“I need to do something like this,” said aspiring romance writer Vanessa Santarsia, after watching the angst and chemistry-filled relationship between Kate Sharma and Lord Bridgerton unfold in the second season of Netflix's Bridgerton. Before discovering her passion for writing, Santarsia had ambitions to become a paralegal (legal assistant) until she had an eye-opening experience during a high school co-op at a law office.
“I was really miserable,” she said. “There was no passion there… I couldn’t see myself going into law for the rest of my life.”

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However, during that same semester, Santarsia found that she enjoyed writing essays for her English class and decided to change her career path. She now attends Humber Polytechnic as a Bachelor of Creative and Professional Writing student, despite the two-hour transit commute. 
“It wasn’t the most convenient location, but I came here cause this was the only program that I was interested in,” she said.

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Santarsia's favourite authors are Holly Jackson, Ali Hazelwood and Ana Huang. She adores the exciting elements of Jackson's narratives and the comforting aspects of Hazelwood’s and Hunag’s writing.
“They have really charming banter between the characters, and I try to recreate that,” she said about her work.

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She also enjoys action and characters with traumatic backstories, which are common in the three authors' works. 
“Last semester, I wrote a romance story set during a robbery. I like the contrast of crazy scary stuff going on and in the middle, there’s a love story happening.”

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Santarsia also gets a lot of inspiration from the music she listens to, especially songs by pop stars Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. Her favourite Harry Styles songs are To Be So Lonely for its calming instrumentals and Satellite for its lyrical intricacies.
“I like the meaning,” she said. “He compares himself to a satellite, hovering around this person waiting for them to let them in.”

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Her favourite Taylor Swift song is Call It What You Want.
“I think it's one of her most romantic songs,” she said. However, Santarsia really connected with the song after watching a video of Swift playing the song live. “She’s singing this love song while being super angry because she’s going through a breakup,” she said, recalling how she was transfixed by the conflicting emotions.

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When conceptualizing her romantic leads, Santarsia likes writing mannerly, funny, dreamy men, and strong, confident women, with lots of dialogue between them. While she typically writes about straight couples, Santarsia is looking forward to broadening her work by incorporating queer relationships. Her favourite tropes to play with are enemies to lovers, fake dating, marriage of convenience, and forbidden love with lots of tension and high-stakes situations. 
“I love the drama,” she said.

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Follow: @vanessa.santarsia.IG