Aug 14th 2021

Here we are in the blog, using the title as a simple plain date. Not just any date, it's the date before Joe Jonas's birthday. And what's the day after Joe's birthday? That's right, Emma Phoenix's birthday.

👉 Check out the latest T3BFF story HERE

And in celebrating Emma's birthday which is like, SO CLOSE let's talk a little deeper in to the whole Behind-The-Story concept about T3BFF. From inspiration to stories to the mistakes I have noticed in earlier stories and how YOU can create your own little story-series.

Where to begin?

This is what I feel people would be asking the most when seeing an 11 year old writer though so far, surprisingly, no one has questioned that to me yet.

So, say you want to start up a story-series-blog, but you have NO IDEAS, NO GOALS and DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START OFF. For me personally, I just go with it. I had the characters Emma, Chloe and Lily since, maybe 6?

Here are my step-by-step ways on how T3BFF blog had been created and who knows, maybe it can help you!

• Think of a topic (In T3BFF case: school, Covid-19 pandemic and life as so-random kids that can be relatable and based on the writer's own experiences)
• Decide on your reader-type (In T3BFF case: a kid experiencing same so-random offline/online school and someone who hates school SO MUCH)
• Create your character and how they're connected to each other (In T3BFF case: Emma is the kid who is totally sweet-tooth obsessed, Chloe is the calm kid who always tries to take control of her wacky friends and Lily is the smart kid Emma and Chloe always rely on during exams. They are neighbors since 2/3 years old)
• What's your story goal? (In T3BFF case: reach over 100 posts in the blog - which we did!)

Deciding on those stuff can take a while and that's normal so create a blank slate whether it's a paper, your idea-sketch-book or just an online planner, don't rush it.

Introducing your main character

Okay, I don't know about YOU but I'm fine with how I introduced Chloe in The 3 Best Friends Forever as the main character. I'm not expecting something big with it and if you're in a young age just like me, I wouldn't wanna join in the hassle of deciding a GRAND and INTERESTING entrance for your main character.

There are some mass-ways to introduce your main character:

• Make it come straight at you: This is Sarah she is a student in North Los Angeles Enterprise Academy
• You have to make them care about the main character. Start explaining her/himself throughout the story but at the very end/climax of the story tell them all they need to know about the story and on how the main character fits in to the story.
• First person narrator: Show the readers something fascinating that includes the other lead roles. I was late to school, I got up, had breakfast and didn't even thought about taking a shower.
• Let another person introduce her: "Hey Lily! How is your shiny boots and math homework that you love so much doing?"

Writer's block
Don't be afraid of writer's block. Nothing is wrong with that. Sometimes you just have to soak it all in, maybe take a rest a while and let an idea come to you.

I haven't been experiencing writer's block lately. Sometimes I just feel if a story isn't feeling right and I close blogger and do other stuff. I usually think better inspirations at night time for some reason.

Story inspirations to get you started:

• 2 enemies are forced to team up together to win a competition against their rival team.
• A kid attempting to have her dream last night come true with the help of her 2 best friends.
• A girl got a chance to meet her favorite celebrity.
• A young boy who invented a new language that could change the world forever.
• Finding a time capsule leading to treasure in your backyard.
• A girl who discovers a secret room under her bed.
• 5 pair of friends who teams up for a competition putting their team work to the test.
• A school switch where students are switched school with an alien school.
• A teenage boy creates a website to help other teenagers with a certain illness but got in prison for it.

Feel free to use any of those story ideas!

The 3 Best Friends Forever: Story Ideas and Inspirations!

I basically just go with the flow when deciding on the characters, plot, stories, school names in this story so this will be exciting and weird...

The Character's Biography

Alright, here's a behind the scenes secret of stuff that I actually have mentioned once or twice or thrice in The Karina Blog or The 3 Best Friends Forever. Here are a last of the character name choices:

Character Name Inspiration

• Chloe's name was taken from actress Chloe Bridges and her surname Drummond was taken from a client name from Property Brothers.
• Emma's name was taken from Emma Watson, her middle name Carter is a character from my least favorite DCOM, Princess Protection Program named Carter Mason. Her surname is from Phoenix, Arizona which at the time was the place I really wanted to visit (Now it's LA)
• Lily's middle name was taken from a character at my favorite DCOM called Starstruck named Jessica Olsen. Her surname was from Chicago, Illinois.
• Dylan's name is taken from Dylan Sprouse, while Zack's name is taken from Dylan Sprouse's character in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody named Zack Martin.
• Dylan's middle name is taken from Joe Jonas's middle Adam while Zack's middle name was taken from Nick Jonas's name Nicholas.
• Melissa's name was taken from Milo Murphy's Law character, Melissa.
• Brittany's name was taken from a name generator and so is her surname Garza.
• Jordyn's name was taken from a character from a book called Brave Girls by Tommy Nelson and so is Taylor's name.
• Isabella's name came out of nowhere from my head but her surname was taken from a name generator
• Harper's name came from a character from a Disney Series I hate called Wizard's of Waverly Place.

Character Birthdate Inspirations

• Chloe's birthdate is the same as Karina's birthdate the same like how Chloe's personality and experiences through the story is the same as Karina's experiences through the days.
• Emma's birthdate is a mix between Nick Jonas's birthdate and Joe Jonas's birthdate. September 16 (Nick) and August 15 (Joe) and is also the month of Karina's best friend's Bintang's birthday
• Lily's birthdate is taken from Danielle Campbell's birthday, who plays Jessica Olsen and her birth-month is taken from Karina's other best friend Putri on April

PERSONALITY IDEAS

When it comes to their personalities, it's basically just going with the flow and whatever word my brain says. So, let's start off with Emma, Chloe and Lily.

Emma: Personality Ideas
From the beginning for some reason, I had know I wanted Emma to be this silly kid who believes in things everyone no is fake which in this case right now are unicorns. And watch matches unicorns perfectly? Sweets. So I wanted Emma to be a heavy sweet tooth and I did that by creating the BUBBLEGUM BUTTER STICK.

Chloe: Personality Ideas
Chloe was sorta like Emma's babysitter who always tries to keep her on track and in reality (In this case AUS and UPI) and at times can be like her annoying twin. She can at times hate Emma and at times cheer up Emma and she loves Emma's homemade orange juice.

Lily: Personality Ideas
I knew there had to be a such-a-nerd-weirdo character in the story to complete the trio and with Emma and Chloe fully booked, Lily was the one to go as her name Lily is such a smart name. She helps Emma with her unicorn hunt pretty often and loves lecturing Emma and Chloe during vacations.

Next we move on to Dylan and Zack:

Dylan and Zack: Personality Ideas
Dylan and Zack is the miserable twins being having 2 older sisters and especially a sister that's heavily bubblegum obsessed like Emma. Emma is like their best friend and competition.

Why Los Angeles?

Well, it's because of watching Starstruck and just seeing how cool that place is! So Los Angeles it is and also because it seems like such a prestigious place!

So, I hope you enjoy this little behind-the-story post and I'll see you later on!