In the classic example, the main character is handed off to his uncle, who will be the villain in the revenge novel. But the villainess character takes an unexpected turn: She turns out to be a cruel aunt, planning to hand the main character off to her uncle, only to get attached to the main character instead. The main character subsequently ends up being reincarnated into her favorite revenge novel. She then enacts her plan.
A revenge novel
Almost every revenge novel starts with a villain. In a typical revenge novel, the villain has already failed, so the plot revolves around how the villain can salvage his situation, whether or not it is possible. Sometimes, this isn’t possible, and the plot will then shift to what the villain does after punishment. In this scenario, the MC becomes attached to the villainess character and ends up reincarnating into a revenge novel.
In this story, a MC (main character) has spent his entire life serving his husband as the Emperor, stabilizing the power. Then, one day, he betrays the emperor and has his entire family killed. After a brief period of exile, the MC wakes up in the body of a fat, gay man. His first priority is to take revenge on his enemies, but his revenge doesn’t quite go as planned.
In this case, the MC has been reincarnated into a past life. He learns from the book, and tries to change his fate. He also recollects his past lives, which he uses to change his present day life. He’s determined to get revenge on his protagonist, and he uses his knowledge from the book to accomplish this goal. But the MC has to deal with his past life memories, which are often difficult to do in a revenge novel.
In a revenge novel, the villain needs to have a compelling motivation. She has to be believable, or else the story will become one big dysfunctional family feud. In the same way, the villain must be believable. If the character is too obnoxious, the book will fall flat and end in a “dysfunctional family feud.”
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