I Told You So
It can be fun to tell somebody after they failed, “I told you so.” Call it what you will: revenge, vengeance, comeuppance, karma, spite, or the universe balancing good and evil. A fundamental part of us must see the other person “get what is coming to them.” Even the most admirable person loves seeing a bad driver get a ticket. Yet, as we mature, revenge becomes less desirable because we have better things to do.
My teenage years had several revenge moments that I now see as unnecessary. Since then, I have mellowed out but occasionally applied negative effort to somebody who wronged me. Overall, this destructive activity occupies a tiny aspect of my life.
But what about those people who wronged me in the past? Do I dwell on them? Do I read the newspaper to see if they passed away or were harmed? I prefer not to, but I have developed my form of revenge by basing negative characters on the awful people who harmed me.
A good example was a former nasty coworker. To be fair, he had significant health and family problems, plus a difficult job. Yet, that was no excuse to go out of his way to make me look bad to cover up his incompetence. I guess his pathetic effort filled some need in his dismal life. How did I overcome my anger? Instead of lashing out or internalizing my feelings, I used the power of writing to create a character based on him.
Is this my revenge? I believe my choice to use his dreadful attributes to help me deal with my painful memories. I suppose this is “budget therapy.” Do I enjoy it when this character fails? Heck, yeah! Do I proudly state that I based this character on him? No, that would be petty, and I like the idea of the world not knowing who I am referring to.
In high school, I had a girlfriend who broke up with me and later another girlfriend who did the same. I still harbor painful memories about the incidents and combined the two into a fictionalized description. The result indeed helped my mental outlook, and the pain is now less. Being an author has saved me therapy money.
What about revenge plots? While this kind of story certainly makes a powerful plot, I do not think they are enjoyable to create. Person A messes with person B. Person B does X to person A and gloats about it. This means that while writing and editing, I must repeatedly relive X. No, thank you.
Another aspect of the revenge plot that never sat well with me is the simplicity. I want to hook my readers and pull them in. “Wow, are you in for a ride when you read one of my books!” I try ultra-hard to make my plots exciting and original. I want to build up my good characters and have my villains smack them hard. Sometimes, I even let my villains win. Why? That’s life. To me, revenge is not imaginative or original. I hate cliché, but it seems to apply to a revenge plot. The bad guy did bad to the good guy and… You get the picture.
I began writing because it was enjoyable, but I did not start there. Long before I became an author, I enjoyed reading, which is also supposed to be fun. The petty pleasure of seeing a lousy person fail never fell into my enjoyment category.
You’re the best -Bill
June 10, 2020 Updated February 22, 2025
My teenage years had several revenge moments that I now see as unnecessary. Since then, I have mellowed out but occasionally applied negative effort to somebody who wronged me. Overall, this destructive activity occupies a tiny aspect of my life.
But what about those people who wronged me in the past? Do I dwell on them? Do I read the newspaper to see if they passed away or were harmed? I prefer not to, but I have developed my form of revenge by basing negative characters on the awful people who harmed me.
A good example was a former nasty coworker. To be fair, he had significant health and family problems, plus a difficult job. Yet, that was no excuse to go out of his way to make me look bad to cover up his incompetence. I guess his pathetic effort filled some need in his dismal life. How did I overcome my anger? Instead of lashing out or internalizing my feelings, I used the power of writing to create a character based on him.
Is this my revenge? I believe my choice to use his dreadful attributes to help me deal with my painful memories. I suppose this is “budget therapy.” Do I enjoy it when this character fails? Heck, yeah! Do I proudly state that I based this character on him? No, that would be petty, and I like the idea of the world not knowing who I am referring to.
In high school, I had a girlfriend who broke up with me and later another girlfriend who did the same. I still harbor painful memories about the incidents and combined the two into a fictionalized description. The result indeed helped my mental outlook, and the pain is now less. Being an author has saved me therapy money.
What about revenge plots? While this kind of story certainly makes a powerful plot, I do not think they are enjoyable to create. Person A messes with person B. Person B does X to person A and gloats about it. This means that while writing and editing, I must repeatedly relive X. No, thank you.
Another aspect of the revenge plot that never sat well with me is the simplicity. I want to hook my readers and pull them in. “Wow, are you in for a ride when you read one of my books!” I try ultra-hard to make my plots exciting and original. I want to build up my good characters and have my villains smack them hard. Sometimes, I even let my villains win. Why? That’s life. To me, revenge is not imaginative or original. I hate cliché, but it seems to apply to a revenge plot. The bad guy did bad to the good guy and… You get the picture.
I began writing because it was enjoyable, but I did not start there. Long before I became an author, I enjoyed reading, which is also supposed to be fun. The petty pleasure of seeing a lousy person fail never fell into my enjoyment category.
You’re the best -Bill
June 10, 2020 Updated February 22, 2025
