January 5, 2008
Revenge
Written by Cindy Kirk in Jaunty PostI’m working out a story now which involves a heroine plotting revenge against the hero….who she blames for the death of her father.
Although I think I’ve motivated her fairly well, I’ve never been a big fan of revenge plots. I guess because revenge seems such an immature emotion.
I do think these types of plots are fairly popular and do fairly well.
Could you help me out here and tell me what you think? Immature emotion or okay if well motivated?? How do you vote?
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Jenna Petersen Says:
Oh, I love a good revenge plot. If it’s well motivated, it can be awesome. But I think the best part about it is that it IS an immature reaction. So your characters can have a lot of growth during the book. Slowly coming to the realization that they don’t know the entire story, growing to have feelings for the person they’ve irrationally blamed their lot in life upon, and then the horrible moment when the person they now love realizes their true motive. That’s good stuff.
But I like dark, twisted and dramatic. It’s my thing.
Margo Maguire Says:
Hmmm… there’s so much you can do with a revenge plot. And when it’s between the h & h, it really puts up a lot of road blocks against them getting together. Leaves a lot of room for character growth - on both sides.
Good luck with it, Cindy!
Jennifer Linforth Says:
I vote for OK if well plotted. It is a natural instinct I think. My latest book has a revenge plot. I look at is as ‘wild justice’ that can easily get out of control for characters and cause all sorts of conflict.
Fedora Says:
I agree that it can be so good if well-thought out! And Jenna’s so right in that you can really show a lot of character development as the plot unfolds. And yes, it’s an “immature” or raw sort of emotion or reaction, but I think that also makes it so accessible to everyone–who can’t think of someone or some occasion when they’d have loved revenge or at least the last word?
Rainy Says:
Cindy,
I guess you can call revenge an immature emotion, but it is a basic one. How old is the heroine when she realizes the hero was responsible for her father’s death?
The reason I am asking is I vividly remember one day when I was about twelve and my father was out of work. He was making call after call to try and find work and getting rejected. An emotion built up inside me that I’d never felt so strongly before. I HATED the people who I felt had hurt my father by their rejection.
A daughter’s first hero is usually her father and if she feels someone has either put him down or the extreme…killed him, the extent of the intense feeling would be primordial.
Revenge may be immature if someone has a full basket in the ten item line (although you wouldn’t know it during holiday season) but for the death of a father, again, I feel it would be a natural feeling.
Kate Diamond Says:
I agree with what everyone has said thus far… so much opportunity for conflict and growth! Though it may be “immature,” it’s so raw. In your case, it’s seems like the evil emotional twin of grief.
Sounds very interesting.
Cindy Kirk Says:
Rainy and others,
Thanks so much for the reassurance.
I’m just finishing the proposal on this story (which is one of my favorites) so I really appreciate the words of encouragement!
Cindy