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Watch: The Dan Harmon Story Circle Explained

JOSEPH CAMPBELL STORY STRUCTURE

The universal language of storytelling

There are two universal languages. One is math...the other is story. Storytelling is built into the human experience. It's how we pass on our history, where we can learn how to live, and answer questions about "right" and "wrong."

It doesn't take a PhD in English Lit to understand what makes a story good or bad. We all know what a story should do, even if we can't articulate it. Perhaps the most common storytelling element that "makes or breaks" a story is a story structure.

Our goal for today is to lay out one such narrative formula: the Dan Harmon Story Circle. Let's start with a quick definition.

STORY CIRCLE DEFINITION

What is Dan Harmon's Story Circle

The Dan Harmon Story Circle is a story structure divided into eight distinct parts following a protagonist's journey. Also called "The Story Embryo" or "Plot Embryo," these 8 steps follow a character's pursuit of a goal outside of their normal world. Their inevitable return finds them changed, whether or not they achieved their goal.

Writer and director Dan Harmon is most known for his work on Community and Rick and Morty.

8 STEPS IN THE DAN HARMON STORY CIRCLE:

  1. You — A character is in a zone of comfort,
  2. Need — But they want something.
  3. Go — They enter an unfamiliar situation,
  4. Search — Adapt to it,
  5. Find — Get what they wanted,
  6. Take — Pay a heavy price for it,
  7. Return — Then return to their familiar situation,
  8. Change — Having changed.

Granted, the eight steps of the Story Circle above are extremely simplified. We will cover each of these in more depth but you should already have a general idea of how the Story Circle works. Here's a diagram that shows both the ordering and the shape of this structure.

DAN HARMON STORY CIRCLE

Step One: You

The essence of the "You" step is to establish the protagonist of the story. It doesn't always need to be a single person. It could be a family or a team. This is our introduction to our main character(s), an opportunity to see them before the story truly begins.

This is important in creating a compelling character arc. A huge part of storytelling is the "change" the protagonist makes during their journey. In this stage, we firmly establish their character arc so we can assess this change at the end. This is also the time to understand the context around the character — their world, its rules, and how they fit inside it.

Harmon Story Circle

Step Two: Need

Once we've been introduced to the protagonist and their world, the next step is to figure out what they "need." Something happens to our character that presents a problem or a question (in other words an inciting incident). This is when the story starts to take shape — if "You" is the who of the story, "Need" is the what.

This is where we learn the main goal of the protagonist, the pursuit of which will guide the rest of the story.

Plot Embryo

Step Three: Go

Needs drive us into action. The "Go" step marks the protagonist's first steps across the threshold in pursuit of the need. This is why you always hear "we need an active protagonist." If there is a "Need" but not a "Go," the story ends. When writing your own script, make your need so vital that it's impossible not to go.

Crossing this 3rd step is also when the protagonist enters the bottom half of the Story Circle. Leaving their normal world behind and officially entering the unknown.

Story Circle

Step Four: Search

Search is where things begin getting more complicated. Both concerning the story you are telling AND in terms of the process. The character can address the need by searching for an answer. Great stories don't always do this so literally. For Harmon's Story Circle, it works to keep it active and straightforward.

Harmon Circle

Step Five: Find

Eureka! The hero has searched and searched, and now he's found the Need that sent them on this journey. But is the story over? Nope. Because in a good story, the hero doesn't find what he needs.

He might have found what he wanted, but it turns out he needs something else. Something bigger. This is where [plot](/content/blog/what-is-a-plot/ /index.html) and character development often collide.

Dan Harmon's Story Circle

Step Six: Take

Take whatever you found! And escape with it! Campbell might call this part of the story circle the magic flight. Even though the hero successfully acquires their Need, it comes at a price. Even after their initial success, the protagonist(s) suffer heavily losses.

Story Circle Examples

Step Seven: Return

The return stage is coming into the home stretch. The character has brought back into the normal realm whatever they found and took. Be it a magical item, a person, a lesson...and as a result of this they...change.

Harmon Story Circle

Step Eight: Change

The change could be a personal one; it can be change to the world around them. In the instance of a movie or long story, it would be both.

Sometimes the change has opposite effects too. The world has changed for the better, but maybe the protagonist has changed for the worst. Playing with the change step can be interesting.

Closing up the Story Circle

Change is what makes it a good story. Change is the key to any story. The 8 steps built into the Dan Harmon Story Circle are designed to facilitate that change.

What do we do when we tell stories? In a basic, primal way, we try to grasp the changes around us. The changes that we can't control. Why do people die? Why does the sun rise each day?

Our stories are how we better understand the world around us. In a way, stories are how we help ourselves cope with change. Reminding ourselves over and again that change will happen, and life goes on.