ElySioNs
Mercenary
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- Feb 7, 2021
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Welcome to another uncreative writing class where I show you how to get the most karma for the least effort. This week we'll be exploring another AITA mainstay - rage bait.
Rage bait caters to a wide demographic because it appeals to the judgmental monster in us all. But there are a few traps to avoid. Let me walk you through step by step.
First, you need your protagonist. Luckily AITA already has an expansive villain's gallery which you can draw from. Here are some of the most popular:
* remarried parents or stepparents
* MILs and SILs
* "not really family" i.e. half-siblings, step-siblings, much younger siblings, so-called affair babies
* brides and pregnant women
* women who are too fertile / not fertile enough
* husbands who dare to have an emotional connection to people outside their nuclear family
* people who are poor through no fault of their own
Pick carefully. If you choose bridezillas, you need the stomach to read through all the comments bragging about how easy-going each reader's wedding was... it's not for the faint-hearted.
Once you've got your villain, make them as bombastic as possible. It doesn't matter that AITA is already predisposed to hate most of them. For example, why just make MIL rude when she can be a homophobic, nose-picking fox hunter?
Listen up because the next part's important: When you write your introductory paragraph, leave out some of the worst details. You're going to bury these in the comments later for readers to find. Make it good because comments are the key to effective rage bait - the juicier the secret, the more smug readers will be that they "found you out".
Don't be inventive here. Your villain should have:
* cheated
* bullied
* received preferential treatment as a child
* tried to take the place of the hero's dead mother.
* violated someone's bodily autonomy
* dated someone younger (cheers u/hug-a-cat)
That brings us to the hero. No need to get inventive here either - your hero is always 16 to 25, polite yet withdrawn, and has one weakness like a special keepsake, disease, or trauma. Go for 17F if you want to play up their vulnerability or 23F if you want to play up their success without you (i.e. happily married millionaire with two children you've never met.)
Write all the hero's obvious strengths as flaws. You want to go full-on Gaston here. If they read a lot, they're wasting their time on books. If they're kind to their friends, they're not family oriented enough. If they're doing an elaborate tribute to a dead parent, that's disrespectful to you.
*TIP:* Throw in some AITA buzzwords here and pretend not to know what they mean.
>B says I "parentify" her but that's crazy because she's not a parent.
Time to write the showdown. Make your villain do something outrageous like forcing the hero to miss a funeral or throwing their entire wardrobe. In other words, something that nobody would ever do in real life.
In response, have your hero give a long, ineloquent speech with a few buzzwords thrown in for good measure. Nobody should interrupt them until they're done. Fortunately, your villain has an eidetic memory and can remember what they said word for word.
For the final act, say that the hero has gone no contact with you. State your surprise and give a wooden motive for your behavior like:
* "I just want what's best for my grandbaby."
* "After everything I've done for him/her, I think I deserve to be called mom."
* "It's just a one-of-a-kind vintage wedding dress. Why won't she share it?"
Wait an hour for the first few YTAs to come rolling through. Then find some comments halfway down the thread and shoehorn in that you cheated, bullied, or gave the hero's bedroom away. Refuse to elaborate more than that so everyone has the joy of speculating and diagnosing you with narcissism.
Before you know it, everyone will be flipping out and you'll be near the top of AITA.
*Disclaimer: Don't actually shit post on AITA. It's against the sub rules and we've already got more than enough to mock over here.*
Rage bait caters to a wide demographic because it appeals to the judgmental monster in us all. But there are a few traps to avoid. Let me walk you through step by step.
First, you need your protagonist. Luckily AITA already has an expansive villain's gallery which you can draw from. Here are some of the most popular:
* remarried parents or stepparents
* MILs and SILs
* "not really family" i.e. half-siblings, step-siblings, much younger siblings, so-called affair babies
* brides and pregnant women
* women who are too fertile / not fertile enough
* husbands who dare to have an emotional connection to people outside their nuclear family
* people who are poor through no fault of their own
Pick carefully. If you choose bridezillas, you need the stomach to read through all the comments bragging about how easy-going each reader's wedding was... it's not for the faint-hearted.
Once you've got your villain, make them as bombastic as possible. It doesn't matter that AITA is already predisposed to hate most of them. For example, why just make MIL rude when she can be a homophobic, nose-picking fox hunter?
Listen up because the next part's important: When you write your introductory paragraph, leave out some of the worst details. You're going to bury these in the comments later for readers to find. Make it good because comments are the key to effective rage bait - the juicier the secret, the more smug readers will be that they "found you out".
Don't be inventive here. Your villain should have:
* cheated
* bullied
* received preferential treatment as a child
* tried to take the place of the hero's dead mother.
* violated someone's bodily autonomy
* dated someone younger (cheers u/hug-a-cat)
That brings us to the hero. No need to get inventive here either - your hero is always 16 to 25, polite yet withdrawn, and has one weakness like a special keepsake, disease, or trauma. Go for 17F if you want to play up their vulnerability or 23F if you want to play up their success without you (i.e. happily married millionaire with two children you've never met.)
Write all the hero's obvious strengths as flaws. You want to go full-on Gaston here. If they read a lot, they're wasting their time on books. If they're kind to their friends, they're not family oriented enough. If they're doing an elaborate tribute to a dead parent, that's disrespectful to you.
*TIP:* Throw in some AITA buzzwords here and pretend not to know what they mean.
>B says I "parentify" her but that's crazy because she's not a parent.
Time to write the showdown. Make your villain do something outrageous like forcing the hero to miss a funeral or throwing their entire wardrobe. In other words, something that nobody would ever do in real life.
In response, have your hero give a long, ineloquent speech with a few buzzwords thrown in for good measure. Nobody should interrupt them until they're done. Fortunately, your villain has an eidetic memory and can remember what they said word for word.
For the final act, say that the hero has gone no contact with you. State your surprise and give a wooden motive for your behavior like:
* "I just want what's best for my grandbaby."
* "After everything I've done for him/her, I think I deserve to be called mom."
* "It's just a one-of-a-kind vintage wedding dress. Why won't she share it?"
Wait an hour for the first few YTAs to come rolling through. Then find some comments halfway down the thread and shoehorn in that you cheated, bullied, or gave the hero's bedroom away. Refuse to elaborate more than that so everyone has the joy of speculating and diagnosing you with narcissism.
Before you know it, everyone will be flipping out and you'll be near the top of AITA.
*Disclaimer: Don't actually shit post on AITA. It's against the sub rules and we've already got more than enough to mock over here.*
