My answer to this question is never quite consistent, i have so many influences.
Probably the starting point was reading about Kowloon Walled City when I was 14. I wanted to write a book with that sort of claustrophobic setting, but didn't know what genre until around 4 years later. You may or may not find some vague leftover horror influences from when this was a very different story, but scaring people isn't my priority for this comic. :B
Later on stories like Metamorphosis, Kafka on the Shore, and Joy Luck Club got me interested in how vaguely magical/superstitious elements can invade characters' lives, and yet the characters themselves have no desire/hope of controlling or reversing this magic; they simply lived at its mercy.
I intended to write it as prose, but a few chapters/scenes in I decided to make it a comic instead. I still haven't quite figured out how to translate the atmosphere and some plot elements to a comic form, but I looked to the artwork of Renee French, Chris Van Allsburg, and Edward Gorey for guidance. ^ u ^
And thus I ended up with this.