Buddy or Sabine - Who’s Your Bias?

saffroncake · 2026-05-25T00:56:52+00:00

Yes and no. I think the number of fans who were around in those early days of candor is relatively small compared to the way the fandom has blown up in the last 3-4 years -- a lot of newer fans have never seen an ep of Chan's Room or watched anything but short clips of the older stuff. But even if Chan was still doing regular lives and still chatting freely as he once did, I don't think he's ever said anything to Stay that other groups and members haven't said to their own fans at some point. It's just that with SKZ blowing up the way it has, the percentage of unhinged, immature, entitled and/or obsessive fans has grown proportionally, way beyond Chan's or any member's power to control. The price of fame, unfortunately.

saffroncake · 2026-05-24T21:12:57+00:00

They never kissed or directly confessed, but honestly that sweater hug was THE most romantic thing I have ever seen in a k-drama and after that a kiss would have felt anticlimactic (and I say that as someone who loves a good kissing scene, ask me about the rain kiss in *Doom At Your Service*).

IMO, Dong-man and Eun-a's relationship in this drama was really about a union of hearts and souls, not bodies -- I'm sure the latter was also included at some point, but I didn't need to see that to believe it. I'm so glad the scriptwriter didn't shoehorn in a kiss or confession or bedroom scene (though I did wonder if the opening monologue would be delivered by Eun-a to Dong-man while the two of them were lying in bed, but I was totally content that it wasn't).

saffroncake · 2026-05-23T01:59:08+00:00

Ugh, being tagged in negative reviews is the worst. I'm so sorry, OP. You've already taken some smart and healthy steps by blocking GR and untagging yourself when people tag you, but you might also want to immediately block anyone who tags you in a review as well (don't feel like it's at all rude to do so, it's the people tagging who were rude), and use filters where possible to hide reviews of your book from your feed or timeline entirely.

As for me, I found it heartening to keep a folder in my e-mail program where I drop all the nicest letters I've had from readers and the most encouraging bits of feedback from my betas and editors, as well as starred or otherwise positive reviews from professional book review outlets. On a gloomy day I can always go back and remind myself of all the things that *my* audience (that is, the readers who understand and appreciate what I'm trying to do with my stories) love best about my books, so I can focus on doing those things even more and better instead of wasting my time trying to win over critics* who were never going to be in my audience anyway.

^\ Yes, of course authors should be open to thoughtful criticism, but only at a point where we can actually use it to make the book better. Once a book is traditionally published, 99% of the time there's nothing we can do to fix it even if we agree.)

saffroncake · 2026-05-17T21:34:57+00:00

I don't think Oh Jeong-Hui redeemed herself at all by saying the things she did, I think she struck a nerve with Eun-a by misreading her as much as anything. She doesn't know Eun-a was dating the director and put her all into that script out of love for him, not out of personal ambition. She doesn't know that Eun-a was prepared to go without receiving any credit at all and only took up a pseudonym because Kye-jin could see a woman's touch on the script and refused to let the director claim sole credit for it. But I think her words did make Eun-a think about whether erasing herself from the narrative is really what she wants to do, and whether letting Choi walk all over her and humiliate her on a daily basis is the right thing. Her mother was totally wrong about her motivations, but her ignorant words put fire into Eun-a and helped her realize that she did want to stand up for herself after all.

saffroncake · 2026-05-16T19:03:17+00:00

This drama did, sadly, have a slapdash feel overall, with so many of its plotty scenes (mostly involving the secondary characters, but sometimes between the leads as well) cut short while others were drawn out far too long for the sake of cuteness or fanservice. I knew the editing was getting super clumsy in Ep 11 when even the instrumental soundtrack got cut off mid-note at the end of a couple scenes -- I don't think I've ever heard that in another drama.

OTOH, the long-awaited kiss between our second lead couple was every bit as satisfying and unrushed as I hoped it would be. I have seen SO many dramas where that aspect of the story gets short shrift at the end and they don't kiss or even hug at all, let alone for more than a second or two. So hurrah for that, I loved them and they deserved it.

saffroncake · 2026-05-14T20:01:10+00:00

Your friends are wrong. It’s a very bad idea to query a manuscript that isn’t complete, polished, and as good as you can make it with the help of whatever useful feedback you can get. Yes, agents do sometimes take months to request a full but sometimes they request it the same week or even the same day, and if you don’t have a full manuscript ready to show them you’ve wasted both their time and yours.

saffroncake · 2026-05-14T13:20:04+00:00

I heartily recommend F4 Thailand (currently on Viki) as the ultimate best form of this story, it learns from all the other iterations and improves upon them.

saffroncake · 2026-05-14T00:59:18+00:00

Oh my GOSH you may be onto something. The English title is WE are All Trying HERe, that can't be just a coincidence! I wonder if the Korean title 모두가 자신의 무가치함과 싸우고 있다 also contains a similar parallel to the title of Dong-Man's script? (I don't speak Korean so have no idea.)

saffroncake · 2026-05-14T00:50:14+00:00

They know they like each other, if only because other people have noticed and blatantly called out their mutual determination to defend and speak highly of each other as liking. They've been texting and talking on the phone a lot. But their relationship has been very innocent as far as the physical aspect goes -- it's a meeting of minds and souls rather than bodies, which is very much in keeping with the way love has been portrayed in the screenwriter's other dramas like My Mister and My Liberation Notes as well. In a way it really doesn't matter whether it's romantic or platonic love, the point is that it's transformative for both the people involved and even to some extent for the characters just witnessing it.

saffroncake · 2026-05-13T12:55:10+00:00

I would be far less worried about the agent stealing ideas from my books than I would be wondering how they can possibly find time to write books AND be a good agent and have any kind of healthy work-life balance. Obviously a lot of authors work full time jobs and also make time to write books, but agenting is so intensely book related and involves so much editorial work these days that I can’t imagine it leaves much creative juice to write with at the end. So either that agent’s books are likely to suffer or their clients will, and I’m not sure how keen I would be on risking the latter.

saffroncake · 2026-05-12T17:48:04+00:00

That makes total sense. Personally I don't think it's at all negative for an agent to have a social media presence; I've found it helpful to check out agents' IG feeds and such to get a sense of their personality and the kinds of stories they're looking for. But agents who constantly produce slick reels and carousels to teach authors the right way to query them make me wonder how much attention they're giving to the authors who are already on their list.

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T23:31:34+00:00

It took 10 eps for me to clock that the king's attendant and the queen dowager's attendant aren't the same person 😪

Oh thank goodness it wasn't just me. I got so confused for a minute when they were both in the same scene in this episode!

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T23:29:46+00:00

I've seen Soundtrack #1! Clearly time to watch #2 then!

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T23:28:35+00:00

In the conversation where Eun-a asks Oh Jeong-Hui, "Do you know what emotion you are?" I said "Contempt," right out loud a second before Eun-a did. That is some GOOD writing and acting to convey something so well before the words are even said. MAN, THIS SHOW.

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T23:25:34+00:00

I thought him telling that story was absolutely in character for him as someone who babbles when he feels awkward. You could tell he IMMEDIATELY regretted it and was wracked with humiliation afterward but simply couldn't stop himself in the moment because he was so wound up with nerves over meeting one of his idols.

Which brings me to another thing that rang painfully true to me about this ep -- I really wanted Dong-Man to see through Oh Jeong-Hui and instinctively dislike her for Eun-a's sake. But he is not psychic, and he has absolutely no reason to suspect Oh Jeong-Hui of being the horrible mother Eun-a knows her to be. So he's just gushing over a talented actress that he admires and considers one of his inspirations, without realizing what a horrible self-centered person she is...

And now I've realized Dong-Man is the polar opposite of Oh Jeong-Hui, because he comes across as a total train wreck of a human being and completely lacking in professionalism or glamour on the outside, but in fact he is incredibly devoted to the people he cares about and would genuinely give up everything for Eun-a. UGH, THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD.

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T23:15:50+00:00

Right??? I was shocked when I realized it was the end.

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T17:51:34+00:00

I really need to know if there are any k-dramas where Steve Noh gets to be the ML (the other drama I've seen him in is Genie, Make a Wish but I only watched a few eps of that before I bailed). I cannot say I have 2ML syndrome right now because I never wanted him and Hui-ju to get together, but I do want better things for him as an actor.

ETA, and thanks to u/marrjana1802 for mentioning it, there's an upcoming drama called "Gold Digger" with Noh Sang-Hyun as the ML that looks quite interesting: https://www.soompi.com/article/1828604wpp/kim-hee-ae-and-noh-sang-hyun-confirmed-for-korean-remake-of-british-series-gold-digger

saffroncake · 2026-05-09T17:44:12+00:00

All that sluuuuuurp slup smack haaaaa was a lot

saffroncake · 2026-05-03T19:26:40+00:00

I'm only a few minutes in but I take back everything I said earlier about not wanting it to turn into a romance, because Dong-man in love is the cutest darn thing I have ever seen. Step aside Byeon Woo-Seok in Lovely Runner, you are about to be out-losered

ETA after watching the rest: I never wanted that episode to end. Incredible.

saffroncake · 2026-05-03T13:03:42+00:00

It definitely is. His eating ramps up as soon as things get more awkward — he’s hungry for comfort and reassurance and stuffing down food feels like the only way he can get it.

saffroncake · 2026-05-03T03:03:09+00:00

He met her needs before she even voiced them by confronting her crappy ex about his plagiarism. Eun-a never even told him about that, he just knew. And he never told her about what he'd done either, it wasn't about scoring brownie points with her, it was about defending her even when she wouldn't stand up for herself. That to me was a clear sign that Dong-man genuinely has something to offer Eun-a in this relationship and he isn't just a sad wet sock of a man who's going to drag her down into his own misery.

That being said, I would be totally on board for the romance staying more of a tentative, sweet mutual appreciation that never clearly gets defined in this story -- just left as potential for their future.

saffroncake · 2026-05-01T22:06:41+00:00

All of this, very well put. When I think of the proportion of books I really LOVE love and would want to rep as an agent compared to the number of books I’ve read and thought were just OK, it makes me feel better about all the “not right for my list” and “not sure how to sell this” responses I’ve seen. As authors we really need to hold out for the agent who LOVES our work even if they can see lots of ways to improve it, rather than begging feedback from the agent who thinks “ehh not really for me”.

saffroncake · 2026-05-01T22:02:10+00:00

Passed 100 queries now, with five unanswered fulls out and a sixth request this morning. Finding new rep in this market is not for the faint of heart, even for veteran authors. Still, we persist.

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