Here's Chapter 5 — a soft, reflective chapter exploring the people, stories, art, and media that inspire me. This is the heart space of my creativity: what shaped my voice, what feeds my imagination, and what makes me sit down and say, "I need to write this."

"You are what you consume — and I consume things that hurt beautifully."

Every writer is a mosaic.

A patchwork of borrowed phrases, half-remembered characters, lines that once broke us, and scenes we never got over.

Every writer has a secret vault.
Not of treasure, but of emotionally devastating, ridiculously romantic, or just plain beautiful things that changed them.

This chapter? It's my vault.

These are the stories, characters, and cinematic moments that shaped my voice — the ones I carry with me in every line I write. They taught me to feel first, edit later, and never underestimate the power of a love confession said at the wrong time.

This chapter is for the things I didn't create... but that helped create me.

✦ The Stories That Stuck

Here are the books and media that didn't just entertain me — they unlocked something. Made me feel more, or write better, or dream louder.

These books didn't just entertain me. They unlocked something. They sat with me, whispered story ideas in the back of my head, and helped me figure out what kind of writer I wanted to be.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter – enemies-ish to lovers, late-night nostalgia, and a love story that sneaks up on you.

Collide by Bal Khabra – passion, chaos, and the art of loving someone flawed and fully human.

Rival Darling by Alexandra Moody – romantic tension, complicated choices, and characters you want to scream at (lovingly).

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace – opposites attract, mental health rep, found family energy.

I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang – soft confessions, emotional growth, and that one line that ruins you.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – academic chaos, grumpy x sunshine, and banter that deserves an award.

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood – basically, science + tension = YES.

Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter – for every writer who's ever fallen for their own idea of love and had to rewrite it.

🎬 Films & Series That Live Rent-Free in My Writing Brain

I'm a romance-writer-core, slice-of-life, emotional-rollercoaster-watching person. These shows and films? They've given me everything from comfort characters to scene inspiration.

The Summer I Turned Pretty – love triangles, emotional tension, coming-of-age ache

To All the Boys I've Loved Before – letters, vulnerability, and the sweetness of being seen

XO, Kitty – chaotic matchmaking and well-intentioned meddling (very Matchmaker coded)

Alexa and Katie – pure friendship, growth, and emotional realness in unexpected places

Your Name – longing, fate, and time-stretched soulmates (it hurts beautifully)

Spirited Away – whimsical worldbuilding, quiet wonder, and magic that feels personal

Business Proposal – fake dating, hidden identities, and face-meet-floor levels of tension

Shooting Stars – celebrity romance and found connection in unexpected spaces

Lovely Runner – time travel, fate, and the desperation to change just one thing

Love Next Door – neighbors, misunderstandings, and soft domestic chaos

Tale of the Nine Tailed Fox – mythology, rebirth, and an immortal being who finally feels again

✦ The Characters I Keep Coming Back To

Some fictional people just stay with you.

The broken one who makes jokes to avoid being vulnerable.

The sunshine character who holds everyone together quietly.

The villain you secretly understand.

The best friend who deserved a chapter of their own.

The love interest who says, "I didn't think I deserved this... but I want it anyway."

(These people show up in my stories. Every time.)

✦ Things That Make Me Feel Like Writing

rainy mornings

old songs I haven't heard in years

strangers laughing in coffee shops

soft apologies

letters that are never sent

reading a line and thinking, I wish I wrote that.

Someone sitting beside you at 1AM, just listening.

A hug you didn't know you needed.

A knife, but in a beautiful way.

A secret you share without saying out loud.

A story that makes you think, "Oh. It's not just me."

What inspires me changes all the time. But one thing stays the same:
If it makes me feel deeply, I want to write something that does the same.

These are the stories I revisit when I need to remember how to feel deeply, write honestly, or make something that matters.
Not because they're perfect — but because they made me care.

And that's the goal, isn't it?

Up next: I'll tell you about the things that make me me — the weird habits, small joys, and chaotic traits that somehow sneak their way into everything I write.