On Writing for Revenge

And why I can’t help myself. (Plus, new prompt.)

Jed Owen for Unsplash

They say you should never write for revenge. It’s passive aggressive. It’s proselytizing to an imagined audience of one—the victim railing against the wrongdoer in the guise of “art,” be it fiction or memoir. Revenge-writing can’t take the broader view because it’s only intended to appease the narrow view—that of the writer.

I stand by this. I say something like it in workshops. And I revenge-write all the time.

I do this (mostly) in disposable journals that will never be read, not even by me. I do this for my health, like eating kale or using mouthwash. The benefits may not be immediately visible, but I have faith that I’ll be fortified over time. (Less likely to decay.) You may have heard a version of this from Julia Cameron, Felicia Rose Chavez, Glennon Doyle, Elizabeth Gilbert, Natalie Goldberg, Elizabeth He…