Story Structure Using Dan Harmon’s Story Circle

There are more ways to structure a story than I find useful to think about. It’s something that when I was a young teen I thought I had under wraps because when I read the Hero With A Thousand Faces I understand every step and could identify every step in my own writing. I thought that was the end all be all of story structure because it applied to literally everything I’d ever seen. Then I came across the wealth and variety of different structures and saw how the rest of them didn’t come close to encoming every story I’d ever seen, but more concisely related to smaller subsections of storytelling. I’ll be blunt, this rocked me pretty hardcore. It made me question myself and my ability to tell stories for years. It was as if the flood gate of information that poured in just overwhelmed me and made me understand that everything I knew was a drop in the bucket of the reality of the situation.

For a long time that anxiety has plagued me. In recent years I have done more research than writing because of it. It drives me to write these articles, and to find the best information for organizing writing at the comparable atomic level. I understand this isn’t necessary for everyone. Really it isn’t. If anyone has ever made you feel that way do your best to ignore them. Everyone can write differently. Different methods exist for a reason, but there are certain methods and tools that are just so basic they deserve our undivided attention. To this end I present you all with the Story Circle, a tool created by one of the greatest modern artists Dan Harmon.

The story circle is based on Joseph Campbell’s A Hero With A Thousand Faces. If it isn’t something you are familiar with I suggest you at least look up YouTube videos of his interviews on the subject. They are very informative. If you are super into mythology then the book itself is an indisputable and great resource for understanding how mythology and religion trace back to similar roots, but I digress. Those are topics for my Fantasy writing series. Where the hero’s journey formula is a good generic scaffolding for a story Dan Harmon’s story circle is a tool that builds upon and simplifies it into a formula that gives us scaffolding, built in character arcs, and all in a form that can be used as a fractal to weave incredibly complex stories within stories.

In this blog I am only going over the structure itself and not all of its uses. If there is some interest I will go over the various ways you can apply this formula in later posts. But for not I’ll be working on combining this with the previous articles I’ve written on character development, and scenes and sequels to write a story for you all so you can see what it all looks like when assembled into a short story. For now though, let’s dig into the meat of the story circle and see why it is important to understand even if we elect not to use it.

The story circle consists of eight parts.

1: A character in a zone of comfort

2: But they want something

3: They enter an unfamiliar situation

4: Adapt to it

5: Get what they wanted

6: Pay a heavy price for it

7: Then return to their familiar situation

8: Having changed

Something I hoped you notice about the way these are labeled is that each of these steps is a summary instead of a typical label. I believe there’s a reason for that even if Dan Harmon doesn’t come out and say it himself when he discusses it. I think that reason is so that you can look at the list above and know what goes into each spot without having to think much about it. After all I haven’t even begun to explain what happens in each section and I bet you already have a solid idea of how it all works. Don’t you feel smart? You should. And if you don’t quite get it yet that’s fine. You’ll get it soon enough.

Another way Dan Harmon gives us to thing about is:

1:When you

2: Have a need

3: You go somewhere

4: Search for it

5: Find it

6: Take it

7: Then return

8: And change things

Each of this points fits into a corresponding point of a circle like the one pictured below.

The points correspond into two worlds. The overworld which is the world of light and life. It’s the world where life, order, and consciousness rule. It’s the place where your character feels at home because it is where their life just normally exists. Some call it the mundane world, but I think that cuts it short and gives us the wrong impression. Just think of it as your character’s normal reality and you will do fine. The second is the underworld which is the domain of darkness and death. This is the world where your hero faces challenges they never saw coming. It’s where their world gets turned upside down by the insanity that is the rest of the story. They meet their road of challenges head on, they enter the belly of the whale, they meet the goddess and take what they need, and then they lose something for it. This is the strange world dominated by death, the unconscious, and chaos. It’s the sagging middle of the story but it is some very important.

This is the visual structure of it all, and I think for most of us that says more about the structure than I can accurately describe. But before I move on there is one thing I would like to stress. When it is laid out like this it looks as if each segment is equal in length. It’s not the case. Usually the underworld segment takes up more space than the overworld. The brief introduction. The first five or so chapters of a novel and the last few chapters with the climax make up the overworld. The other majority of it takes place in the underworld. Where yours fits in may vary dramatically compared to others, but rest assured for almost all great writing the beginning and end that is the overworld makes up the minority of the story.

Now that the set up is over it’s all downhill from here. I’ll be briefly describing each segment from here on out. This is where you really need to take notes as this is the part you will need to reference the most often.

1: A character in a zone of comfort

This is the section where you focus in on and define who is the main character of the story. You use this section to let the reader know who it is they need to care about and show them in their normal world. The quicker you relate to the reader who it is they’re supposed to be in the head of the better.

2: But they want something

This is the section where we start to show that things aren’t perfect. In a romance this is where we see that the character is single or needs to find better taste in men and will soon be single because of it. In Star Wars this is where Luke sees the princess as a hologram. In your generic fantasy this is where we here about the king’s men massing to destroy your farmboy’s village and slaughter his family. This is where we create your hero’s need to move the plot forward. The goal of the story is introduced here. It doesn’t have to be the end goal of the story just what motivates your hero to get moving toward it.

3: They enter an unfamiliar situation

This is where we cross that threshold into the underworld. It’s where we begin to see that contrast between the hero’s normal world and the rest of the story. If we’re with out farm boy this is where the king has decimated his village while he was away. If this is Star Wars this is where Luke has just found out his aunt and uncle were murdered and Ben Kenobi gives him the chance to leave and the rebellion. If this is your Urban Fantasy story this is where your hero comes face to face with the realization that zombie, faery, werewolves are eating taxi cab drivers and they are the only one who can stop them. Point is this is where there is no turning back. You have just crossed the major threshold and it needs to feel like that.

4: Adapt to it

This is the part we know best as either the corny training montage that we should avoid or as the road of trials. Seriously, do not training montage. Just don’t. Do, however, give your hero a series of trials that they must face, fail, and repeatedly learn from. This is where you can shape your hero for the change they need to make to take down the villain in the end. You get to reveal the character flaw you are addressing and really make them suffer for holding onto it until they start to learn to let go.

5: Get what they wanted

At this point in Star Wars, Luke has rescued the princess and learned that he needs to take charge of his own destiny. It’s here where he really learns that he needs to believe in himself and his own abilities because we all have a role to play and none of us can afford to be second fiddle when the universe needs us at our best. In a quest story this is where you have broken into Hades’ vault and stolen the stone of rebirth or some other mystical artifact and now need to escape. Point is it’s almost just what it says you get what you want, but it’s also where your hero finds out what they want isn’t what they need. Sure they have the artifact, but does it do them any good if they die because of it?

6: Pay a heavy price for it

This part is one of the most deceptively complex of the entire process. Every goal has a price to be paid when you get it. In Star Wars this is where old Ben gets struck down. In our example with the hero descending into Hades’ vault it’s where the love of his life sacrifices herself so he may escape and save their village. The loss here is personal. It gives the hero the kick in the pants they need to iron out any wavering conviction they had about the real goal they need to be after and sends them careening into it full force.

In a sense this section is a second road of trials. Facing loss and steep opposition your hero must use what they learned in the first road of trials to survive and reach the overworld once more. This is where things get truly difficult and your hero must show that they are quickly mastering the change the needed to take down the big bad at the end of the story which is now fast approaching.

7: Then return to their familiar situation

This is what I like to think of as the climax before the climax. It’s where your hero absolutely must escape the underworld and they aren’t even about to just let them out. The big buddy’s henchmen are willing to pull out all the stops to keep your hero where they want them. This leads us to the end our circle and to the final showdown where our hero must show that what they have learned and sacrificed is enough to take down the villain and restore the world to working order again.

8: Having changed

Things are tough here. Your hero, your cast of heroes and the friends they made along the way now must use what they sacrificed for and the lessons they learned along the way to defeat the villain. Your character who refused to kill anyone and focused on redemption earlier needs to prove they understand some people can’t be saved and kill the villain. The one who went into it thinking that torturing innocent merchants to weed out the bigger corruption finally understands that he’s been played all along and that his boss is the bigger corruption. What’s more they take steps to eliminate them while showing mercy. Whatever character change we spent the story focusing on needs to take center stage. Sometimes this even means our hero needs to fail and the friends they learned to rely on over the course of the story need to step up and save the day.

They call this the master of both worlds because this is where the character proves they have what it takes to survive in both worlds and thrive because of it. The character has changed and this shows us that through cycles of failure and perseverance that we can overcome any odds, at least as long as our opposition remains stagnant.

This section finishes off our story and shows the world returning to normal. The big event is now over and the day is saved or at least salvaged. A lot of bad stuff happened along the way but through the power of character change the world is confident it won’t happen again, and if it does, and it inevitably will, they can remain confident that the hero can become the change they need to save them all.

I hope you can see why I consider this to be among the most basic story structures to there. It’s applicable to any story I have ever seen and can at the very least be used as a guide or prompt when you’re stuck and need a kick to what content should be where you are in your story.

If you need any clarification on any of the parts feel free to drop me a comment below and I’d be glad to help.

Do you have a favorite story structure? Is there a template you think is better than this? Let me know. I’d be glad to hear your opinions and maybe even learn a thing or two in the process.