The Balance (Revised)

Author's Note and Copyright

I. Revised Version

I ran into a bit of a rut with the first draft-- felt that I was rushing, sort of introducing things last-minute, leaving out some already-established parts. With the plot I had in mind, I was about to hit a major issue, so between that and the number of changes I wanted to make, I decided to go on to this second draft. I'm a little sorry that I won't be completing my first, but I think it's honestly best for the sake of the story... and also for my own time, which is already rather limited. So yes, this is revised, but no, you don't need to read the original if you don't want to.

II. No Plagiarism.

I've seen it happen to a friend before, and I've even had it happen to me, so my first point is going to be blunt. If you're the kind of person who goes and copies another person's work just to pass it off as your own, you can go to hell.

Is my writing the absolute best out there? Ha! No. Is it good? I'd like to think so, but that's up to my readers. But is it my writing? Yes, it is, so if you are looking to steal bits and pieces from this story, or from anyone's story, then just remember: we actually worked hard to weave the world together and come up with the characters and lines that you liked so much, so why don't you have a bit of respect and write your own story?

I don't have this work published anywhere but here. If you see it somewhere else, it's plagiarism.

III. A Warning For Mature Content

This story is mature because of graphic violence and some rather disturbing implications later on in the book. If you're looking for steamy sex scenes, sorry. I don't write them. If the following items bother you, don't read this:

a) heavy use of religion. C'est la vie, but it does bother some people.

b) extreme views on religion, both positive and negative. I do not condone discrimination against religion, nor do I condone discrimination against others by religious people or institutions.

c) mentions of violence and scenes with actual, graphic violence. I do not condone violence, but I realize that it is part of human nature.

d) some darker themes of war, betrayal, revenge, murder, and sexual violence. I do not condone any of those.

e) viewpoint characters that are bigoted or violent. I do not condone bigotry, regardless of who is being discriminatory or who is being discriminated against.

Quite honestly, I wouldn't call this "mature"-- if you can handle world news, then this shouldn't be an issue. But I do have to cover my bases, so if you read this and complain about it, then you were warned. Not my problem.

The reason this story is not marked as Mature: because frankly, the way Wattpad treats mature books is ridiculous. I'm not here for the rankings; my number-one goal in life isn't to be #1 under Fantasy. I just want feedback so that I can make this story better. But Wattpad basically screws over all the people who label their stories by giving them no chance to really gain readership.

This story contains mature stuff.

IV. Comments

Hey, I appreciate comments-- they're some of the best inspiration I get for this story. If you see a grammar/spelling error, by all means, tell me. Plot hole, confusing detail, a word or phrase that just doesn't fit-- point it out. I'm human; I make mistakes. Constructive criticism is very, very helpful to new writers like me. That said... what I don't want to see are the following:

a) "Your story is trash." Okay, yeah, it's a first draft. It's going to have errors. But instead of just telling me that it sucks, tell me why so that I can improve.

b) "Hey, can you read my work?" Advertising on someone else's story is rude. I'll delete your comment. If you want me to read your work, then my rules for a read-for-read are on my other story, the open shop. You can leave an inline comment or PM me.

c) "Why don't you have [character] do ____?" Because it's my story and I probably have a plan in mind. Now, if it's just something that doesn't make sense, tell me. But if you want a make-out scene or whatever it is, then that's at my discretion.

d) If you are doing a read-for-read and just comment "Nice" at the end of a chapter, then you may as well not bother. Tell me what, specifically, I need to work on or what I did well.

V. Final Notes

If you didn't read this, then you have no grounds to complain later if I delete your comments or if you can't handle the content of the story. Again, I really don't think this story is horrible in terms of graphic depictions-- or at least, I've seen far worse-- so I leave it to you to judge yourself. Connections to real-life people or events are not intended.

So I present the second draft of The Balance, and I hope you enjoy!