𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐀 | 𝐋. 𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐍

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃

Hello, everyone! Before you start reading, I would love if you took just a couple of minutes to read this.

So, Valencia is the first book I've published on Wattpad since I started my hiatus back in 2018, and it's great to be writing again. This has been in my drafts since December 2018 (two years), and after months and months of poring over details, brushing up on my skills, and horrid episodes of writer's block, I'm finally publishing this.

Writing this was possibly the worst decision I have made in my sixteen years of life (other than being involved in three show choirs at the same time), but after revising my outlines fifteen plus times and deleting over forty thousand words in the editing process, I think this is just decent enough to publish.

Before you dive in, there are a couple of things about Valencia that I would like to go in depth on. I promise I'll stop bothering you all after this, but this needs to be said.

𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏

Clarifying this right now to avoid any confusion: Valen is a woman of color, specifically, a Latina woman of Mestiza ancestry (mixed indigenous and Iberian ancestry). She is not white-passing, which means it is clear from her appearance alone she is a person of color.

This being said, there are going to be times throughout the story, especially in the upcoming dream sequences, where themes such as discrimination and oppression are going to be mentioned, and at some parts, there may be strong depictions of these things. Yes, I am perfectly aware that canonically speaking, there is most likely no such thing as Latine people in the Attack on Titan universe because nothing mirroring the colonization of the Americas has happened in the series' universe, but barely anything that happens in a fanfiction is canonical. But there is an explanation behind her existence.

Continuing from the previous paragraph, the version of Latin America in this story is not the same as the one in our world. I would explain in more detail, but that would spoil the whole book. But characteristics of Latin America (its racial diversity, religious practices, etc.) are included (I tried doing something similar to Catholicism, keyword, tried). Simply, it's the same people, but another history.

If you're concerned that Valen's only defining characteristic is her race, please be assured that that is not going to be the case. I took my time (over a year or so) shaping her and making her just as complex as the other characters in the original series. She's not going to be the stereotype Lele Pons forced down our throats back in 2015.

If any of what I said discomforted you or made you dislike this story, then that's alright, but please don't proceed. The last thing I need is someone dropping a nasty comment, or even worse, a racially charged one (saying this because things happen). If you have any rude comments, reserve them to yourself and go. There's plenty to read on this app, I assure you: you'll find something to read.

𝑷𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

After all the garbage I've written as a preteen, I'd like to think of Valencia as my 'starting-over' book, since this is the first time I took my time organizing and fleshing a story. While I'm super good at grammar and imagery, creating a linear storyline is... still not my forte. And my pacing abilities could be better. So, if the story or pacing's iffy, I'm super sorry. I tried my best to make it clean and reasonable.

Speaking of pacing, right now is the ideal time to mention Valen and Levi's relationship. I barely read other fanfictions because I hardly have the time to do so, but from what I know, it's commonplace for authors to rush into the romance, which in some cases, can be justified. Not all stories are the same. This is not happening in this story. Valen's character is more suited for slow-burn, and you'll see why. I'm not going to spoil the story by adding a sex scene in the fifth chapter.

Regarding the storyline and how it's going to line up with the one of Attack on Titan, everything is pretty canon-compliant, but I have made slight adjustments to the timeline. The events and the order they occur in are the same, but I have changed the gaps in time between them, mainly for pacing reasons. For the Uprising arc, I'm planning on following the anime storyline (because the manga and anime storylines have their differences).

𝑼𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔

Every weekend, I will be dropping a new chapter. Some chapters ended up being longer than intended, so what I plan on doing for those chapters is splitting them in two and publishing the first part on one day, and the second one on the next day. This story is split into multiple parts, so once a 'part' is completed, I will be going on a three week hiatus so I can prepare and revise the upcoming chapters! Unfortunately, there will be times where I cannot maintain a regular updating schedule because of my lifestyle (schooling, work, and extracurriculars) so if I am unable to update on time, please bear with me as I try delivering updates on time.

𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌

Because everything I publish is revised beforehand, I don't really plan on making considerable changes to the story (those changes are usually done in the revision process before I start uploading). But if you have any constructive criticism or feedback, please comment or message me privately! I'm always trying to find ways to improve my writing, so as long as your feedback is constructive, then I'd be more than glad to hear you out!

All of this being said, I hope this is up to your standards! I'm trying my best to deliver an interesting and well-written story. And thank you for reading this foreword, too. Sorry if I fried your brain, I promise I'll try to shut up for the rest of the book.

Much love,
C. ❦