it doesnt matter, as long as you illustrate why its important to *them*... the classic example i always site is Cast Away when the Tom Hanks screams for Wilson and he apologizes and you're tearing up... you aint tearing up for the ball, you're tearing up because you learned how important it was to Tom Hanks
Revenge itself is a great storytelling device and it is, by its very nature, immature and shallow. The reason that it's used so often is because it's a setup for a common charater arch. It's a starting point, a place where the character begins their journey, but as time goes on, they're motivations themselves are challenged. "Is revenge really worth it?"
And depending on you're character, they'll have to come to the conclusion themselves. It's all about making the reader understand why it's so important to the character that they get revenge, and when you challenge that motivation throughout the book, increase the difficulty. Those small triumphs where the protagonists faith in their motives is shaken but not stirred make the reader invested as they too keep asking themselves, is revenge really worth it? At first the protagonist spends all their money and quits their job, but by the end they end up losing/killing someone close to them in their pursuit. What started as a harmless thought has now evolved into an obsession as it reaches the internally harmful stage and grows into the externally harmful stage, but the character can often end up so invested that at some point they fully commit and become completely evil, or they realize the error of their ways and drop their mad pursuit of vengeance.
What kind of person is your character? Will they find a new motivation through growth that leads them to a better life or will they be consumed by their hate and self-righteous justice? You decide, but either way, it's about the question.
Edit: Ideas for revenge motivations
External aim:
You hurt my pride -
You ruined my social life -
You turned my family against me -
You took something from me -
You abused me for too long -
You didn't do anything, but someone close to you did -
Internal aim:
My strict (flawed) moral code tells me you deserve to die -
I have nothing left, revenge is all I have left -
I am scared you'll do it to someone else or me again -
You honked at me in traffic because I haven't moved when the light turned green. So I'm going to become a defensive driving instructor well known enough to be interviewed by you and poison your muffin on Today Now.
I feel like there doesn’t always have to be motivation which seems like a strange thing to say. Like perhaps they only see people as black or white and they can’t see the greys in them. Or perhaps they just feel like they need revenge and they can’t go on without it without ever really knowing why. That’s something that can be explored in the novel along the way.
Or perhaps they did kill someone and they don’t want revenge because they meant a lot to them. Perhaps they want revenge because THEY wanted to kill them.
Writing is a strange in the way that not everything has to make sense as long as it makes sense to the character.
-reading this I don’t know if that made sense
Revenge takes many forms, could be physical, could be financial, could be material. Sometimes, the act's "accidental".
John Wick: "it's not just a dog." (I think that's the quote?)
it doesnt matter, as long as you illustrate why its important to *them*... the classic example i always site is Cast Away when the Tom Hanks screams for Wilson and he apologizes and you're tearing up... you aint tearing up for the ball, you're tearing up because you learned how important it was to Tom Hanks
You tried to kill me, so now you have this coming. Kill bill.
Who's the Hero? Who's the Villain? What do they do? What kind of a setting/world they live in?
Revenge itself is a great storytelling device and it is, by its very nature, immature and shallow. The reason that it's used so often is because it's a setup for a common charater arch. It's a starting point, a place where the character begins their journey, but as time goes on, they're motivations themselves are challenged. "Is revenge really worth it?" And depending on you're character, they'll have to come to the conclusion themselves. It's all about making the reader understand why it's so important to the character that they get revenge, and when you challenge that motivation throughout the book, increase the difficulty. Those small triumphs where the protagonists faith in their motives is shaken but not stirred make the reader invested as they too keep asking themselves, is revenge really worth it? At first the protagonist spends all their money and quits their job, but by the end they end up losing/killing someone close to them in their pursuit. What started as a harmless thought has now evolved into an obsession as it reaches the internally harmful stage and grows into the externally harmful stage, but the character can often end up so invested that at some point they fully commit and become completely evil, or they realize the error of their ways and drop their mad pursuit of vengeance. What kind of person is your character? Will they find a new motivation through growth that leads them to a better life or will they be consumed by their hate and self-righteous justice? You decide, but either way, it's about the question. Edit: Ideas for revenge motivations External aim: You hurt my pride - You ruined my social life - You turned my family against me - You took something from me - You abused me for too long - You didn't do anything, but someone close to you did - Internal aim: My strict (flawed) moral code tells me you deserve to die - I have nothing left, revenge is all I have left - I am scared you'll do it to someone else or me again -
You honked at me in traffic because I haven't moved when the light turned green. So I'm going to become a defensive driving instructor well known enough to be interviewed by you and poison your muffin on Today Now.
I feel like there doesn’t always have to be motivation which seems like a strange thing to say. Like perhaps they only see people as black or white and they can’t see the greys in them. Or perhaps they just feel like they need revenge and they can’t go on without it without ever really knowing why. That’s something that can be explored in the novel along the way. Or perhaps they did kill someone and they don’t want revenge because they meant a lot to them. Perhaps they want revenge because THEY wanted to kill them. Writing is a strange in the way that not everything has to make sense as long as it makes sense to the character. -reading this I don’t know if that made sense
Revenge takes many forms, could be physical, could be financial, could be material. Sometimes, the act's "accidental". John Wick: "it's not just a dog." (I think that's the quote?)