Plot board screenshot of The Story Circle
If The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the best known storytelling structure, Dan Harmon’s Story Circle is giving it a run for its money. Dan Harmon, best known for shows like Community and Rick and Morty, devised a storytelling structure that is quite similar to Campbell’s, but breaks it down into its most basic moments. Each beat can be summed up in a single word that leaves plenty of room for the individual writer to explore their characters and world.
Beats
Act 1:
- You: The protagonist is established.
- Need: But they need something to feel fulfilled.
- Go: The protagonist sets out on their journey.
Act 2:
- Search: They embark on the adventure to try and find the fulfillment.
- Find: And they do find it.
- Take: However, in the taking they often experience misfortune or a realignment of their priorities.
Act 3:
- Return: The protagonist returns to their old world.
- Change: And demonstrates that they have changed through their experiences of the story.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Exceedingly easy to understand. Even by remembering the eight key words you will have a basic idea of the shape of a good story. Anything else is icing on the cake.
- It leaves plenty of room for the writer to get creative. Unlike other structures, Harmon leaves the specifics up to the individual writer.
- It encourages further exploration. The beats are deceptively simple. Once you get into the meat of tackling them you begin to understand why these beats function, rather than just being told by a structure.
Cons:
- This structure may be too open for some.
- It also purposefully skimps on detail which isn’t very helpful for writers who want to read about why these beats work.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Use Case: Harmon’s goal was ostensibly to make a structure that anyone can use. I think it requires some base level knowledge of storytelling structure first, but it’s fantastic once the suitable foundations have been laid.
An example of Dan Harmon’s Rick and Morty being examined under the Story Circle can be found here.
