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Q&A How to write a manipulative protagonist that the audience can connect with

To add to an excellent (in my opinion) answer by @LaurenIpsum: There might be a case when your protagonist has to manipulate/blackmail an innocent person, who had done nothing to wrong her, and ye...

posted 7y ago by Lew‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:16:42Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27329
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Lew‭ · 2019-12-08T06:16:42Z (almost 5 years ago)
To add to an excellent (in my opinion) answer by @LaurenIpsum:

There might be a case when your protagonist has to manipulate/blackmail an innocent person, who had done nothing to wrong her, and yet still be forgiven by the reader–when it is done for a _greater good_.

First thing which comes to mind: "_If you will not step forward and testify against the thug who raped you–because you are ashamed to admit it publicly–I am going to go ahead and expose your secret anyway, so it is for you to decide if you are going to be known as the person who did the right thing, or as a coward, blah-blah..._"

You might also show her reluctance to resort to such method, yet having to go ahead with it, because she has no other means to achieve that _greater good_ of putting the rapist behind bars so he could not hurt anyone else.

Try to make the reader understand the motivations of your protagonist and agree with the necessity of her actions.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-03-23T13:56:35Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 1