manipulation

i am a manipulator.

this thought occurred to me yesterday as i was doing the dishes. (don't ask - cuz i don't know either.) as a writer, i am attempting to make people believe in a nonexistent reality. i am trying to make people care about my characters enough to read the entire book and (hopefully) buy the book. basically, my job is to manipulate minds. every author does it. when you last read a good book, did you want to put it down? were you following your favorite character's every move to see what he or she would do next? a writer's job is to WRITE that - and to make you care enough to follow the character, we have to find a way to manipulate you into believing that character is a real person.

an actor or actress is a manipulator as well. their job is to portray another person so convincingly, they actually seem to be that person. an actor's job is to manipulate the minds of his audience.

when you hear the term "manipulate", you generally think of something bad; a crime lord manipulated the system or something like that. we don't like to think of ourselves as manipulators, because that means we're the bad guy. but if you can write a story that makes people care, or if you can portray someone else convincingly, then you are a manipulator. face facts. i'm a DOUBLE culprit - i write AND i act. i'll admit that.

and the fact disturbs me. if a writer who can write a good story is a manipulator, and every manipulator is bad, that means that every single story you've ever heard, every movie you've ever watched, every play you've ever seen, is bad. now, correct me if i'm wrong, but that seems to be a tad bit extreme. even the Bible has stories in it - Jesus Himself told parables. ok, that seems to make storywriting all right, but...

but now we run into another dilemma. the ends do not justify the means. i've heard it many times, but suddenly i see it with a new light. if i am a manipulator, and manipulating is bad, then that means that everything i write is bad. the fact that my stories are good and (hopefully) show people that good shall always triumph over evil even in the most difficult circumstances does not change the fact that i used manipulation to obtain this good end.

like i said earlier, this doesn't add up. if all manipulation is bad, then every single story you've ever read, every movie you've watched, every play you've seen, was written by a bad person. and every time they do this, they sin - "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor". but if all stories are bad, that would mean Jesus is bad. the Bible is bad. this does not reconcile!! God is a God of goodness, not a God who would give us a gift for stories then make it a sin to share them.

this scenario reminds me of an example: my decision to save my first kiss for my wedding day. kissing is not bad. however, it could potentially lead to something that should belong only to a married couple. so while kissing in and of itself is not bad - in some cases, it is good - it can become something that is wrong.

so the conclusion i have come to is this: not all manipulation is bad. some is, yes - i will not deny it. but, neither is it a case of ends justifying the means. the action of manipulation is not bad. it is the ends that can cause problems - for example, if manipulation leads to robbery or assault. but, just as not all kissing is bad, neither is all manipulation. we just tend to give good manipulation a different name.

so yes, i am a manipulator. and i pray to God every day to keep me from straying down the wrong path.

-enna