Does anyone write out of revenge?

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Amagine
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Re: Does anyone write out of revenge?

Post by Amagine »

Back in middle school, I wrote a lot vengeful poems. I wont even bring up the content as it was pretty dark. I don't write like that anymore though because it didn't make me feel any better. I just became more sad and angry. When I started writing things that made me happy, it changed my whole mood. So now, I try not to allow anyone to have any power over what I write.
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Post by K-McD »

I'll admit to writing a piece or two featuring some people who irritated me, though it was mainly about something I wish I'd said or done in the moment. I wouldn't publish them or put them in a finished work. And I've written some things involving fictional characters that really needed to be slapped in the face (or worse). There's only one person I can think of who I'd ever write a proper revenge story about, but I'd much rather finish the books I'm working on. Besides, he saw insults in everything and thought everything was about him, so I could probably get revenge if I really wanted to just by including a carefully-chosen line or two and letting him throw a fit over it. No chance of a successful libel suit that way.
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Wanton_Wordsmith
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Post by Wanton_Wordsmith »

You are all going to think I'm nuts, but I have good reason to start this forum thread.
My high school reunion is coming up, and if I go, I know I will see my old bullies. I will play it cool, though.
I will not "go postal" and try to beat them up (Lord knows I want to!) I will pretend to be nice and act calm, cool and collected. I doubt the old bullies will even remember me. Back to the post.
I want to write some short stories about my difficult high school years, and I debated with myself as to wither writing about my old bullies will keep me stuck in a place of anger and resentment.
I have a hard time letting things go, obviously. But what really sticks in my craw is that I've heard that my old bullies are now successful people, and I work a regular 9-5 job. I hate it when evil people win.
Hence, all the more need for fiction. Here's my question: If I write these "revenge" stories, will it keep me stuck in anger and resentment? Will it prevent me from moving on? And is it evil to write with bad intent in the first place? I know the standard advice is to "forgive and forget," but I'm not the "forgiving" type.
(No, I'm not a violent person. Just a passive-aggressive person.) Any advice on this subject is welcome.
Thank you all for reading this.
:P :tiphat:
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Post by Brandi Noelle »

I don't know about revenge, but I have been inspired by the bad behaviors of others to write them into my poetry. Rotten boyfriends, two-faced in-laws...they've had poetry written about them and it's not flattering. Brutally honest, actually. But, they don't ever actually see it, so that negates the revenge angle. It's more therapeutic for me than anything else.
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Arushi Singh
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Post by Arushi Singh »

hahah.. Taylor Swift comes to mind :P
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Post by Christina O Phillips »

Wanton_Wordsmith wrote:Here's another of my crazy questions: does use revenge as a reason to write? To get back at everyone who ever laughed at you? Does anyone ever write fictional antagonists based on bad people they knew in life? Based a bad character on a real jerk? Does anyone write fiction to get the angries out of their system? Or is that too passive/aggressive? I like to write horror fiction, and I used some bad experiences from my school days as material for my stories. How do other writers handle bad life experiences? What do other writers handle revenge wishes? Any comments are welcome.
:twisted:
While revenge is not necessarily the reason I write, I do find myself using people who have made fun of me or hurt me and turning them into characters. Sometimes those characters are bad people and sometimes bad things happen to those characters.
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Sushan Ekanayake
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Let me put it this way, I don't know writing for revenge can be successful or not. But you can just put out your childhood anger towards your elder sibling who bullied you, through your fictions
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Post by echoesofmj »

Hi!

It's not that crazy of a question. I think that as writers, we all use pieces of our lives to fuel our writing. I do use my anger to get my writing better and to make my characters more believable, and if it happens that I have to take inspiration from someone in my life who's made me angry, then why not? I will do it definitely.

In all honesty, the most I have taken from my life was a story based on my current boyfriend and my ex-boyfriend. It was more for myself, so I could truly move on from my ex-boyfriend and focus on my current boyfriend. And while sometimes I find that it's difficult to write too much about your life, it's really helped me to move on with my life and create a story that I am rather proud of.

In the end, I think that anything that fuels your writing is good. Perhaps changing names might be a good idea, but then again, I think that sometimes it's good to keep some details exact. Just so, you know...they can recognize themselves...;)
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Post by jjmainor »

I've turned bad bosses into incompetent military commanders in a couple different books...characters in one story are so inept and self-absorbed as to be unbelievable, but they are based on real people. :D
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Post by JordanKSmith »

My writing can be pretty dark, but I haven't consciously tied anyone besides myself to those characters. I've never really been interested in revenge, so I haven't done any of that kind of writing. For a time, I went in the other direction. I am more prone to a self-hatred based masochism.

Creatively writing those feelings down may not have been a healthy expression. At the time, it was healthier than some alternatives, and I paired it with a lot of shadow work. I am still constantly reworking my internal mechanisms, and it is paying off. I can actually describe myself as happy overall. I'm almost to a semi-normal level of sanity, lol.
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Post by Louanne Piccolo »

Well, out of revenge, no. But, as a way to let off steam, yes. I suppose it's like journalling; writing can be cathartic, no matter what the motivation.
As for the high school reunion, my opinion is to remember that the people who bullied in high school were kids. Stupid ones. They may have grown up in more than just physical ways. A lot of them will have stayed the same, but not all of them. Who cares what they think now? Your worth doesn't depend on them and it never did. Let it go, or sit down and actually tell one or two of them at the reunion what jerks they were in high school. They'll probably apologise or be very embarrassed.
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chamomile
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Post by chamomile »

I wrote my first book out of revenge, though I've grown out of the practice. These days I only have one antagonist that bears any resemblance to 'revenge' but since she's the villain, the behaviour isn't exactly encouraged y'know?
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WLWright
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Post by WLWright »

I did this once long ago but it wasn't a revenge story it was a purge story. I punished the character relentlessly throughout the story and made him such a despicable a person that everyone really did hate him and could barely read it wanting to end him. There was no hero in the story either. But the purge worked pretty well. :)p Beware the poet don't you know it? lol
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