When we seek to classify something, we try to narrow its definition, such as when we ask if something is animal, vegetable, or mineral. When classifying problems that might be of concern to the Story Mind, the first thing we might want to know is if the problem is an external issue (such as an intolerable situation) or an internal one (such as a bad attitude). External problems occur in the environment, a Situation (Universe). Internal problems occur in the mind, a Fixed Attitude (Mind).

Further, some problems don't have to do with states of things (an external situation or an internal attitude) but are processes that have gone awry. An external process

falls in the category of Activity (Physics), which simply means physical activity of some kind. An internal process that results in a problem has to do with Manipulation (Psychology), which simply means a manner of thinking. Note that a manner of thinking (Psychology) is different from a fixed attitude (Mind). Manipulation (Psychology) describes problems like spending too much time with details, whereas Mind problems would be more like a prejudice.

Having identified four categories by which we might classify the nature of the Story Mind's problem, we can arrange them in a quad pattern, much as we did earlier with the Character Elements.

Since these four categories classify the problem, Dramatica refers to them as CLASSES.