Dan Harmon Story Circle: 8 Proven Steps to Better Stories

So writer/producer Dan Harmon tackled this problem.

He took centuries of storytelling principles and turned them into an easy-to-use guide for building a compelling story.

One circle. Eight steps.

Understanding good narrative structure won’t just make you a better writer.

It’ll make you a better storyteller.

Today, we’re going to look at Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’, a film with a seemingly complex plot, that we can break down into the 8 steps of the story circle.

The theory boils down to three sentences:

(1) A character is comfortable (2) but they see something they want, (3) So they head out into uncharted territory to get it (4) but have to change in order to succeed. (5) When they finally grasp it, (6) they pay a hefty price (7) and return to their original situation (8) having changed inside (and sometimes outside).

Keep watching and see how this applies to Batman!

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[JohnHarrisonForever]

It looks like Harmon's story circle is a slightly simplified adaptation of Joseph Cambell's "Hero's Journey" which is a narrative framework that pretty much every story ever told follows. If you're not aware of it, I definitely recommend reading up about it, it's pretty interesting stuff, and helpful to keep in mind while writing.

[shefsam]

Act I - Your get your character stuck up a tree
Act II - You throw rocks at him/her
Act III - You get 'em down
The End

[MuchSwagFunzies]

I think what people in the comments misunderstand is that the story circle isn't just one circle, it's a bunch of little circles throughout every step of the main circle. I guess you should have mentioned that. But that's how it is.

It's also worth noting that to make better use of this you have to understand where the "beats" are. A beat is a moment that drives the story forward, and it's scattered throughout the circle.

[louierubio]

A series where this is applied to hit movies and classics would be awesome

[immanuela]

Just when I was having writer's block on a script, this drops in my recommended. Thanks YouTube and StudioBinder!

[korkritdanpradit]

It should be :

1. You - Bruce/Batman
2. Need - He want to retire to be with his gf, so he need Harvey to succeed.
3. Go - He try to help Harvey, even got the Joker attention in the process.
4. Search - He try to adapt to win, try thinking like Joker only to find that the Joker is just an agent of chaos.
5. Find - He finally got a chance to kill/catch the Joker
6. Take - He catched the Joker, but loose his gf.
7. Return - Joker escape, Harvey turns bad, it’s up to him once again.
8. Change - Bruce don’t want to quit anymore, he must give more to fix everything. Kept Harvey in the light, while still doing what his gf believed.

Actually this video got most of them right, but the narrative made it confusing. It tried too much to incorporate all the storylines, while in fact, story circle tends to revolve around the arc of each character, not the sequences.

[BasicShapes]

_David Benioff has left the chat._
_D.B. Weiss has left the chat._

[Ze_No_One]

love the little touch of editing on that circle like a timer for each section, and all the editing ofc

[rrbcraftergames]

1. you protagonist
2. you need
3. you acts on his need
4. you finds his need
5. you takes
6. some twist happens
7. you returns
8. you change

[axl_is_alex]

This just helped me with my D&D campaign...Thank You!

[Minish]

This is really handy for stories where the focus is on a singular character as a protagonist, but I'm curious what happens when you have a secondary and tertiary protagonist mixed in...

[SomD]

"this circle can make you a better writer"

Me after watching: "OK SO MY CHARACTER IS NAMED MR PEANUT BUTTER"

[lazycat]

Look, in my opinion, people can do whatever they want. They could follow this model or they could not. It all depends on them and how well they do it. BUT, as some people say,

"You need to know the rules in order to break them."

[mythosESveritas]

in step #6 you said "you must push the antagonist to the brink, " I believe you meant protagonist

[harsyakiarraathallah]

-Who is the One that Drives this Story,
-What the One Needs,
-the First thing to do,
-Trials that the One Faces,
-Figuring out what the One want's,
-Failed and Lost Something,
-Making a Comeback,
-the Moment that Changes Everything,
-All Full Circle, and
-the Cycle Continues.

[ArthurMoore]

This is the most complex way of explaining that movie I’ve ever seen. Lol

[GeorgeLoch]

I look at Harmon's "Story Circle" or Campbell's "Hero's journey" as guidelines with many good ideas within. I, personally, don't see The Dark Knight neatly fall into a structure like this, but it simply contains elements of it. "Paying a price", for example, is a key element in Batman's growth as a character and I would say it's a defining characteristic. The irony that a silver-spooned billionaire chooses to subject himself to mental and physical anguish is about overarching outward goals (Save Gotham) and inward goals (Save himself from grief) throughout the trilogy. It's raw and relatable. So, yes, one of the "Circle's" elements are essential, but not sequential. It's just present. Thanks for the presentation. Kudos to the designer!

[alforeman]

Correction at 5:22 - "You have to push your *protagonist to the brink." Amazing work here! Thank you.

[nico_ventolini]

The circle may not apply to every story out there, but it does apply to every story in the top 30 all time box office hits. Which means, this structure is the most effective way to evoke emotion from the general audience.

[DippedInInk]

Need more breakdowns like this. The way they do storylines for anime/manga is amazing.