This book is dedicated to the readers. Without you guys, it wouldn't be where it is today. I would especially like to thank my some of my original readers who stuck with this book until the end:

Captainphasma900

Will_Joseph

KateAnn21

Invisibleanath3ma

(And anyone else that I might've forgotten)

Wow, this fanfiction has been quite the adventure for me. It took me an estimated ten months to write it from start to finish. It was completed on Sunday, October twenty-first, 2018 with 2.83K views, 306 votes, and 682 comments.

I've written out a Q&A section down below.

Q: What made you want to write a book, specifically a fanfiction?

A: I've always been the person who loves to write, but it seems like when I go to write something original, the idea has already been taken. I turned to fanfiction becuase I had already been reading a lot of them at the time. The beauty of fanfiction is that the main characters are already there for you, so you don't have to go through a big developmental process. You just have to create the setting and plot.

I honestly have to thank Captainphasma900 for making me write this book XD. One day, I had either called or texted her and told her that it would be cool to write a fanfiction. The idea had been brewing in my mind for about a week. As soon as the word "fanfiction" left my mouth, she was like, "Do itttttt." Love you, Phasma! :)

Q: Where did some of your inspiration come from?

A: A lot of my inspiration came from other people or personal experience. Like for example, the chapter where Tyler, Josh, Jenna, and Mark had a Nerf war was based off of personal experience. One summer I was visiting my half sister, and we bought some Nerf guns and had a battle in her living room. I thought back to that one day and was like, "Hey, that would be good to include in my fanfiction."

Sometimes I'd PM some of my readers and ask them if I should use a certain idea for a chapter. Other times, just letting my mind wander brought me inspiration.

One of my friends at school was taking FACS (Home Ec) and was talking about the model babies that you have to take home. When I decided to include those in one of my chapters, I texted her questions about what all you had to do to take care of them.

For the kidnapping chapters, I even went to two of my guy friends at school and asked them questions about the penalty for kidnapping XD. It was an interesting conversation.

Q: What's some advice you can give someone who plans to write their own book?

A: Plan plan plan, research, research, research. Google is your best friend. When I started writing this book, I went to the notes section of my phone and titled it FANFIC PLANS. Anything--any idea, song, or piece of information pertaining to The Treehouse--would go there. I even have one section in there where I've written out almost all my characters' ages. The benefit about having these plans is that it can help you avoid plotholes (maybe even potholes ;D). There was one chapter when I was supposed to write in something, but I forgot to and already published it, so I had to write it into the next chapter. That's when I learned that I needed to make a basic outline of what to accomplish in that chapter. I literally made a folder titled "stuff to accomplish this chapter" which is full of bulleted points that I needed to touch each time I went to write. I just scrolled to the bottom of that document and it looks like I started doing that the chapter that Tyler gave Jenna his keyboard.

Researching is also very important. If you're a perfectionist like me, you've probably driven yourself crazy looking up everything from Josh Dun's hair color in 2005 to the members of Panic! At The Disco in 2005. I've also really stressed myself out when I found something inaccurate that I've written in. I've asked my mom stuff about prom, college, and even what materials bathtubs are made from! She told me to "Stop overthinking" XD.

At one point, I got a red notebook and wrote "the treehouse" on it with the |-/ made from duct tape. In there would go all of the journal entries that Jenna wrote and other various information. I also found an old calendar of mine to plan out what event was supposed to happen on what day.

Q: What was your favorite chapter to write?

A: Ughhhh, this is a hard one, especially since my book has so many chapters. Probably the chapters where Jenna got kidnapped, the Halloween chapter, the last chapter, and to be honest, I really liked writing the Bon Queesha chapter XD

Oh! I don't think I told you guys the meaning behind Bon Queesha! So in my science class last school year, one of the upper grades had to do a project where they were given certain DNA chromosomes that would produce offspring with certain features. When they figured out what features the offspring would have, they had to draw it. So, I walked into science one afternoon to see these drawings hanging up at the board. In the middle of them was Bon Queesha, a child with darkish skin, really thin and wavy brown hair, green eyes, and a wart on her face. Written in the corner was her name. I looked at it and was like, "I'm gonna use that."

Q: How did you handle writer's block?

A: Working around writer's block may be different for everyone, but usually if I sat down at my desk to type up a chapter but couldn't, I would take a walk up and down my really long driveway or sometimes through the woods on my property. Sometimes I'd listen to music, sometimes I would just listen to nature. That usually helped me. Other times I would type out some points of what I knew I wanted to mention in the chapter and build from there. Sometimes I'd write the chapter by relying on it to write itself and it turned out pretty okay. Sometimes I'd publish one anyways with the doubt that it turned out horrible. Thank you, KateAnn21, InvisibleAnath3ma, and pretty much all of you for believing in my writing abilities! You guys kept me going!

Q: What's one major piece of advice that you'd give your readers?

A: Know how to end the book! This was a big mistake for me. I had a general idea about what I wanted to do to end the book, but it wasn't set in stone. If your ending isn't set in stone, your story may never lead to it. It could branch out in a completely different direction. I was originally going to have the book end with Tyler and Jenna on a date watching the sunset at the cliff, but my heart wasn't fully in the idea. Then one day a few months ago (I think it was back in June or July), I was working on a chapter of my fanfiction when it suddenly started pouring down rain outside. Well, I decided to go out and play in the rain, which made me feel like a little kid again. I was standing in the middle of my driveway dancing when it hit me. I'm sure all of us have dreamed of dancing in the rain before, so who said that Jenna hasn't!? I ran inside and I think called Phasma that very day or a few days later and we fangirled about it together XD.

Q: What character did you relate to the most in your fanfiction?

A: I honestly kind of related to Tyler or Josh a lot.

I related to Tyler a lot because, well...um...earlier this year, I kind of went through this six-month depressive episode lasting from January until June. Some of my more emotional chapters came from those episodes, and writing helped me express my feelings. After a few weeks of experiencing symptoms and talking to friends and my half-sister, my mom finally noticed my mood change and forced me to tell her what was going on. When I told her I had been feeling depressed, she was actually mad at me, like it was my fault or that I wished those feelings upon myself. She made me go to the doctor the next day and get a blood test when what I really needed was a mental health screening!

I think my parents didn't really believe I was depressed is because...well...they're kind of old, so they don't really believe in mental illness and think that it's a "millennial thing" or that I could just "get over it." My mom also got mad at me for talking to my friends about my feelings but not talking to her. The reason I didn't talk to her about those feelings was that she'd get all mad or defensive or judgemental, while my friends weren't like that! Thank you Will_Joseph and Captainphasma900 for letting me talk to you about that stuff. It really helped me. For some reason, the episodes went away after June. I basically suffered in silence and didn't really tell anyone other than my friends. It just kind of disappeared.

Sorry, I had to get all of that out. Where was I going with this? Oh, how I related to Tyler, right. Well, Tyler seemed like that character that went through the same stuff that I went through and didn't really have that many people to turn to. His family was kind of foreign to the idea of mental illness, so he basically only had Josh and Jenna. Tyler almost seemed like the darker side of me, like the side that my depressive episodes could've turned into if I wasn't careful.

A way that I relate to Josh is well, Josh seems like that kind of friend that would stick by you in tough times. In my fanfiction, I made Josh have anxiety, which is also something I can relate to. Even though he has anxiety, he likes to help people. He also likes to make people laugh. He wants them to be happy in general. I think he wanted people to feel happy because he didn't want them going through the stuff he's had to go through.

Q: Will there be a sequel?

A: I'm sure all of you guys have been wondering this. Well, I've actually been planning to write a sequel since about ten chapters into this book! I have most of it planned out by now, but I still need help coming up with a title. Any ideas?

I will also probably publish an extra chapter in here announcing when the sequel is out.

I'd like to thank all of you again for sticking with me and reading this book. There have been many times where I felt like I was writing for nobody, and that I should just give up on this book. However, the readers are what kept me going. Ya'lls feedback has made me cry with joy before. I love all of your votes and comments! Thank you so much for all of your support! This has been a great experience!

Remember, as Tyler says, never stop creating, and power to the local dreamer.

Until Next Book!

~Rey

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