on dramas we love.