Anatomy of an Episode Post

As the blog software publishes this post, I am likely at Ohayocon, presenting one of our blogging panels.  However, I realize that a lot (if not all) of our readers may not actually attend the convention.  Therefore, I put this little post together to give you a little view into how I go about writing an episode post and to have a little metablogging fun.

First, I have to get a copy of the episode I’m going to watch.  Unbelievably, this is actually the hardest part for me, for two reasons.  One, sometimes the subbed episodes aren’t available when I need them, due to technical issues or slowness.  No, I don’t know Japanese, and every passing day further decreases any chance of that changing.  I’m not complaining, and I completely realize they work hard to give us this service.  I’m just stating fact that sometimes things don’t work out like you want.

The other problem is my motivation.  I’m the kind of guy who likes to watch an entire series in a marathon style format.  Waiting for a new episode from week to week and then having to write about it is a chore sometimes.  This is what killed me in the past: I just ran out of steam to do it weekly.  However, this season, I’m determined to cover not one, but two anime all the way through.  So far, so good, as you can see in the posting log.

Next, I have the easiest task on the list, actually watching the episode.  My first watch of an episode is always on normal speed, and if I feel the need to watch it again, I’ll kick it up to 2x or 3x.  I make mental notes for important scenes I might need later, but I don’t take any physical notes while I’m watching. I should probably change that because I spend a lot of time referencing material.

After watching logically comes writing.  You’ve probably picked up on the pattern I’ve settled upon for now.  My first paragraph is a very brief summary of the highlights of the previous week’s episode.  This is partly for my benefit to make sure I remember everything, and for yours so that we’re all on the same page going into this.  Maybe you missed last week’s episode, or forgot what happened.

The next few paragraphs are the actual summary of the episode.  For those of you wondering, there is no “magic” amount of text, you write as much as you feel you need and whatever that is, is the summary.  That said, I try to aim for 2-3 paragraphs and 200-300 words.  If I do less, it feels like I just skimmed the episode, but if I do more it feels like I’m saying too much.

The last paragraph is my personal impressions.  I tell you what I feel was good and bad about the episode and what I might hope to see in the next episode(s).  I don’t assign an individual score to episodes like I used to, because it feels like it makes everything incredibly arbitrary.  After this, I do a quick word count and edit check of the document.

I’m almost done making the post, now I need to find images.  Reading a long block of text is, frankly, boring, especially when pictures are clearly available.  I try to find parts of the episode that coincide with my paragraphs.  Then I have to convert them to a reasonable size and upload.  Sometimes the caption I add is a quick joke to lighten the mood.  Other times, it’s insightful or poignant.  Finally, I put all of it together in WordPress, do another edit check, and publish.

The total time this takes from the moment I hit play to the moment I hit publish is usually between 1.5 and 2 hours.  Yes, anime blogging is a fair time commitment, which is why I’m currently not blogging everything I watch.  It takes 20-25 hours to cover an entire 12 episode series, plus a review post at the end.  So, for those of you thinking about getting into this, keep that commitment in mind.

That covers my posting process.  If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll read it once I return.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

~Rakuen

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