The book Sam is reading when she gets the call from Lou is the book her dad says she stole from his library, "The World of Apples."
Rusty's story that Samantha sends to Stephen King is the repeated writings of the lyrics of The Beatles song "I've Just Seen a Face". In the movie, Rusty says that this song plays on his head every time he sees Kate. Also the story starts with Rusty's opening lines: 'Looking at her hurts'.
Originally titled Writers.
Well-known literary writers who are mentioned or whose books characters are shown reading include Flannery O'Connor, Richard Ford, Joan Didion, Stephen King, and Raymond Carver.