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I primarily take inspiration from horror as a whole, my own life, and other people’s books

For example. Most of root rot was inspired by things that have happened to me. Seungmin’s storyline is mostly inspired by We Are Okay by Nina Lacour

Sticky Butter was inspired by Anxious People by Fredrik Backman and When Someday comes was inspired by The Expatriates by Janice YK Lee. Sticky Butter also took from Knives Out

Glass Heart has some very literal parts of my life in it. More generally I also have certain themes and messages that I reuse over and over just because they interest me personally, such as taking time apart before coming back together again

The horror inspiration mostly shows up in the themes I like exploring and how I explore them. I’m not typically taking direct plot points or anything from horror, but I am taking feelings. I think it’s a genre that excels at eliciting reactions, so I try to incorporate similar storytelling elements into my work to elicit the reactions I want, too. Usually the reactions I’m going for are not fear, but the dread, shock, tension, hope, and even humor I use come from how those same elements are used in horror. Horror also just really inspires me so much in general like if I need a boost of inspiration or creativity I’ll watch or read something scary

But I also take inspiration from literally everything. There’s a moment in Starling that was inspired by a smosh YouTube video. Jeongin’s storyline in root rot was inspired by a random tiktok I saw about some guy doing van life. I don’t usually take inspiration from music actually but The Sincerest Form was inspired by Closest Thing by Madeline the Person. And also the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice lol. Wait also racehorse takes some inspiration from August by Madeline the Person also. And sometimes my prose takes from hozier

Thank you very much for asking I love to talk about these things. If you are seeking inspiration, I recommend paying attention to things you like in other people’s work (of any kind—fics, books, music, tv, movies, anything), figuring out why you like it, and emulating that in your stories