lovecraft68
Bad Doggie
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
- Posts
- 44,028
I think that the difference between a realistic revenge type story and "BTB" is akin to a reluctance story vs non consent. One has some of the flavor the other is just over the top nasty.Cruelty, humiliation, violence, or exploitation in the story are the things I definitely don't like.
I can appreciate the occasional Burn-The-Bitch/Bastard story when the spouse is found having an affair and isn't cruelly rubbing the husband/wife's face in it. My latest work-in-progress is such a BTB/RAAC story. I don't like the violent retribution in response to such one-dimensional characters cheating their clueless spouse. But I can see the injured party moving on by taking everything they can from the cheater.
The problem with the February Sucks original was the way the wife dumped her husband in front of their friends at the dance on Valentine's Day to go off for her weekend with the lover. That was cruel and humiliating, with the "friends" effectively telling the husband "Yeah, we distracted you to give her time to get away, you pathetic cuckold," and RAAC in such a situation just seems unreal, forced, and a pathetic attempt to justify the wife's "agency." Such stories are IMO generously a 2. (I save the occasional 1 for objectively shitty writing and lack of any attempt at writing a coherent story.)
I read the original FS story, and I agree the wife was a piece of work, as were the 'friends' but the way I see it is it's not my story so other than having a general opinion on it, I don't see it as my duty to rewrite it to right some fictional wrong. I have a life and too many of my own ideas I can't get to and no time to fanfic other authors.