Oy, VEAH! Why I'm Using this Fresh Approach to Character Relationships
Characters drive the story. (Or, if they don’t, they should!)
When faced with a choice, a character makes a decision, and their decisions need to be consistent with their personality, beliefs, and so on, to be believable.
The way the characters relate to each other is just as important as each individual character. Over the years, there have been various methods used to describe character roles. The standard character archetypes include the protagonist, or main character. Often you’re seeing through the protagonist’s point of view, but not always.
For example, in the Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes is the protagonist, but we see him through John Watson’s point of view. In The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the first Hercule Poirot mystery, we see Poirot through the point of view of his friend Hastings.
Then there’s the antagonist, the character or circumstance that opposes the protagonist. Sometimes a big force of nature, a storm, tornado, cyclone, or hurricane, serves as the antagonist.
There are also roles characterized as being the relationship, distraction, or support characters. Some stories include an opposition character (which is different from the antagonist), as well as a reason and an emotion character.
I’ve never gotten along well with these character archetypes, so I was thrilled recently to come across a whole new tool for describing character relationships. Hats off to Jeff Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor, for coming up with this.
Jeff refers to this system as VEAH.
First is the Vehicle character. A book can have more than one vehicle character, but to keep it simple for now, we’ll just say the Vehicle is the main character, or protagonist.
Then there’s the Engine character, the person who helps and encourages the Vehicle to be the best version of themself. (If it’s a tragedy, you flip it upside down, and the Engine encourages the Vehicle to become the worst version of themself. Think about Shakespeare’s Othello and the way Iago plays on him until he turns him into a murderer. Iago is Othello’s Engine.)
There’s also an Anchor character, who encourages the Vehicle to become the worst version of themself.
Fourth is the Hazard character. If the Vehicle is driving down the road, the Engine is propelling the Vehicle and then the Hazard jumps out and forces the Vehicle to swerve.
Want some examples?
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett is the Vehicle. Mr. Darcy is the Engine, because his influence helps Elizabeth become a better version of herself, seeing more clearly and with less prejudice. Mr. Wickham is the Anchor, encouraging Elizabeth to say and do things that violate the societal norms of the day. And the Hazard character is her sister Lydia, young, headstrong, self-centered and foolish, whose behavior causes the Vehicle, not to just swerve, but to take some unwanted detours down some very bumpy roads.
Here’s an example from the silver screen: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones is the Vehicle. The Engine character is Indy’s father, Professor Henry Jones. The Anchor character is Elsa, and the Hazard character is Marcus Brody, clueless museum curator and long-time friend.
If there were any doubts about who the Engine and Vehicle are, they’re settled at the end when Elsa dies trying to seize the Holy Grail. Following her example, Indy tries to reach it until his father says, “Indiana, let it go.” This is a moment of high drama, because Professor Jones has dedicated his entire life to the pursuit of the Grail, and because, until that moment, he’s refused to use his son’s preferred name. You can accomplish a lot in one four-word sentence!
Another beautiful thing about classifying characters in this way is that the same character can be an Engine for one, and an Anchor or Hazard, for another character.
You can bet I’ll be using this tool for improving my characters and their interactions with one another!
What I’m Reading
Murder Uncorked by Maddie Day
Cece Barton manages the Vino y Vida Wine Bar in Sonoma County, California. She’s a widow, and moves there from LA to be closer to her twin sister, Allie. Everything’s going well until a customer turns up dead.
He’s someone CeCe had only met that afternoon, someone everyone loves to hate, but somehow she becomes a suspect.
It’s a fun read.
The Matejko Connection by Estelle Ryan
Hard to believe this is already book #17 in the Genevieve Lenard series. It’s one of my favorites.
Genevieve is brilliant, focused, and one of the world’s leading experts on facial and body language. She’s also a major germaphobe.
She and her team track down and recover stolen art, and uncover insurance fraud related to art. Genevieve is also firmly on the autism spectrum. This gives her a superpower which includes hyper focus for long periods of time, but the downside is the occasional meltdown or shutdown when she’s feeling especially anxious or threatened.
In this book, Genevieve and the team have to figure out the connection between the works of the artist Matejko and an underworld leader in the illegal drugs trade. Their adventure takes them to Warsaw, Poland.
Buy Me a Chai
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Wise Words
Thanks for playing! The object of this game is to convince you it’s important to choose your words carefully.
Last week’s quote was this:
“Flora donned the hat and went to _____ before the entry mirror, turning this way and that to get a good view of every angle.”
A Preposterous Alibi by Cherie O’Boyle
Your word choices were:
A. Fawn
B. Preen
My readers are brilliant, because 100% of those who responded got it right. The correct answer is B. Preen. So congrats to the players.
When I came across this in the book, the word was fawn. It made me cringe.