My story is set in England during the year 1799. The problem I'm having is that I need a reason why a group of men would want to beat the hero of my story (a writer) up!! My writer is an atheist (in that village, it's a place rather strict in orthadox) and he's rather bad-mouthed and (when provoked) violent---but of course, the heroine of this story is the girl who changes him--------so why would a group of men want to beat him up??? I doubt that it would be rational for a group of men in christian community beating him up because he's an atheist (this just doesn't make sense) and I don't want to easy way out of this problem by making it "Some guy who loves the heroine is jealous that she loves another, and so beats that other guy up." Might there be any other reason why a group of men would want to beat up a writer??
2006-09-11 15:17:59 · 14 answers · asked by J.Welkin 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Beating him up for being an atheist is perfectly reasonable....remember, we still have wars in the name of Gods today. People use religion as an excuse for a lot of terrible acts throughout history...these villains could simply be venting their inner urges to do violent acts.
To avoid the 'guy is jealous' scenario....TRY THIS: as an atheist this man could be living in sin - inflicting his beliefs on the 'innocent' girl in the village - and these men don't want such a scandal in their village, don't want a poor girl so abused by a godless heathen. :)
2006-09-11 21:58:56 · answer #1 · answered by A.D 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd stick with the reasons you mentioned. athiest, foul mouth (maybe he had a smart mouth in a local pub?)
Is he an outsider? Did he write something offensive? Maybe he's a newcomer and someone took a peak at his writings (and didn't like them). So they told this person that told another person and so on. Then...when the whole story of what he wrote was blown wwwaaayyy out of proportion and became a huge misunderstood, the group of men decided to get rid of him because they thought he was causing so much trouble. A rumor mill can cause tons of trouble. The heroine can come to his defense...hide him out until the "lie" is cleared up. Meantime, she tries to reform him to show the other villagers that he's not such a bad guy.
Or...maybe he's somewhat of a gossip columnist??? LOL
2006-09-11 22:30:51 · answer #2 · answered by redneckgardendiva 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because he owes them money and is a deadbeat?
because... he has one eye a different colour from the other? maybe there's a local superstition about that, that he might be a werewolf or something.
because... he looks just like that guy who passed thru ten years ago who ravished the minister's daughter and left her pregnant?
because... the violent guys in question are just REALLY drunk? and sometimes low types get really irrationally annoyed by an uppity type who sits around and shows off his literacy and good manners.
because... oh, here's a good one! because he's really tall. All of my boyfriends have been over 6'4", and they are constantly having problems with horrible little men with somethin' to prove getting in their face and trying to start a fight.
because... his dog keeps eating somebody's chickens' eggs?
because... he has some sort of accent or a minor speech impediment? I know he is to be the romantic hero and all, but frankly, wouldn't having a slight stammer just make him more interesting, instead of generically heroic? Being any kind of outsider could draw hostility.
Hmmm. I like the height one best! pick that one...?!
2006-09-11 22:32:03 · answer #3 · answered by jarm 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In 1799, maybe they beat him up because he empathized with the Colonialists during the American Revolution. Washington, Franklin, Adams and others were deists, right? His atheism would have been akin to that. Maybe these men all lost property in the Revolution. Make sure your character wrote about what scum the British were - that would cinch his fate with these guys.
2006-09-11 22:26:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
In 1799 especially in an orthodox community) you can bet your boots they'd beat him up because he is an atheist, perhaps one of the 'men' is disbelieving that the atheist has changed...that he's insincere..so he can have the woman. Once voice can rally the others into a violent frenzy...
2006-09-11 22:28:37 · answer #5 · answered by abigalsky 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Unless you need a very particular person to beat your hero, you could introduce a character from his past, before the heroine changes him. This character could be a 'rabble-rowser' and stir up some trouble by quoting things that your hero had said before and this could lead to some hurt feelings of characters that you have already established.
2006-09-11 22:28:38 · answer #6 · answered by elyrmoore 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
His atheism is a very sufficient reason, his temperament seems prickly enough to be a reason too, but if you want others...since he is a writer, perhaps he has made someone paranoid because that someone thinks your writer has criticized him in print...maybe your writer really has criticized him in print. Maybe he's a very outspoken atheist who makes a point of taking a walk, wine bottle in hand, when everyone else in his town goes to church.
2006-09-11 23:07:43 · answer #7 · answered by silver.graph 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He wrote an article about one of the men's children. The child did something illegal that was covered up, but the writer broke the story.
2006-09-11 22:27:12 · answer #8 · answered by sammie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He farted infront of a group of British gentlemen and they recognized the stench as distinctly French, napoleonic in fact, and decided to beat him up, guessing that he was a spy. They stop when the police came, but later on it is revealed that he really is a French spy in search of British naval secrets.
2006-09-12 02:44:19 · answer #9 · answered by outbaksean 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe they find out he had carnal knowledge with the heroine, her father is upset - and the writer and the heroine were going to leave together.
2006-09-12 00:39:26 · answer #10 · answered by T W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋