  Drama
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Liam Neeson as Bryan : "What I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
From the movie Taken
If thou do this, I’ll show thee wondrous things that highly may advantage thee to hear. If thou wilt not, befall what may befall, I’ll speak no more but ‘Vengeance rot you all!’”
William Shakespeare from Titus Andronicus V.i.53-59
It is difficult to fight against anger; for a man will buy revenge with his soul.
Heraclitus (500 B.C.) as quoted in Aristotle's Politics
Revenge at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.
Milton from Paradise Lost
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor, and this issue is about revenge as a general dramatic theme but not necessarily as the historical revenge play or revenge tragedy as the form of tragedy that was popular in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Martin Luther King said, “The old law of an eye-for-an-eye leaves everybody blind”; however, many other reliable sources starting with the Bible give weight to the value of revenge. Whichever side one favors, revenge is a priceless theme for the author and the playwright in dramatic writing.
Who can deny Stephen King’s Carrie her right to revenge after she goes berserk by being bullied many times over? Did not the talented monkeys in The Twits by Roald Dahl have a good reason to break out of their cage and teach their heartless owners an unforgettable lesson? Was Shakespeare’s Hamlet wrong in taking revenge for his father’s murder?
As with any other dramatic theme, the art of using revenge as the heart of the story or as a subplot depends on the skill of the writer. As a rule of thumb, in fiction, revenge tends to take over most any other concern, due to its emotional potency. Thus, if a novice writer wants to include revenge in his story, he will be better off to use it as the central theme.
An easy and direct way to use revenge as a theme is at the character level, especially if the avenger pursues after a criminal who may have slain or dishonored in some way the avenger, the avenger's lover, friend, family member, or someone or something dear to him. Usually, a revenge story is a triangle consisting of the victim, the avenger, and the criminal. With the word criminal, I am referring to the person who has done the act that has angered the avenger, even if that person need not have committed any crime.
While you are building up a revenge story, the questions to ask are:
 What is the relationship of the victim to the avenger?
What is the relationship of the victim to the criminal?
What does the criminal feel about his crime? Does he feel remorse or is he detached? Did the criminal think he had the right to do what he did? Or is the criminal insane?
What makes the avenger persist in his quest?
Was there a societal mix in the criminal’s act like an unlawful society, a biased society, or a common good that prevented the society from stopping the crime?
Did the victim hurt or anger the criminal in some way? In other words what started the criminal’s actions? Was it an insult, self-defense, disagreement, or a rivalry for a love interest, power, goods or money, or social standing? Was the crime intentional or was it an accident or a mistake?
Is the revenge upon a whole group of people or gender for a deception by one of them?
Revenge can also be looked at in terms of the plot. In We All Fall Down Robert Cormier shows one character’s desire for revenge while another character chooses forgiveness, the opposite of revenge.
Revenge is a fixed attitude, and the setting of the revenge story plays an important part in terms of the plot. Michele Gelfand, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland has found that anger often drives the vengeful feelings of people in individualistic cultures, while shame powers revenge in collectivist ones. In Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather revenge is used as a subplot and a starting incident when the innocent and lawful son of a Mafia boss gets involved in his father’s business out of indignation after his father is seriously wounded as the result of a mob hit. In the Kevin Costner movie Revenge (1990), an American pilot competes with a Mexican crime lord for the love of a rich and beautiful woman. In Desperado, 1995, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) is looking for Bucho a local bandit who murdered El Mariachi’s family. In Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) and his crew have escaped from the dead planet they've been held on for decades and they want revenge on Captain Kirk who is responsible for their exile.
Sometimes, when revenge is in the framework of the plot, it leads to rehabilitation of the one who has brought the avenger’s wrath on himself. This may happen when the victim interferes with lofty ideals such as non-violence or forgiveness or, through some plot twists, the avenger gives up on his need for revenge and the criminal repents and turns his ways around.
In whichever style or genre the piece is written, a revenge story’s most important element is the incident that has stirred up the revenge. The core of the drama lies inside that incident; therefore, that incident must be presented as fully as possible and must be referred to, time and again, inside the avenger’s mind or must be brought up during the dialogue among the characters. If you can nail in that incident, your plot and the portrayal of characters will succeed immensely.
Enjoy writing the sweetness of revenge.
Until next time...  |
  Enjoy!
"There is no we." She twisted away. "No more hurt," she whispered as she backed away from him. "No more betrayal."
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"Instead of showing compassion, Jeff Winslow fired me from the tire plant. He had to pay for his sins."
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"Jason had broken my heart five years ago, and I’d never forgiven him."
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“Can’t you travel back and kill him?”
“I wish I could, Johnny. But, the universe won’t let me. Her killer is younger than me. He’s lived all his life in my life frame.”
"You have opened a door to hell
and released me... a monster."
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"There, perched astride, on swell with hissing cap of foam,
A renewed revenge, some heinous blood price he craves."
"I could feel the panic rising in me as the elevator shot up, but I could do nothing."
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The spell called for cemetery dirt. 'If that's what it takes to get back at that bitch, Rebeca Walker, then I don't mind collecting a few handfuls' Sarah thought. 'Even if it means collecting it at midnight, on a full moon, at the grave furthest from the cemetery's gate'.
"Silent-Owl found the soldiers' trail. Soon it was night and the brothers were watching their camp in the cool air; the seven soldiers were lax."
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A Group for Sci-Fi Writers:
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An Article of depth
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A Review Forum for Articles
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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Your Drama Newsletter Editors: esprit  Adriana Noir Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
This Issue’s Tip:
The REPLAY in a dramatic story is the several different versions of the same event, sometimes told through different characters' viewpoints. A good example is the movie Groundhog Day. If you are writing such a story, include all characters involved in the first version but leave out an unanswered question or a story point in each version until the last one, so the story does not become dull, repetitive, or abrupt and each version adds to the completion of the story.
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StephBee 
Joy, I love your indepth look at climax. Very comprehensive and easy to understand. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Steph. 
I had fun with that one.
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northernwrites
A useful presentation including theory, examples, evaluation, and practical application. Thanks!
Northernwrites
Thanks for the input and encouragement, NW.
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Shannon 
Joy, thank you so much for featuring my story "Redeemed" in the March 10 edition of the Drama NL. 
An apple a day.... 
Thanks very much for including my contest "Invalid Item" in your Drama Newsletter....connie
You're welcome, Shannon and Connie, and thank you, too. I enjoyed reading your stories a lot.
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SkyHawk - Into The Music
Hello, Joy !
In your most recent drama newsletter, you wrote:
"Your paramedic sounds like an interesting person. Send a link of his story to this newsletter. We'd love to read it."
He's one of the characters in a two-novel (for now) series I have going. Here's the link for what I have here on WDC for the first novel:
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This link covers the 14 chapters I've posted (I have more on the home computer and laptop). And if you look at my portfolio page, http://emtnythawk.writing.com, you'll see several chapters of the follow-on novel posted as well. (Hopefully the URL will work, it's been a little screwy when I try to test it.)
Please let me know what you think, and feel free to include in future newletters.
Respectfully,
SkyHawk - Into The Music
Thanks for the link to your work, Skyhawk. Now it is here for all to click on and read.
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Drama: April 07, 2010 Issue [#3626]
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