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Joined: 8/2/2011
Posts: 2
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Hey, BC! I'm Jane, new to BC, just joined today. I have a question for the more experienced writers: have you ever written a story out of revenge? Based a character on someone who did you wrong? I would love to write a story like that, but I'm afraid of libel. Should I just forgive and move on, or get literary revenge? I'm a new writer, so I respect any input.
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 214
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I personally would not go there for several reasons, starting with ethical reasons. I also don't think that it's a healthy catharsis. If someone's done you wrong, you owe it to yourself to TELL THEM, face to face. Anything less is passive-aggressive.
From an artistic standpoint, I can't see how these types of books or short stories can be written from an objective standpoint insofar that the writer is still in a "victim" mode, and this tends to come across loud and clear.
What I have done is taken unique personality traits/quirks of people who I wasn't too keen on IRL and incorporated them into more loathsome characters at times. That can actually round out the characters and give them more depth.
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I think most of @LisaMarie points out here is very wise. I think it's a good idea to avoid writing out of revenge...IF it's work you plan on sharing with others.
But I will say that I think writing can be a useful catharsis. I was in a similar situation a few years ago and I needed to get out what I was feeling--writing felt like the natural way for me to do it. So I did write a short story--some of which was very true-to-life, some of which was entirely made up. But I didn't share it with the world to get feedback It was for my own personal catharsis and helped a great deal.
Now, years later, I have started revising it with a clearer head because there's something there that I do think can be teased into a piece I could try to get published in a literary magazine or what not. But I'll only ever submit it if I've stripped it of any excessive anger and emotion.
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Joined: 3/11/2011
Posts: 156
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I wouldn't recommend writing a story purely out of revenge, for various reasons, but sometimes you can use the attributes of a person in a character and build those into a story. One where you aren't portraying the person in a recognizable or personal manner. One of my former bosses was a stiff, unbending rule-oriented man. I used his character traits to mold Raguel, the overseer of angels, in a story. He was exactly what I needed for a character so caught up in observing rules, he sometimes misses the overall picture.
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Joined: 8/2/2011
Posts: 2
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Thank you everyone! I decided to just forgive and move on. I looked over the piece that I based on my hated foe, and it read like a bad melodrama.
Thanks for steering me clear of this literary mistake.
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Well, Valley of the Dolls is based on real Hollywood characters, and it worked—and got some people really pissed off. But here’s the problem with revenge writing. You hate the people, but would a reader find a three-year migraine interesting? Are you certain the reader would take your side?
Personally, I’d focus on learning the skills of the professional writer so you can sell the work. Then use those people. Use them as villains, or use some aspect of them for a character. Everything that happens to a writer will eventually show up in their writing. Hell, I even found use for a barium enema in one scene. And the unreasonable judge who made me think I was living in a dictatorship, helpless and infuriated? He helped with a really great courtroom scene. So channel and guide your anger and make it work for, not against you.
As Tom Clancy said, “The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”
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