Observation Journal — Unlikely Abrupt Intense Proximities

I’d been using the observation journal to think through the patterns in all the Regency reading I’d been doing in early 2020 (see the previous post on Ridiculous (but charming!) situations).

Over the following weeks I pursued it further — first, simply making a quick list of things I personally did and did not like, and then having far too much fun listing Unlikely Abrupt Intense Proximities.

1. Likes and dislikes

Crows really do fly like hand shadows

Some of these are quite picky, and many are indefensible.

• A set way of writing love scenes vs a bit of variety and personality. (But I prefer fade-to-black.)
• Implausible/unexplained perfumes vs scents that reflect the character’s life and something of their character.
• Silliness and slapstick vs characters who are very earnest and unaware of the ludicrousness of their situations.
• Satin and ruffles vs muslin and gauze.
• Unconvincing stock characters vs absolute commitment to a stock character.
• Unnecessary angst in the face of obvious love vs love followed by complications vs late epiphanies but without angst.

And of course, all the versions I don’t like can work for me if they’re doing it with absolute defiance and/or doing two things at once.

There’s also a note there, semi-related, from when I ran into Lou on a walk that day and we discussed bathroom breaks in books and where, for example, (as in Diana Wynne Jones) they can highlight relative wealth, etc.

As with the unsubstantiated manifesto, I like making lists of opinions without having to justify them. It’s fun, but it’s also a good way of finding things to play with, either in the observation journal or to see what I can do with them in a picture or a story (how would I describe satin in a way that doesn’t offend my sensibilities?). It’s also interesting to see where my limits are on tropes I broadly like (e.g. descriptions of clothes) — this topic comes up again later in the journals.

2. Unlikely Abrupt Intense Proximities

The Home Ice Cream Van gave form to our days

Back in the Ridiculous (but charming!) situations post, I realised all the situations I listed shared “a degree of unlikelihood combined with abrupt intense proximity”. So on this page I just made a list of some of my favourite abrupt intense proximities from romances and rom-coms. Occasionally these are a meet-cute, occasionally they’re a whole subgenre — and they’re not exclusive to romance, of course. Most also work for buddy and odd-couple drama/comedies and for horror stories.

• Trapped by a storm
• Locked in a cupboard
• One bed 
• Everyone thinks we’re [whatever]
• Blackmail you to help me
• Responsible for your safety
• Joint responsibility for someone else
• Unwilling guest/host
• Parties to an arrangement
• Civility does not permit me to depart
• You have foisted yourself onto me and now I am not sure how to get rid of you
• Injury compels me to stay here
• It is efficient to pursue our parallel interests together
• Hired to provide a professional service
• Arrangement of convenience
• Sibling/ward/friend’s friend
• Mistaken identities
• Mistaken personalities
• Vehicular accident/transport issues
• Task to complete together
• Only doing this as a favour for someone else

After that I played around with a few elements, to see what happened to them as they turned into a story. I flipped expectations (see The Caudwell Manoeuvre), ending up with a rough uncivilised Beauty and an elegant, modest Beast, and tried picking an aesthetic or a setting, e.g. a bed and breakfast, or folk horror (why not both?). I’d already been playing with those approaches, of course, but adding a situation kicked the process forward a few steps.

Art/writing exercise

1. Think of a classic type of situation in your favourite genre (the discovery of the body? the re-emergence of the monster? the race to the airport?) and make a list of some versions of that situation you’ve seen. (Or use the list above).
2. Then make a list of settings — genre-feasible or not, as you prefer!
3. Pick one of each at random and sketch (words or pictures) how that situation would work. How would a “chase to the airport” scene work (or what would perform the same function) if you were setting the story on a steamboat? How would the “discovery of the body” work in a bridal fabric store?
4. See what you learn about what makes those types of situations work for you, and/or about the setting.
5. Variations: Try it in different genres, or pick the standard characters involved in the situation and flip their descriptions (an aloof, intelligent witness and and an emotionally-overwrought detective?).

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