Help! Help!

So I have a tremendously complicated plot...but in the late eighteenth-century British Empire (some of this takes place in England but a good part of it in Bermuda and the Caribbean)...:
- Why would a man marry a woman other than for love or money?
- What could she discover that makes her decide to break off the engagement? She already knows love has nothing (or, y'know, not very much) to do with it, and it can't be that he's just after her money because that already happened in Persuasion.

She could be just so beautiful he wants to possess her, and she feels the vibes, that he wants to control her. Nah women didn't think like that in those days did they?

To hide the fact that he is Gay?

http://gay_belle.livejournal.com

'Southern Scriber.'

heh i think to hide the fact he is gay is a great suggestion!

WIP: Ayden: 92,043/95,000 (estimated total).
Rough Editing: Lifelines: 104/104 pages.

J.C Hart

Me too!

If not for love or money then usually for power or influence. It may be something she possesses, her dowry perhaps?

No Excuses. Just Write.
WIP - Freeing the Flame: 31/66 scenes of scene review #3.
Eve's Vineyard: 3,375/6,000 (Sept Zing Thing)

He could want to marry her because her family had money and influence that he needed to get further established or she had the right connections to further his own interests.

She could break off the engagement because:
1. she finds out he is gay
2. married already
3. divorced
4. She could catch him with another woman / man,
5. because her family didn't like him - a lot of investigation was done into suitors before a proposal was agreed to and generally the whole family (brothers included) had to agree.

"You will never get published if you don't write." Said Kerry Mead (my darling husband!)

WIP - Book III - The Rise of the Chrystias 58326 / 50000 words (First draft)
Total word count - 158543!

re suggestion 4--you don't think this is cliche? I wouldn't really know, but I did toy with that idea. It seems in character for the Character Previously Known as Stinker.

Yes it is cliched, but woman married for love, money or power. She might not love him but that does not necessarily mean she wants to share him.

"You will never get published if you don't write." Said Kerry Mead (my darling husband!)

WIP - Book III - The Rise of the Chrystias 58326 / 50000 words (First draft)
Total word count - 158543!

Well, it's sometimes pointed out that the most formulaic plot becomes new with new characters. I don't know how true this is...your thoughts?
Personally, judging by recent character misbehaviour, I don't think highly original characters would allow a plot to remain highly formulaic for long.

I think you can take a cliche or formulaic plot and it's how you work it into your own story with new characters, theme and voice that makes it unique.

No Excuses. Just Write.
WIP - Freeing the Flame: 31/66 scenes of scene review #3.
Eve's Vineyard: 3,375/6,000 (Sept Zing Thing)

Well, getting caught with another person may be a little cliche, but it's also somewhat common at the same time. Considering that your female character isn't hurt that he cheated on her because of love... I think the fact that she is just mad he would tarnish her reputation, so to speak, makes it more original. Like, it's not about love, it's about the fact that he's now made it seem like she can't satisfy him. That's a different spin right there.

September Zing Thing -> 0/2,000

Illuminated Words - My writing blog

Bermuda? Slaves. Him having a relationship with a native woman. Not even a secret, but the double standard keeps the men from talking about it to the women--and then the heroine finds out.

The man could want to marry simply because it is expected of an adult male to marry. And he wants a hostess--in high society, that can be a demanding job for a woman and he has to pick a socially acceptable woman whose connections, fortune, or ladylike behavior will advance his social position, increase his fortune, or make him politically.

I don't know about Bermuda, but the greater part of this little subplot takes place in Jamaica so that's a possibility--but like I said, little subplot! There are a zillion other things going on without all the issues this could raise.
But I'm wondering now, what's in it for her? Why did she agree to marry him in the first place?

sometimes i find a good way to figure out why characters do things is to just put the question to them. Have them think/talk about it - even if you don't actually end up using it in the edited version of the story you'll a) add to your word count and b) probably figure out what was driving them to do something. I do this quite a lot when i'm not sure what is going to happen next and it never seems to fail to lead to a solution. Worth a shot anyways!

WIP: Ayden: 92,043/95,000 (estimated total).
Rough Editing: Lifelines: 104/104 pages.

J.C Hart

I meant more the social and practical reasons. I mean, it was expected for a woman to get married too (pretty much the only option in the 1790s, am I right?) but why him?
The nautical research for the main part of the story is going swimmingly, but I'm clueless about anything ashore.

Does he have lots of money? Good policitical connections? Maybe he's closer to the king? For a woman in this time period, I'd say money or connections would work. Protection, too, because he would always be able to supply a roof of the head and stuff like that.

September Zing Thing -> 0/2,000

Illuminated Words - My writing blog

Here's one from left field, he has something that she wants to possess - a jewel / statue / stolen family heirloom?

"You will never get published if you don't write." Said Kerry Mead (my darling husband!)

WIP - Book III - The Rise of the Chrystias 58326 / 50000 words (First draft)
Total word count - 158543!

There's also the sad truth that unless she had the money or luck to be able to travel somewhere else, she only had a limited pool of men from which to choose. We don't think this way anymore, but when you lived in a small town (and an island high class society is the equivalent), you vied for the best ones early, settled for whomever was left, or became an old maid.

Remember, Charlotte Lucas settled, and Elizabeth Bennet was aghast. But Charlotte was being practical. The Austen sisters were not themselves lucky in love.

Your heroine could have thought, okay, good enough, doesn't wear his muddy boots into the dining room. And then she finds out something that's a deal killer.

She could also have been in love with someone else and thought it was hopeless, and so consented to this match. Only to change her mind about the lost love and about the new fiance.

Good, good. I thought it would be something like that.
Now something completely unrelated: what kinds of insults are grounds for a duel?

It would be enough to call someone a liar.

Offhand I don't recall why Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought, but often duels supposedly were over a lady--or a slur on a lady's name.

Also, definitely, an accusation or even a bad-tempered suggestion that the other guy cheated at cards.

Basically, anything against the code of a gentleman.

But a duel could be started through a deliberate insult, such as to call a man base born, i.e., insult his parentage and cast doubt on his lineage. In the opera La Forza del Destino, the brother calls the lover a half-breed. Operas are a great source of outdated but broad points of honor.

Marriage for status would be one thing, both for him and for her.
What if he lied about who he is, what his status is? Or if he does something that damages his reputation, and therefore if she marries him she's tarred with the same brush?

Or - as someone above suggested - he may not be gay, but maybe he's bi, and she catches him with another guy?
That would probably knock her for six, especially if she expected an affair with a woman -- and then finds out the affair is with a guy.