I mentioned in a previous post that during my book shlump I became addicted to Kdramas. They weren’t something I ever considered getting into, but my streaming subscription kept recommending I watch one called Cinderella and the Four Knights until I finally gave in. The fact I am a sucker for anything inspired by fairytales probably had something to do with it, and the fact it was based on a book is probably why I liked it. I watched more international shows after that.
Then, when a classmate discovered we had similar taste in television programs, she suggested I try another show called Boys Over Flowers. This one is based on the Hana Yori Dango manga series. I have never read any sort of graphic novel before, unless you count those old Archie comics from the nineties, let alone one from another culture so I had no idea what to expect.
After viewing the first few episodes I wondered why she loved it so much but kept watching. I am one of those people who rarely ever DNF a book, and I was just curious enough to be the same with this show. It turns out I only needed to give the program a little longer because I got hooked and became thoroughly invested in the characters. Needless to say, I will be trying to get my hands on the manga series to read.
When I found out my classmate had meant to recommend the most recent Chinese adaptation of Hana Yori Dango called Meteor Garden, I ended up watching it as well. In the end, I think I did like BOF better than MG but I was equally in love with the same secondary character in both shows. I continued down the rabbit hole by watching the Japanese version since that is the country the story originated from and followed it up with F4 Thailand (the latter of which gives BOF a run for its money as the best adaptation).
Though I loved these shows, each with their small differences and quirks, there were a few things that didn’t fly with me. I started brainstorming how I would have written the story, how I would make it different from the others. At first it was just for fun, but then I wrote out a four-page plotline. Except, I didn’t know what I would do with it since I wasn’t going to be filming it nor did I want to write fanfiction (of which an entire fanbase exists).
If I was going to write, I wanted to write a story of my own. So, I wrote a new three-page plotline that was less BOF and more my own thing. There are a couple of aspects that have managed to survive, such as one of my characters possibly being described in a way that resembles actor Darren Chen, but that Japanese story turned television show was merely a jumping-off point to creating my own imaginary world.
To honour the origin story for inspiring me to write again, I do mention the manga and shows in my own WiP. But you can bet that BTS gets a mention along with other songs and shows and other bits of pop culture. Anything can be an inspiration as long as you are open to experiencing new things.
JaimeKristal 