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Relying On Ben and Jerry: Behind the Story

I guess the story started when my best friend moved to Waltham.

I had met my best friend Dani when she moved to my town from Waltham, back when we were in sixth grade. From that day on, we became best friends, and when she found out she was going to be going back after over five years it hurts us both. I guess, psychologically, this story began the day she announced she was leaving, even though I didn’t get the actual plot for many months to come.

I can’t precisely remember the day she left, which is why Lena only has a point in time in which she moves to Boston—the end of January. Having gone to Boston and Salem the summer before, I could picture all of these places in my head that Dani was only going to be moments away from—places that appear in the story such as Harvard Square and Quincy Market and things like that—but it also covers places I haven’t been but Dani has, such as Waltham Senior High. My familiarity with the area and the coincidence of her actually moving back to said area swirled around in my head for the longest time.

Relying On started the same day that it was first posted. I had the idea early in the afternoon, and I wrote it down—I was eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and watching a movie that always makes me cry (yeah, alright, fine, it’s the last Harry Potter movie) and I sarcastically thought to myself, I’m always relying on Ben and Jerry to be there for me. The thought stayed, and I thought about girls and how much the stereotype is that they need ice cream to survive harsh breakups and testing situations. That day, I thought about a lot of things, and mainly they had to do with personal struggles, and how people around my teenage age are always trying so hard to find themselves, and I began to get the picture of Lena in my head: A girl who had to move and got plopped unexpectedly into this unfamiliar place so much different than the home she used to have, with nothing to comfort her except her ice cream and the reassurance that she could become something new. And then I thought about Dani, who has on more than one occasion dared me to wear something utterly ridiculous to school (to which I have declined; my will is not as great as Lena’s), and I got the idea of Aubrey and the dare. I sat down at my computer less than an hour later, and Lena just . . . came to be.

The rest of the story kind of just happened while I was writing it. At the first several chapters, I was updating every day, and the plot was whizzing by quicker than I anticipated. The whole story was just as simple as breathing for me, all of her friends the imprint of the people in my life. I took bits and pieces of personalities from my life around me and handed it over to Lena’s world—Quinton is the boy I fell for and ended up becoming best friends with, Aubrey is a watered-down version of Dani, Kline has shades of a girl I have known since childhood that is probably certifiably insane, Mrs. Mallory is kind of like my mom, and so on and so forth. The plot to me, whether it be because it was humor or not, kind of seemed easy for me to write than anything else.

I know that you don’t want to listen to me going on and on about this story forever, but really I think the story was buzzing around in my brain for a long time—I had always wanted to try my hand at comedy and my best friend had moved and I liked ice cream so TADA! A new story about a girl overcoming her self-confidence and wearing ridiculous outfits that I wished really existed!

If you’re reading this, I’m assuming that you read Relying On, and that this either enlightened you as to certain themes or events, maybe even some characters. I thought that I would add a little back story because, to some people, those who write the stories are sometimes seemed as though they have no rhyme or reason as to why they do what they do. I feel like I have a reason, and I want people to know that reflecting on one’s life for inspiration is the best place to look. My story started with a moving truck and a pint of Chocolate Fudge Brownie. It makes you think what yours is going to start with, huh?

Thank you for reading, and I hope that you loved Relying On Ben and Jerry the same way that I did.