random break up ideas?

[magycmyste]

I need some random, crazy ideas here.

The setting is an alternate world, a bit remniscent of Victorian America, but with steampunk elements. Magic/energy in this world is evthene, composed of revtha (physical) waves, and kethna (spiritual) waves. There has been a lot of research into manipulating revtha (think kinetic energy, temperature, electricity, etc.), but not much is known about using/controlling kethna.

I need ideas for a guy trying to politely discourage a girl who wants to marry him, without offending her or her father (who has a lot of political influence, and is bad to offend, basically). He has a sister who likes to invent things, and is pretty good at manipulating revtha.

Good and bad ideas are welcome. Actually, bad ideas might be even better than good ones, though I'd appreciate some heads up on the ways the bad ideas could go wrong (For the most part, at this point, this is for conversation pieces, as the guy and his sister brainstorm ways for him to get out of his betrothal, as neither of them can really stand the bride-to-be for long periods of time). I'm thinking that later on, they might try one or two of them.

Help!

Comments

[msmcknittington]

What if his sister invents a device which manipulates the electrical bits of the young lady's brain, so that she breaks into a rash or becomes nauseated whenever the device is near her? It could look like a tie pin or something like that. Ooh, or the device could make her think that he smells really unpleasant, so that she'll have to live with his incredibly strong man funk if she marries him.

I suppose those aren't exactly polite, but they are clever.

The polite way would probably be something like him telling her very gently that his affections are engaged elsewhere, and it would be unfair of him to subject her to a commitment where he could not return her affection. She deserves to be happy, and he cannot be the man who makes her so. He doesn't actually have to name a specific person, and to do so would probably show a lack of character. You can get some ideas on how to word such things from Victorian letter writing manuals. There's a little bit about them at Victorian Web (try Googling the titles; they're probably online somewhere) and some examples of sample letters here.

Or gosh! This is a really Victorian one, since this sort of thing actually happened and it was incredibly controversial. He could say that he believes in free love, i.e. is an anarchist sex radical, and as such, he does not believe in the institution of marriage as he feels it is too limiting of women's freedoms. Any woman he married would have to be willing to live in an open relationship, without the benefit of a legally recognized relationship. He respects her far too much to expose her to that sort of social censure, and so he has resolved to live a bachelor.

[msmcknittington]

Here's The Universal Letter Writer, published in 1808 but it was republished a few times after that. Some of the sample letters are pretty hilarious to modern readers, like the ones between Henry and his friend Billy.

And here are the results for books on Google Books which were published in the 19th century and have "letter writer" in the title. Good luck!

[magycmyste]

I suppose those aren't exactly polite, but they are clever.

And they make me giggle, which is always a plus. I'd considered having Illisse give Evelyn a fake allergy to him, but hadn't thought far enough to figure out how to make it work right. :D

And thanks so much for the link to the writing manuals! That should be incredibly helpful!

I really do need to develop my society better. In my head, it's similar to Victorian America in looks, but probably not quite the same in society. But with the little I've done with it, it's hard to tell.

Thanks for the help!