CULT LEADER: This video is sponsored by Curiosity
Stream Why waggle my sixth finger and call me Ishmael,
looks like Terrible Writing Advice is finally covering revenge plots! Revenge plots are not only filled with marvelous
storytelling potential, but also sound really cool when added to a story’s title. Worry not about an intricate revenge plot
coming apart at the seams when you have me to help any aspiring writer craft their own
elaborate vendetta... for their story, of course. Because it’s not like this video is part
of any of my ulterior motives. No definitely not. So let’s ignore those previous two lines
and set sail to to slay our very own white whale of a revenge plot! Now the first step in constructing a revenge
plot is by motivating a character to seek revenge. You see, revenge is a dish best served with
a generous helping of emotional context. But that doesn’t mean that said emotional
context cant be as stupid and contrived as possible! The general rule of thumb is that the good
guys’ moral behavior is usually rewarded with their family murdered, home destroyed,
town burned to ash, and entire lives shattered at the hands of the antagonist giving them
a very dramatic revenge motive. If a bad guy wants a revenge plot then they
have settle for getting snubbed at a rewards ceremony, having their food order mixed up,
or some other minor inconvenience that makes their revenge unsympathetic. We can’t risk giving the villain something
like an understandable motive. Better focus on how to make the protagonist’s
revenge motive fit within the themes and tone of the story. But that’s like really hard, so instead
let’s take these easy shortcuts! The fastest way to establish a revenge motive
is to make the antagonist take or destroy something of the protagonist’s. But what could it be? I have two birds I need to kill, but only
1 stone and I also have this annoying love interest character lying around that I’m
not really interested in developing. Oh hey! Into the refrigerator you go love interest! Now I don’t have to worry about that silly
romance side plot and I have a really good reason for the protagonist to seek revenge. Now some may wonder if violence inflicted
upon women solely to establish a male character’s motive might be considered both dated and
in poor taste. But the real question is how we can make this
even better? By completely indulging in non-family friendly,
ad demonitizing grimdark violence that completely clashes with story’s tone! This is also a great time to slip in some
of a writer’s less savory tastes by fetishizing the violence for that extra bit of shock value. Be sure to put this in the prologue or chapter
1 even though the rest of the story is a lighthearted, action adventure. Appropriate for all ages, you know I mean
after the detailed [bleeped out] scene that is. Got to weed out the casuals after all. No need to worry about the scene coming across
as indulgent rather than tragic even if the greatest tragedy involved is that the writer’s
thinly veiled indulgence made it past the editing process somehow. The thing about revenge motives is that the
writer doesn’t need to worry about the audience's unintentional apathy towards the protagonist’s
status as victim. If the story tells the audience that the protagonist
is wronged, then they will just be totally on board no matter how little characterization
the protagonist and his murdered love interest get. No doubt they will be just as upset that the
protagonist’s bland as beige fiancé Tragica Diesoon bites it in the prologue with her
grand total of zero dialog lines. The audience doesn’t need to be invested
in the characters to also be invested in the revenge plot, because it’s not like a revenge
plot is character driven or anything. The only thing a writer need worry about is
accidentally giving the revenge motive depth by exploring survivor’s guilt or by giving
the villain a legit reason to wrong the protagonist in the first place. That’s bad because it might lead to characterization
and engaging conflict as opposed to the blind, one sided power fantasy edgefest I was going
for. Now if all of this character motive stuff
sounds too hard then it can be safely ignored. This character is out for revenge! Why? Because having the fantasy party’s resident
anti-hero say “revenge” all the time is just so cool! What terrible thing wronged him the past? It’s a mystery! Yeah just chuck the character’s revenge
motive into a mystery box with a little sticky note to remind the writer to flesh it out
later. Then just drop the entire revenge plot at
the story’s midway point and never mention it again. This works especially well with characters
who are introduced as being obsessed with revenge. Did they learn a lesson on how to appreciate
what they have rather than dwelling on what they’ve lost? Nope. The writer just got bored with that character
and turned them into yet another of the protagonist’s bench-warming cheerleaders. The party’s anti-hero is so obsessed with
his revenge that he instantly joins the hero’s party in spite of their completely divergent
goals and then just puts up with all of the endless side questing. Actually pursuing revenge is a privilege reserved
only for the protagonist. Nothing can stop our avenging crusader as
he chews his way through the lieutenants of the villain who wronged him. There is nothing but bloody destruction in
his wake as he will stop at nothing to see his revenge complete. Soon he will meet the one who wronged him
and there is only one way this will end. In a LOVE TRIANGLE! The love interest may have died in the prologue,
but that won’t stop the romance side plot from utterly stopping the revenge plot in
its tracks. Did the audience sign on for a bloody revenge
story? Well too bad. Now it’s a romantic comedy. There are of course other ways to end a revenge
plot, but this does lead to a bit of problem for those writing a more noble, heroic avenger. How can my hero get his revenge while also
keeping the moral high ground? Um. “Oh no!” says a convenient side character
I had forgotten about until just now. “You can’t kill Duke Draken Direburn. If you do that, you will be just like him!” “Oh no!” says the hero in the first bout
of self awareness displayed in the whole story. Instead, the hero decides to the spare the
mass murdering villain that almost no one would blame him for slaying on the spot. If he did, he would be just like the villain
who murdered thousands of innocents unprovoked, burned down entire cities, laid waste to whole
kingdoms, and nearly awakened the dark gods from beyond the void to end the universe. See! Completely morally equivalent. Murder one fantasy Hitler and you are just
bad. There! Moral high ground achieved. Sparing the main villain totally keeps my
hero in the right by allowing a key threat to the safety and security of the free world
to persist. Of course, all of those minions he mowed down
earlier in his revenge quest don’t count towards the hero’s karma score. But this leads to an even worse problem. How can I vicariously indulge in my own violent
revenge fantasy if I can’t have my blatant self insert murder the villain? I got it! To everyone’s surprise, somehow, the dastardly
villain takes the opportunity to strike at the hero one last time no matter how much
this makes no tactical or strategic sense. This allows my hero to kill the villain and
be fully justified since it’s self defense. Yes this is dumb if the villain was previously
described as cunning and would be better off biding his time with a lengthy trail and yes
it makes the hero look like a chump, but I am far too busy wallowing in my revenge power
fantasy and perceived moral superiority to notice. If anyone complains that I’m indulging in
my revenge fantasy a little too much then just give them the old “cycle of revenge”
story moral and that will shut them up. The cycle of revenge is when a character takes
revenge, but their collateral damage causes someone to take revenge on them only for their
collateral damage to make someone else seek revenge on them and so on and so. Now there are a number of things a writer
can do to make sure this moral really sinks in for the audience. No, not using subtly by showing the damage
caused by seeking vengeance. The superior method is just have a character
soapbox about how revenge is no good bad and have the moral of the story be spelled out
over and over again in the most blunt stupid way possible until the audience is seeking
revenge for having their time wasted by all this heavy handed preaching. Also try to remember that the best way to
show that revenge is bad in a story is by having it solve literary every problem the
protagonist faces while making the protagonist look super cool as he mows downs scores of
fellow human beings. And if all this isn’t enough, then a writer
can always just White Whale the entire cast down with Ahab. That’s right. Just kill all of the characters. Having a character’s quest for revenge culminate
in the destruction of the entire cast can be an appropriate climax for a story centered
upon a dark theme like vendetta, especially when rooted in strong characterization. Alas, this bleak ending could all been adverted
only if the protagonist could have seen past their revenge… And, you know, if any other character had
half a freaking brain to put the breaks on this train to vendetta town. Good thing I lobotomized most of the other
characters to remove their vital sense of self preservation. Can’t have something like basic pattern
recognition or rudimentary situational awareness get in the way of my tragic ending. Now I’ve gone over all of the ways to take
short cuts on revenge plots for those who just want a cool revenge story without putting
in the effort to make it work. But what if a writer is really invested in
their revenge. What if the revenge needs to be elaborate? Like for example, remember my dear revenge
plot that day a long time ago. Back when young JP was to star in a high school
production of Hamlet. You remember, don’t you revenge plot? When you made me forget my lines. When I was laughed at by everyone? You don’t remember, my dear revenge plot? Well I do. The stain of that performance was to follow
me for years to come. My life was left in tatters after that, but
I persevered. I wrote a book and started an entire YouTube
channel, gathering an audience many times over the one you used to humiliate me on that
day. And with this video, at long last, I will
bring ruin upon all revenge plots for all stories for all time. I will wade through a thousand plot holes
and a thousand contrivances in order to realize my overly elaborate and completely illogical
revenge that by all accounts shouldn’t succeed because it has more moving parts than a space
shuttle! Thus, I give up the spear! Oh no wait. It wasn't a production of Hamlet. It was a rendition of the 3 Musketeers. Ugh. Now I got start my revenge plot all over again! DARK LORD: Fools! Your are now at my mercy! None will escape and your deaths will be full
of anguish! CULT LEADER: Um. You’re locked in here with us too? DARK LORD: Sorry! Sorry. Old habit. Usually I’m on the other side of the dungeon
cells gloating at the captured heroes. AI: If only we had a tool designed for cutting. CULT LEADER: *HACKS* Excuse me! The military industrial complex always gives
me ingestion. GENERAL: Ugh. That was disgusting! AI: This is 67% optimum. Use your chainsaw hand to cut through our
cage. GENERAL: This? Doesn’t even work. It looks cool though. Now excuse me, but I have to go take history’s
longest shower. DARK LORD: Unfortunately Mr Metal Face, you
are imprisoned within a dungeon like the rest of us. GENERAL: Oh no! They finally found about about those blue
space cat people! Um… I mean what war crimes? How was I supposed to know that stupid tree
was sacred? CULT LEADER: *HACKS* Excuse me again! DARK LORD: Is that this video’s sponsor? Wait. Are those the heroes in their own skit? CULT LEADER: Ah. It seems as though they are on Nebula, a streaming
platform made by creators to escape the nefarious algorithm that is actually Streamy Award Nominated. Part of the TWA expanded universe is there,
but those poor saps don’t even get ads. DARK LORD: Ha! Pathetic. GENERAL: Were the ones stuck in jail, tin
can. CULT LEADER: CuriosityStream has partnered
with Nebula to bring ad free experimental content like this short skit companion piece
to the Sponsorship Wars that replaces this ad on nebula. DARK LORD: Is it called the poverty wars,
because I’m the one with all of the sponsors. CULT LEADER: This extra Nebula skit is thanks
to CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service with thousands of documentaries and
nonfiction titles. I personality like the Apocalypse documentaries
on World War I and II. GENERAL: Ah. Just like the good old days of the History
channel. CULT LEADER: Or Out of the Cradle featuring
the history of humanity’s evolution with CGI from Square Enix. CuriosityStream loves educational creators
and have teamed up with them to give you Nebula for free if you sigh up for CuriosityStream
using the Link below or going to CuriosityStream.com/TWA. For limited time, get 26% off CuriosityStream’s
annual for less than $15 a year. That’s $14.79 using the code TWA to get
both CuriosityStream and nebula. EVIL EMPEROR: You didn’t mention the series
Secrets of the Solar System. I like space documentaries. Also, I’ll be taking that sponsor for myself
now.
Seems like you found the main source of kneel knowledgle about writting
This is why video game journalists become overly aggressive when you ask questions about the supposed masterpiece.