I love “forced proximity” in novels, and it’s a staple of enemies-to-lovers stories, like that of Travis and Tricia in Fly Boy. It’s present in Submerged Hopes, when Nick the Navy diver must interpret ASL for Nerissa, the Deaf archaeologist, and in New Heights, when Carlos has to work with Sarah Ann, the woman he walked away from at the climbing wall. There’s a bit of it in Hard Truths, Helios, and even in the Valentine’s Day scene in Finders, Keepers, in which Caleb is the waiter for Farrah’s horribly awkward date with Justin, yet all of these are very different stories.
A forced proximity situation is really versatile, and can run the gamut from the kidnapping stories of Dark Romance, to bodyguard or working together stories, to shipwreck, plane crash, and snowed-in scenarios.
Forced proximity also works fantastically well when combined with enemies-to-lovers, because we get that initial delicious loathing. They can’t get away from each other, and we see their hatred soften into tolerance, then reluctant admiration. It’s so fun when characters are forced to confront the fact that they were wrong. Whether the next step is a torrid “we’re still enemies” affair that’s mainly sex at first, or a slower burn to friendship first, it makes for a great story.
I think part of it is that these usually aren’t simply trapping the future lovers together, but also forcing them out of their comfort zones. Shaken-up routines at the minimum, and sometimes characters are transported to a whole new location or job. What could make a person more off-balance than to be shoved into a situation not of their choosing, with someone they can’t stand?
Of course, this happens every day to us in life, and I think that’s the last part of the puzzle: for us, we will probably never like “that snake So-and-so,” but Romance lets us have that that happily ever after, and gives us hope that the good guys can win in real life, too.
Do YOU like forced proximity? What are your favorite tropes?
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