Revenge Novels

[Kitsuna]

I don't read books much, but I instantly avoid any anime that starts with a revenge plot and a main character holding a grudge. They're all mostly the same, and the writing tends to be mediocre

 

[TinaMigarlo]

Not that I'm some veteran of revenge novels, but one thing that tends to tank them is starting off with this huge, burning desire for vengeance, something that would make both the author and readers practically boil, but then stretching the story out with too many side plots or character detours before delivering the payoff.

You know, the danger? Keep it hanging for too long, that original spark cools.

Yeah see, it's like you've taken this fiery craving for revenge, baked it into a cake, and then kept adding layer after layer of frosting while leaving it to sit out. When readers finally take a bite, what should've been explosive ends up tasting… stale. Keep that heat alive; don't let it die under all the extra toppings.

I did a revenge novel. The character doesn't at first realize that its becoming a moral imperative to seek justice. It slowly surprises him to find he has it in him. But after he gives into it, he's a cold calculating son of a bitch about it. Its all his big character development. There's a real life trope of people on strong antidepressants, committing hideous murders. I turned that on its head, I like ti flip tropes when I can. Here, I reasoned he *had* to be on strong antidepressant shots to function, after finding his fiancee sliced apart and simmering in a bathtub for a couple days and he (predictably) goes to pieces. The strong shots of antidepressants he needs to function, allow him to go through with it. He's not the kind of guy to do this, its out of his character. He's amazed to find he can.

I don't read books much, but I instantly avoid any anime that starts with a revenge plot and a main character holding a grudge. They're all mostly the same, and the writing tends to be mediocre

I hear you. In mine, I sensed this same old same old, and I blended in a weird relationship he picks up with a girl who is aslso traumatized in her own way. Not the first time I paired up an odd couple that really "get" each other. I like the motif it creates.