Welcome back! In our last lesson, we focused on 'Put to Another Use,' transforming a confrontation over a text message into a deeper, more symbolic conflict centered on your hinge character's lingerie designs. We ended on a tense, unresolved note with the husband's question: "Who is that for?"
Today, we move to the next SCAMPER technique: 'E' for 'Eliminate.' Our objective is to apply this technique by strategically removing a key source of security or communication from the story, forcing the characters into a more direct and unavoidable conflict. This is a classic method for escalating tension and pushing your story toward a crisis point.
1. The 'Eliminate' Principle: Raising the Stakes
In brainstorming, 'Eliminate' means to remove parts of a process or concept to simplify or re-imagine it.
When we apply 'Eliminate' to a narrative, we are deliberately taking away something a character relies on. This could be:
- A physical object: a phone, a car, a key.
- A person: a trusted ally, a confidante.
- An intangible resource: privacy, a shared routine, trust, an escape route, a safe space.
By removing this source of security, you force your character to act. They can no longer avoid the central problem. This action directly raises the story's stakes.
To understand why this is so effective, let's explore the concept of stakes in more detail.
How to Raise the Stakes: The Ultimate Guide to Building Suspense
The following article, 'How to Raise the Stakes,' provides a great framework for understanding why taking things away from your characters is so crucial for building suspense.
First, please read the section '3 Types of Stakes that Increase Suspense,' focusing on the core principles that stakes must be understood by the reader, matter to the hero, and escalate. Then, read the section '4 Quick Ways to Escalate the Stakes.' Pay close attention to the suggestions 'Loss of an ally' and 'Remove a physical advantage,' as these are direct applications of the 'Eliminate' technique.
As the article emphasizes, making things worse for your protagonist is your job as a writer. The 'Eliminate' technique is a primary tool for doing this. By taking away a character's support system or a key advantage, you escalate the stakes from a personal dilemma to a potential crisis, forcing them to confront what they stand to lose.
2. Identifying What to Eliminate
So, what can we eliminate in our vee-relationship story to force a conflict? Let's consider the securities each character currently possesses:
- The Hinge: She has a degree of control by managing her two relationships separately. Privacy is her key asset.
- The Husband: His main source of security is their shared history, their home as a sanctuary, and the unspoken agreement that their marriage is the primary, default reality. He can still, to some extent, live in denial.
- The New Lover: His security lies in the distance. The relationship exists in a separate context, free from direct confrontation with the husband.
Eliminating any of these securities will inevitably create conflict. To get some specific ideas on how to do this effectively, let's look at a resource dedicated to creating suspense.
Ian Irvine's article '41 Ways to Create Suspense' offers a fantastic list of practical tactics. Many of them are perfect examples of the 'Eliminate' principle in action.
Please read the following points, which are all methods of 'Eliminating' a character's resources: Under heading 'A. Characters', read point #1: 'Take away the hero’s ability to defend herself...' Under heading 'C. Plot', read the first bullet point: 'Test the hero’s abilities to breaking point. Take away her friends and supporters, undermine her assets...' Under heading 'D. Structure', find the sub-heading 'Heighten critical scenes' and read the bullet point that begins 'Isolate your hero, rob him of his weapons, his allies and his means of escape...'
These examples—taking away support, assets, and escape routes—are precisely what we need to do. For our story, the most potent element to eliminate is the husband's primary source of security: the home as a safe, private space. When the conflict enters his sanctuary, he can no longer avoid it.
3. Writing Exercise (30 minutes)
Now, let's put this into practice. We're going to create a scene where the boundary between the marriage and the new relationship is violently erased.
Scenario: The scene picks up shortly after the tense exchange about the lingerie design. The husband and wife are in a state of fragile, unresolved tension. We are going to eliminate the husband's 'safe space' by having the new lover show up at their front door unexpectedly.
Instructions:
- Write a 400-500 word scene from the husband's point of view. This is crucial because we want to maximize the feeling of his security being breached.
- Start with the husband processing the hinge's ambiguous or unsatisfying answer about the lingerie design. He is grappling with suspicion and hurt in what he considers his own space.
- The doorbell rings. The hinge, perhaps thinking it's a food delivery or a neighbor, answers the door.
- Describe the moment the husband sees the new lover standing on his doorstep. Focus on his internal reaction: the shock, the violation, the realization that the problem is no longer an abstract threat but a physical presence in his home. His 'means of escape' (avoidance, denial) has just been eliminated.
- Show, through the husband's eyes, the interaction at the door. Maybe the hinge is frozen in shock. Maybe the lover is calm, or perhaps he looks apologetic. The focus, however, is on the husband's perception of this invasion.
- End the scene at the peak of the crisis: the two men are now face-to-face, forcing a confrontation that can no longer be postponed. The conflict is no longer a private marital issue; it has become a public standoff in the heart of the marriage's territory.
This exercise forces your characters out of their established dynamics. By eliminating the husband's ability to compartmentalize the threat, you compel him to act, dramatically escalating the story's central conflict.
Conclusion
In this lesson, we explored how the SCAMPER technique 'Eliminate' serves as a powerful tool for generating conflict. By strategically removing a source of security—in our case, the privacy of the marital home—you can dismantle a character's defenses and force them into a confrontation they can no longer avoid.
Key Takeaways:
- In narrative, 'Eliminate' means taking away a tangible or intangible resource that a character relies on for security.
- This technique is a direct method for raising the stakes, forcing characters to confront the consequences of failure.
- By removing a character's "safe space" or "escape route," you move the conflict from an internal dilemma to an external, unavoidable crisis.
In our next lesson, we will tackle 'Reverse.' We'll explore what happens when we invert the cause and effect of this new, tense situation. For example, an action meant to de-escalate the standoff between the two men might, paradoxically, make the tension even worse, leading to surprising and ironic plot developments.