Research LOL

[scottishlass]

Okay, I have this 28 year old heroine who has never had sex, always wanted to wait for MR. RIGHT and then she gets drunk and has sex with her co-star (likewise drunk) and in the morning she cannot remember anything other than .. OH shit this was my first time and I can't remember shit about it.
She gets mad, she accuses him of taking advantage of her (in her mind, he is a guy and should hold his liquor better than her ... HA!) and generally they are both pissed of at each other and with themselves.

Now here comes my question: Is it feasible to have a relatively good looking but a bit on the chubby side (think Kim Sun AH in Lovely Kim Sam Soon here. so it's the Korean version of chubby not the Western!!) 28 Korean woman still being a virgin?
I know Korean society frowns upon skinship but let's face it, it happens, out of wedlock, before wedlock, one night, more nights, the lot. Other than making her a devout Christian (which is the number 2 religious affiliation in S.Korea after Buddhism) which I really hate doing if push comes to shove, how can I explain it without making her a stupid dweeb? Or maybe my Western upbringing gets in my way and in Asia it is still totally acceptable to wait till marriage/Mr/Mrs. Right.

*sigh*

Oh and it's 33312 words. YAY!!!!

ETA. and it is official ... we have dog fleas! *sigh*

Comments

[fivil.livejournal.com]

This is an outsider's perspective so you might want to get a second take from a native Korean (or Korean-American) but from my experience, talking with Korean friends, sex education is virtually non-existent in schools and while pre-marital sex definitely happens, it's pretty frowned upon (for example, a couple of kpop stars like Seung-ri from Big Bang, IU & Eunhyuk from Super Junior have had scandals because they posted pictures which strongly indicated to be post-coital pictures). I think things are changing and the young generation is becoming more open-minded about these things, but I could definitely see a situation where a woman has either not dated much or not had sex with the guys she's dated to hold off before marriage.

Also, this is only slightly related but a lot of celeb marriages get called "shot-gun weddings" because it appears the weddings are announced very suddenly and the bride is often pregnant suspiciously shortly after the fact.. (This could just be malicious gossip, too, though.)

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Yeah heard about these weddings too ;)

But your reasons are all feasible, thank you :) SO I'm on the right track :)

[spacellama.livejournal.com]

There's a U.S. athlete who is very pretty and obviously in great shape who has said publicly she's a virgin. She's just been focused on her sport goals and hasn't wanted to take the time to meet and get to know Mr Right. Also my guess is that part of her hang-up has also been that athletes keep excellent care of their bodies and frankly, if you're spending that much time and energy monitoring what goes in your mouth, you probably care a little more than the average person about other physical invasions. I don't know if this kind of psychology would be appropriate for your character, but I think you can make the 28-yr-old virgin thing work. (And also because you are a talented writer.)

Also, YAY 33,312! And booo fleas.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

While my heroine isn't too keen on sports etc. (she is a comedienne who is cast as the heroine in the drama because of her not so perfect (read ordinary) looks), she is friendly and fun loving. She started acting when she was in her early teens, her father being a director having her character in her first movie die a gruesome death in a date rape thing. She never allowed herself to have a close relationship with anyone because her parents were pretty much involved with themselves and forgot about their daughter. Being in Korean entertainment where looks really mean almost everything, she might have grown apprehensive of close relationships, esp. with the other sex.
So yeah ... I think it will work :)

And thank you for the compliment :) I know you could write it much better than I can but I can try :)

[spacellama.livejournal.com]

I could what-what? LMFAO. You're the veteran writer here, lady. I'm still learning the ropes.

You're killing NaNo. So awesome!

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Yes you could :P Me a veteran writer? Veteran scribbler more likel :)
Viv, you are a published author, something I could never accomplish with my writing.

I hope I can kill NaNo, atm I'm stuck at a little under 45k :(

[meriika.livejournal.com]

She could be holding out for marriage, possibly even getting married. Finds out that the fiance is a cad of sorts and a drunken rebound episode.

Or like in "What's Up Fox?", the character was a virgin and then got drunk and had sex as a result of thinking she had uterine cancer.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Her male co-star is pretty much in love with her from the get go, even creating a little scandal at a press conference where he is asked if he fell in love with the supposedly beautiful other female co-star and he is so fed up with ppl pairing him off with her, that he replies with he could fall in love with a woman like Yoo Min-Young (my heroine). They are dubbed the 'Could Be' couple from then on.

The sex while drunk happens naturally, they both have feelings for each other, are away on location shooting and one thing leads to the other. What really bothers YMY is that she can't remember a lot of her first time.

[lb-klove.livejournal.com]

Have you seen What's up fox? I think they had it on Hulu or DramaFever. The premise that the woman is a virgin, I believe is in her earlier 30s. Do not remember all the nuances, but it makes sense, if you explain in psychologically, like she had a crush on somebody, when she was younger, waited to be with him, he turned out to gay, she went back into her shell. Did not want to just do it for experience. Never had a boyfriend that she loved enough... It is believable in Korean culture. Also Christian angle could just add to it, but I do not think it should be the main reason.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

No I haven't seen that particular drama but I make sure to check it out :)

I think I will use the angle of my heroine working as an actress/comedienne since she was in high school and that those few guys who were interested in her were either totally shy or creeps and those she dated were too clingy so she ended it before they could reach the second base.
Funnily enough I had no such qualms to write Eun-Soo as a vrigin in one of my FAITH fics ... but then Faith was pretty much a fantasy and my heroine and hero are very much ppl from the 21st century making belief for the camera that they are these sageuk drama heroes of epic proportions.

[your-insomnia.livejournal.com]

I don't think having a good-looking Korean woman be a virgin at 28 is unrealistic at all.

To me what's unrealistic is having her have a one night stand with someone while drunk. I know it's shown in dramas a lot and whatnot, but it's probably one of the most unrealistic occurrences in real life. Girls who are virgins are often very hesitant to have sex with someone they are in love with and to have one night stand...inconceivable and would require a lot of guts from the girl. I think even if she is drunk, just by the virtue of her not knowing whats going on and never having experienced anything close, it is very unlikely to be successful in any way...

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I wanted to say! The 28 year old virgin is easy to believe, the drunken one night stand is not.

As an aside, Indo-Canadian girl here and I didn't lose my virginity until I was 27, and that was because I decided I reeeeeeally didn't want to be a virgin anymore. :P

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Oohkay ... so the 28 yr old virgin is okay but the sex isn't.

It's not a one night stand per se. The sexual tension has been building up from ep 1 to ep9 (where they have sex) and along the way their real life feelings mingle with the acting they have to do in font of the camera (their first kiss is in front of the camera). But thinking it through from your POV I can see those huge plotholes in my story and I doubt it will work :(

Too late for doing changes I guess I will write those blasted 50.000 words for nanowrimo first and think about plot holes etc. while revisioning :)

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Judging from kdramas, it seems like a normal thing to me. Take Dalja's Spring - they never out & out say she is a virgin but they do say she's never had a boyfriend and she was totally oblivious when her coworker/date took her parking.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

OH gosh yes, I forgot about that 'parking' scene.

Btw, sista, what happened to your nanowrimo? I checked your stats, are you so busy writing you can update your word count or did you throw in the towel (as I did the last couple of years)?

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

*hides head in shame* I've done almost nothing. November is a horrible month for me to write but I always want to try! lol

btw, I read the intro on your novels page. I love the voice of your MC!

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

No worries. I had that happening the last couple of years so this year I really wanted to make an effort to at least produce those words if not a readable novel.

[deyhra109.livejournal.com]

This might be out of the subject here but: is he MR RIGHT? Or mr right-now. Just wondering. :o

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

He IS Mr. Right. Lee Jin-Ho's public image is that of the cool, charming, sophisticated alpha male (voted on the internet as the guy any 15 to 50 yr old woman wants as a lover), while he is a very thoughtful and dorky person on the inside.
He is in his early 30s, had all his shots, no issues!!, has a mom and aunt he takes care of (his dad had a work related accident when he was 15), good looking (think LMH and JHW here LOL), a bit of a prankster, tall, had a girlfriend at university (where he got a degree in engineering), and is generally a really nice guy and a bit of a dork (as his mom puts it, only those who love him can really laugh about his bad jokes), got into acting via modeling jobs he did on the side to support his mom and aunt during high school and university.
He has a love/hate relationship with his profession and while he loves acting he also sees the downside of the whole business.

Min-Young on the other hand, even though she is very friendly and open, is a loner at heart. She wears glasses off screen, jeans, chucks and flannel shirts. She has been in the business since she was 13 years old where she debuted in a movie directed by her father who killed her character off in a very gruesome way in a date rape scene. She choose comedy/variety as her profession because that is what the business forced her into because of her ordinary looks (there are hints that her father might have suggested plastic surgery at one point and a tight dieting regime which she refused). She has issues with her parents who were more involved with each other and their marital fights than taking care of their only daughter and the only person she is really close to is her friend Hae-Sui who works as her manager at the agency Min-Young is.

So yes he is pretty much Mr. Right as he falls for her almost from the get go, the very moment she picks up on a soccer reference he makes and is just normal and witty, and he is like putty in her hands (though both don't know it yet at that time).
She is more wary ... on one hand she knows of him, knows his image, his work and she has a bit of a crush on him, but she tries to look at it all professionally. But the longer she works with him, the more she spends time with him (learning lines, doing interviews and photoshoots etc.) the more she falls for him as well.
And of course there is this underlying UST from the scenes of the sageuk drama they are shooting, all the Angst, the love scenes, the kissing.

[deyhra109.livejournal.com]

Ok you are killing me! When do I get to read this piece of art!?

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

As soon as I have finished it AND edited it. Atm it is very raw and just scene by scene, there is almost no narrative ; very dialogue driven (pretty much like a drama and even the chapters are named Episode 1, 2 etc.)

It's really strange how I am writing this thing now. Usually I write down chronologically but this time - as I had so many different plots going on, I first wrote the love story, then scenes chronologically for the sageuk that they are filming, then scenes with the crazy secondary female lead and last but not least the second OTP. And now I'm putting everything together and adding stuff as well.
Hopefully it is something worth reading.

[lb-klove.livejournal.com]

Ahh, this is so cool! I really want to read it!

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

As soon as it is finished and a very good friend of mine has looked over it for a first beta. I don't know where I will post it then ... either here or at archiveofourown.org

[lb-klove.livejournal.com]

Yey. Can't wait. You encouraged me to sign up to Nano as well and use my stories. So I did. I only started writing for the novel a few days ago. I'm going to use some of the things I already wrote for Faith and add extra. The premise is that even in various parallel timelines or universes, even if details can be different, they always end up together. I'm going to have maybe 3 or 4 different outcomes/ways they end up together. I also will have a timeline when Choi Young goes to the present by accident through the portal and meets Eun Soo in her time, starting their relationship in a reverse kind of fashion.
What do you think?

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Sounds really interesting and I'm looking forward to reading them. Can you finish the novel within the last 5 days? How many words do you already have?

[(Anonymous)]

About 31000 or more. I have not put anything together, every story is disjointed. I still have to string pieced together and put transitions that make sense to explain how they all fit together. I will do that last. Now, just writing my new part of the story.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

Yeah ... you can edit and everything after Nov. 30th, now all that counts is the word count.
Me, I'm totally anal, every morning before I start to write I take time to review and edit what I wrote the day before and then add to it. I can't stand all those little red and green squiggly lines Word does when there are typos or strange sentence combinations :)