
Schadenfreude is a word that many of y’all might not have heard of, yet we’ve all felt it. Interestingly enough, it can be a great tool to keep our audience interested and breathlessly wanting more. What is schadenfreude, other than a fifty dollar word we can toss around to impress friends and colleagues?
Schadenfreude—a combination of the German words for damage and joy—is the pleasure we feel at the misfortune of others.
Before anyone gets too judgy on me, we have all felt it.
Have you ever had some driver on the highway who believed they were above the rules and didn’t need to merge and take turns? Instead they sped up the shoulder so they could cut the line instead of patiently waiting their turn? Schadenfreude is the delicious enjoyment you felt when there actually was a police officer present who summarily pulled them over and ticketed the bejeezus out of them.
Don’t you judge me. Y’all know you love it, too.
We humans, by and large, have a sense of justice encoded in our psyche. This is why even a preschooler has a level of acumen usually reserved for an IRS auditor when adults pass out candy. They sense what is fair and unfair, right and wrong.
This ingrained sense of right and wrong and fair and unfair is part of what drives our need for a sense of justice. We don’t like it when others “get away” with doing something we perceive as “wrong.”
Shades of Schadenfreude

Therein lies the deliciousness of schadenfreude…the what we consider “wrong.”
Like most things involving the human psyche, this isn’t black and white, rather it exists on a spectrum. There is wonderful thrill of pleasure we feel when a speeder gets a (deserved) ticket that can go as far as total dehumanization of others and a delight at their complete destruction.
Schadenfreude is story jet fuel.
Before you might believe you are too “evolved” for such feelings, how many movie plots pivot on the bullies finally getting a taste (or more) of their own medicine? When there is a gross power imbalance, and that imbalance is abused, we humans can turn positively feral.
One of my favorite authors, Lucy Foley, wields schadenfreude like few other authors I’ve read. The Guest List and The Midnight Feast are page-turning dark delights. Alice Berman is another author who uses this darker side of human nature to create a thrilling story in I Eat Men Like Air.
Why do I love these books? Because these authors (stories) pick apart “the beautiful people.” From old money to self-anointed Instagram influencer demi-gods-in -their-own-minds, these stories pry at something primal in all of us…that some people are “better.”
Instead of characters who are grateful for a blessed life dripping in privilege, they are the entitled. They amuse themselves at the suffering of others purely for sport. Not only that, but they take great delight in how they, themselves, are above the rules. When these sorts of people commit crimes, the “real” world cannot punish them.
But Author Gods can.
Lovely Loathing

Foley and Berman are of the suspense-thriller variety, but Kevin Follet is another author who is unparalleled at whipping up a fire of resentment that rivals the fires of Gehenna. When I read Pillars of the Earth, I literally had to keep taking breaks reading the book because my own level of hatred overwhelmed me.
Like any book, Pillars of the Earth isn’t for everyone. It nearly wasn’t for me. Every time I considered throwing in the towel, I I found I couldn’t stop because I HAD to know if there was any kind of justice in this mad, mad world.
All of these books have a common thread. Raw, beautiful exquisite revenge justice.
We are ALL wired with a sense of right and wrong.
Even sociopaths have a sense of justice.
Read Martha Stout’s The Sociopath Next Door. A sociopath might not lose any sleep emptying your bank account, but would be horrified if you did the same to him.
Follet masterfully wove situations where I was rendered utterly and hopelessly powerless.
What is the epitome of being a victim? ZERO POWER. When evil strikes, what does it do to a person?
It strips away their power.
From money crimes to sex crimes, to hate crimes to murder it’s the same. Arson, abduction, terrorism, shootings, sex trafficking, burglaries, large-scale vandalism, gossip, slander, lies, it hits us all in the same place.
It makes us afraid and vulnerable and impotent.

What makes it worse? When we KNOW who’s done this, but this is a person no one can touch.
This was what made me practically foam at the mouth reading Pillars of the Earth. Because the story is (loosely) based on actual history. In the Middle Ages, nobility and high-ranking clergy got away with a LOT of really, really bad things.
Talk about powerlessness to the power of a thousand.
*Kristen punching things* *grabbing for inhaler* *ponders subscribing to Hallmark channel*
Yet, it kept me listening (turning pages) because I could not rest until the world was set right and justice was served. I wasn’t even sure it would be or could be. And if it was, HOW?
THAT, my friends, is some fine storytelling (so I am extremely glad I didn’t return the book). Also, THAT is the raw power of schadenfreude.
Villains & Schadenfreude

There are many ways to create legendary villains. And, keep in mind, there are different types of villains. Though, I recommend giving the villain a sympathetic goal, like the word wrong exists on a spectrum, so does the word sympathetic.
I get that far too many “normal people” think writing is easy. That if they only had enough time they’d be the next J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin. Sadly, no number of lockdowns is enough to disabuse some folks of the notion that storytelling is more than playing with imaginary friends.
To tell great stories, we are required to think differently than regular people.
***Refer to 13 Reasons Writers are Mistaken for Serial Killers
A book is more than a lot of flowery words, it is a peek into what makes people tick. Which is all well and good except some people’s “clockwork” is arguably manufactured in HELL.
Villains (antagonists) cannot want what they want for no reason. “Just cuz” is not good enough. When storytelling, we must be capable of violence. That is the only way for the “happy ending” to have any meaning.
***And before you think this is only for gritty genres, remember most fairy tales have some pretty horrifying villains.

Even the most revolting people in all the works I have thus far mentioned, deep down, believed themselves the heroes of their own stories. No matter how horrible they were, they genuinely could not see themselves honestly. Their world was a funhouse mirror designed to warp them into something they were not.
That said, some characters deserve destruction for one simple reason.
They are beyond redemption.
They are the rabid dogs of fiction. Writers and audiences alike know that to let some characters live or remain free is unacceptable. They are poison.
Why schadenfreude is such an incredible literary device is because it speaks to justice, which is universal. When crafting a villain (or even side characters who serve as antagonists), what universal rules are they breaking? Why? How? Now, can you dig deeper until the pages BLEED?
Villains & Cognitive Distortion

To a degree, all characters in our story are dealing with cognitive distortions. If they aren’t, then they aren’t interesting. All humans struggle with personalizing, catastrophizing, minimizing, justifying, unattainable standards, wishful thinking, etc.
In fact, for your touring pleasure, here is a list of 50 Common Cognitive Distortions.
All characters should have a cognitive distortion–to a degree–because all characters should arc.
What makes the villain unique, however, is they have a negative arc.
While the MC or other positive forces (allies), grow, mature and evolve, the villain does the opposite. The villain devolves. They become even more convinced of their righteous cause, even more controlling, raise their already absurd standards to new levels of ridiculous, etc.
Ideally, we will give some reason for why the villain does what he does or believes what he believes. While we might not be able to, say, empathize with the actual cognitive distortion, we (the audience) can empathize with either having experienced the distortion ourselves OR the reason for the distortion.
For example, I cannot relate to the same level of entitlement as Francesca Meadows in The Midnight Feast. I am not old money, reared to believe I am privileged and entitled BUT I DO viscerally remember the first time I met another kid named “Kristen” and the raw fury I felt that another kid in my preschool had MY NAME!
MY NAME. MINE.
It’s a silly example, but she had to be destroyed that childlike rage is something a good story can tap into to give us the proverbial “sympathy for the devil.”
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin

The Bible, in the Book of Daniel, tells the story of Belshazzar, who was King Nebuchadnezzar’s successor. Talk about a guy with an ego problem! He holds a banquet for all the nobility and thinks that calling for all the holy vessels from the Jewish Temple is a great idea…since they totally didn’t have enough cups *flips hair*.
What Belshazzar didn’t know—and likely would not have cared even if he did—was that he’d committed a great sacrilege. Y’all know the phrase we toss around, “Read the writing on the wall.” Well, this is where it comes from.
After Belshazzar uses all the holy vessels as Dixie Cups for his Meta-Influencer BBQ, a disembodied hand appears and writes Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin on the wall.
He can’t read the writing on the wall (nod to Shakespeare and IRONY) and calls for Daniel to translate the message, which was in Aramaic.
God tells Belshazzar that 1) his days are numbered (another nod to Shakespeare) 2) that his kingdom will fall, and 3) that he has been weighed, measured and found wanting.
There are good reasons that we find all the best stories mirrored in Scripture or Shakespeare.
Humans don’t change, and if humans don’t change, then—ipso facto—villains don’t change.
The entitled trust fund baby can genuinely believe they are “better” than others. Yet, though they are deeply believe they are better than others, they simultaneously fear their days are numbered. Frequently, they know that while they are better than everyone else, they’re never “good enough” for the person (people) who matters.
Additionally, with villains like this, their pride becomes their Achille’s Heel. They so wrapped up in their agenda, they are blind. Because they are blind, they cannot help but fall.
And none of us (readers) mind if they’re given a little push.
Schadenfreude & Catharsis

From Edgar Allen Poe’s The Telltale Heart to Kathryn Stockett’s The Help we audiences aren’t happy until there is some form of comeuppance.
***Ironically, in The Telltale Heart the MC is the villain. His own inborn sense that evil cannot go unpunished is the point of the story.
All stories are only as strong as their villains. If we are wishy washy on the villain, the rest of the book is bland. When we hold back on our villain, we inadvertently wreck our stakes.
There is something primal in all good stories. Humans have deep sympathy for the unavenged, the disappeared, and the disenfranchised. Every day, we see injustice and evil, and every day we know that the people causing much of this suffering will never be called to account.
Writers & Schadenfreude

Do you wield a little schadenfreude when you write?
I always find it a bit funny when readers ask if my villains are based on people I know because…DUH. YES. #SeriouslyDumbQuestion
Are they wholly patterned off ONE person? No. That would be copying not creating. They’re a collage of a million little events that made me…ME. And I get to enjoy a little bit if schadenfreude by casting them in my world 😉 .
*insert evil laughter*
It’s very therapeutic and cheaper than a defense attorney.
Do you see how just a touch of schadenfreude can also help with a “too perfect” character (maybe an MC)?
“Cutting someone down to size” is enjoyable in life and in fiction. Though we didn’t go into it today, can you see how schadenfreude can work in a redemption story, a love story, or wherever a character needs to grown and learn some humility?
I LOVE hearing from you!
Had you ever heard the term schadenfreude? Are you now committed to now finding ways to work this word into everyday conversation? Do you enjoy books and movies that deal out at least a little revenge?
Am I the only person who revels when a hidden cop pulls over a reckless driver?
Thoughts? Opinions? Favorite tales of schadenfreude?
And remember, my perennial author branding book, Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World and my mystery thriller The Devil’s Dance are both on sale on Kindle right now for only .99.
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I’ve heard of schadenfreude. I’ve not thought about if I use it in my novels. Sometimes, I think I do, but not always.
The Progressive Left sneers as small businesses shutter at the cost of doing business – the activist malcontents w their moral outrage see the Fall of the privileged, I see the fall of competitive hard work, taking big risks to provide products & services to WE the people.
Author
Yes, the schadenfreude has really infected our modern culture. It has been rather insane, too. I am 50 years old and have been through plenty of elections. I NEVER witnessed people just HATING someone for how they voted. We used to make fun of ALL politicians and it has become really toxic. I, personally, don’t get it. I think we have the right to our beliefs and I am never going to unfriend someone or cut them out of my life because of their politics. Sad to say that our culture is going through some major growing pains and we are going to have to remember we are all, to a degree, on the same side.
Very interesting article. Thank you. Your statement: “We are ALL wired with a sense of right and wrong” and talk of it being “ingrained” reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity.” Where does the sense come from that does not assist in our survival? Most everything the animal kingdom does is in self-interest and for survival and reproduction. Yet people acknowledge an innate right and wrong, and selflessly do good without being taught. C.S. Lewis uses this trait as part of the proof of the divine. Kinda cool argument for the existence of God.
Author
That is interesting you brought that up because I was thinking of that book when I wrote this. I have to watch being too long since I already run long. It is a VERY cool book and I genuinely don’t know how someone could remain an atheist after reading it. Even if you believed as an AGNOSTIC, but atheism? I don’t have enough faith for that.
I only read it for the first time this year, age … late 50s. I have to admit it’s harder for me to decipher something so thoughtful and dense than it was when I was in college. Reminded me I need to stretch my brain. My son, a nerdy, creative electrical engineering grad student once said to me, when he was in an undergrad physics class, the more he saw how the universe and earth all work “perfectly,” especially what he was looking at under a microscope, he had to conclude the existence of God or some sentient divine creator. I love that boy. And you’re right. It’s too hard to have the faith to believe in nothing. Just watch a few near-death experience videos!
One of the things that really bothered me in the HP books was that Snape died in horrible agony and that Lucius Malfoy got to walk for being rich and pretty. Rowling is apparently one of the few fiction writers to do that, too. Sure, Umbridge was sent to Azkaban, but there were no Dementors there by then. I guess yelling at Harry and saving his life was worse than actually torturing Harry and/or being a sincere DE for a couple of decades. If I were a Slytherin there, I would sure never bother to oppose whoever the new Dark Lord is; anyone who did died horribly or lost all her family like Andromeda Tonks.
Great post and no you’re not the only who has delighted in seeing a jerk driver get his/her comeuppance. We were once stuck on I10 in Florida waiting for a horrible accident to be cleared. Traffic was backed up for miles. A driver decided to cut to the front on the shoulder. A trucker pulled half-way onto the shoulder to block him. Undeterred the driver tried to inch past the trucker but slid into a ditch and was hopelessly stuck. I wanted to jump out my car and high five the trucker.
I think we all enjoy seeing someone getting their just reward, whether in real life or fiction. Fun post!
And … that very same night, Belshazzar was killed and his kingdom was taken over. God meant it. That’s why we need to heed the handwriting on the wall. At least respect and not provoke God. He’s exposing evil worldwide, and we will see justice. And yes, I’m fully praying for it–ESPECIALLY for the abused and trafficked children. But we’ve had no idea of the depravity going on outside of our tiny self-focused little lives. Now our eyes are being opened. Well, most people. But that’s another topic.
I was thinking about my book (just released). It appears at first the evil man who captures two strangers is the biggest villain. But he’s not. The death-or-life situation forces the two people to face their deepest fears and failures. The things that torment them inside are their real enemies. Once they face and deal with them, they are able to help each other escape as well as other victims. And justice is served.
Sometimes schadenfreude takes a while and is more complex than we’d like.
Interesting way to look at things. Thanks, I enjoyed that. I’m plotting my 7th novel (10th book) now so this is helpful and timely.
Editing my first novel and must admit my favorite part is when the MC kills the bad guy.
Great post and very true!
I’ve read articles suggesting that this contributed to Agatha Christie’s popularity. Her audience loved reading about crime in the upper class – as victims and perpetrators. That the strange foreign outsider brought the bad guy to ruin likely only added to their glee. 🙂