So after all those years of thinking, reflecting and testing how to create a problem in a story I’ve come to the conclusion that all you really need is a story starter (I don’t know why I call them that but they work). They are explained in the link below.
This really does make it simple. There is a snowflake who is exulting in her fall through the air not knowing – until another snowflake floats by and informs her – that there is ground down there, and something called “melting”. That’s all you need.
Often, simple stories with novice kids will see her go splat. More complex stories by older kids will see her rescued.
That’s really all you want: simplicity. The CI community in general has gotten way too clever for their own good on this topic of problem creation, and they use that complexity to convince you that all you need is another of their workshops or conferences. There is no one right way to do this work.
So we can say that (1) story starters are the same thing as ICI problems and (2) they are found in the prompts on the back of the ICI pages that the kids draw, along with their individually created characters’ fears and secrets.
So the best answer in story creation using the Invisibles is to use the three prompts of problem, fear and secret. Pick one and introduce it – it is usually the problem – when you get to QL5.
Do note that things are different, and less impactful, when you are working with OWIs, which usually end up with a more vague problem, which is why I always say that ICIs are more effective and more engagingl than OWIs.
I won’t go into it here anymore than this because what I wrote above really answers what used to be, for years and years in my case, a real conundrum: how to create a good problem in a story. The “story starter” answer is my best – and simplest – answer.
(No longer do we need to worry about how the story is going to pan out, and if it fails, who cares? We’re delivering CI and that is all we have to do, not compete for the title of Coolest CI Teacher in the World.)
For more ideas you might look in the Q and A pages, which you probably haven’t gotten to yet since they are at the end of the Supplements.
I have been asked many times why I put the “ICI to Story” category (E) earlier in the year than the “OWI to Story” category (F) and my answer is that with Category E you get the problem, fear or secret, which guarantees an easy problem, whereas with Category F you don’t get that guarantee.
One more thought to answer your question about waiting for a better problem that the class might suggest: of course do that. If the class suggests a better problem, take it! But the beauty of the point made here is that you at least don’t have to stand there in front of the class wondering if a problem will occur or not.