The question is about how to best create the problem in Questioning Level 5. Here is a much better answer than the one given back then, which was mealy-mouthed:
Having utilized the One Word Image to create a detailed drawing of a character, we are most likely at that point to be about ten to twelve minutes into the story creation process. We don’t want to be more than fifteen minutes in at this point. It’s the perfect time for the problem. How to create it?
Develop the Physical and the Emotional Portrait at the Same Time – This Brings the Best Problems
The best way is to ask the kids when they first create their character, either individually or as a group, to also come up with a statement about why the character feels a certain way. Here are some examples from Tina’s classroom this past fall:
- Senorita Yummy was tasty in a box of French fries that were not tasty. She felt alone because the other fries were all jealous of her.
- A machete was sad because everyone was afraid of her. She was sad because she was a machete.
- A box of Kleenex that is disgusted because it hates germs. The box was disgusted because it didn’t want to be snotted.
- A lightning bolt that acts happy but she is really sad inside because she knows she can never be as hot as the sun. She only acts happy but she is not as pretty as she wants to be.
- A winter cap that hates summer because he knows he won’t be used. A cap feels useless.
- A jar of jam that wants to propose to a jar of peanut butter but doesn’t know how. A jar of jam doesn’t know how to express her wants to others.
We note here with close attention that these scenarios concerning the emotional state of each character were created by middle school students. The problems are sophisticated, interesting, deeply human. They are already created before the story started. When we get to needing a problem in level 5, we have it, pre-manufactured and ready to launch.
The kids will want to know what happens when problems like these are offered. The kids don’t care what we as teachers want them to care about. They only care about what they want to care about. We honor that, because they are children and because no one else on the planet is doing that while teaching them true things. We are going to sneak the language into their deeper minds while they do something much different – focus on the story. In that way, we are going to plummet the depths of the research and apply it for their highest benefit and with spectacular results in our classroom.
The point being made here is perhaps the single most important point in the Invisibles approach. When creating the character either individually or as a group we must go beyond just the physical image of the character being created to explore one emotion and the reason for that emotion. We develop the physical and the emotional portrait of the character at the same time, so to speak. Therein lies the secret to the Invisibles, because in doing so it links the character to archetypal patterns in the collective unconscious of the group.
Ending Flat Stories
If there is not some kind of tension in the story, if either the character or the emotion or the reason for the emotion are flat, we can just let the story end and go ahead and process everything we have up to that point using the reading options.
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 than to push the development a flat character. That is because if the character is flat, then the story will be flat.
To repeat, the very best problems and characters touch on archetypal, ancient, universal human truths, and thus tap into the collective unconscious mind of the group. This vaults the story easily to compelling levels.
Frederick had a horrific skeletal zombie appearance but craved love. He was isolated and alone. Everyone ran from him due to his frightening looks. And yet he craved love. How else can the teenager who created Frederick send that message to his peers but through his character? This is the obvious problem for this character and it taps into a universal adolescent concern.
Of course, it doesn’t always happen that a suitably compelling problem emerges from aspects of the character that has been chosen for the story that day, but when it does the story is far more compelling. We can ensure that we get a great story by strongly encouraging our students when they create their characters to include, beyond their physical characteristics, their emotional characteristics.
The recommended amount of time to spend deciding on what the problem will be in the story is 8-10 minutes.
