When working from an invisible character with both physical and psychological characteristics that have originated in the group – either as a one word image or individually created image, depth and interest are generated in that character. Students become authentically involved with what is going on in class because the characters reflect genuine concerns that the students have about life.
Even the best scripts (those from Anne Matava are unmatched) cannot approach the levels of engagement that are generated by a problem that emerges from the students right in front of us. If we can somehow find the courage to allow our students, through their characters, to guide our storytelling boat through the waters of metaphor and into the depths of shared unconscious experience, we will see something.
If we can find the courage to jump into the waters of unplanned stories with strong images and characters whose characteristics suggest strong, real problems, we will be continuously and pleasantly surprised about the depths of what is possible in our Invisibles classrooms.
However, there is nothing wrong with ending a story at any time when it is not progressing well. In general, it is better to let the story go and move right to the reading and then on to the Extend phase of the Star than to push the development of a flat character. That is because if the character is flat, then the story and all the star chart activities that follow it will be flat.
