#my faves to draw icl

[antiquedolls]

[casualhedonists]

Please tell us about all the inspos for this fic. I am begging

you do NOT have to ask me twice nonnie (thank you for enabling me)

slightly long post ahead! 🤍

so i drew some of the initial inspo for the fic and the power dynamics at play (coryo being president, the reader latching onto that power through their arrangement) from a house of cards-like dynamic. i wanted that dark undertone to exist but more glamorous and capitol-ised (?) with fancy balls and displays of excess as we know already exists in the hunger games universe. the very face-value, pawns in a political game reminded me a bit of that show and so i kinda crossed the tbosas universe over with that until it worked. also with it being old fashioned i kinda took inspo from like, a house of cards meets bbc’s war and peace type vibe.

for the power dynamics, the constant push and pull between coryo and reader, it was BIG mr and mrs smith vibes (one of my fave movies ugh such a masterclass). the dinner table scene especially, like that underlying tension in chapter two when he asks her if she’s okay, and then the obvious chapter four scene near the beginning where she’s messing with him. just so so delicious to write that kind of electric power play where you’re on your toes all the time, never knowing when someone’s going to break.

in terms of snow’s manor house they live in, and the housestaff, i was pulling on a bit of a downton abbey kinda vibe (comfort show icl). i tried giving the staff more character through that too (esp lucille my beloved) as they’re just a much more effective plot device when there’s backstory, which panned out super well when i came to write chapter five and suddenly had a plot device in my hands to write them into a Situation!

another big big inspo for the power dynamics/smut/general themes of this fic was based on this oscar wilde quote:

“everything in the world is about sex, except sex. sex is about power.”

it just always kept popping back into my brain as i wrote yknow?? series thesis statement if there ever was one.

moving on! maybe a more niche reference but when reader walks around snow’s room in the later chapters, esp the first time, i was drawing a little on the selena gomez hands to myself video. spraying the cologne etc and just that obsession and fascination with being in someone’s space.

the voyeurism aspect (and i only realised that upon the reread i did to make this post as thorough as possible) actually pulled on a certain scene from crimson peak.

okay nonnie i am gonna leave it at that for tonight, i’m sure i’ll remember more and if i do i’ll add them to this post! thank you again for asking, i love talking about this 🤍🤍