What is Dan Harmon’s Story Circle? And How to Use It (with Examples)

The art of telling a story is ultimately narrowed down to its basic structure. And Dan Harmon’s Story Circle is an example of one of many story structures. These different structures can be fantastic, invaluable guides for writing a screenplay. And so in this article, we’ll break down Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, showing how it can help you in your screenplay and demonstrating how it looks in action, using some examples.

What Is Dan Harmon’s Story Circle?

American writer, Dan Harmon, most known for the popular comedy series, Rick & Morty, created a simplified version of The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. The Hero’s Journey was first depicted in Campbell’s book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces in the mid-20^th century.

The structure of The Hero’s Journey consists of twelve steps, where the hero delves out of their ordinary world into a special world and is faced with tests and obstacles, meeting allies and enemies on the way with multiple turning points.

Dan Harmon’s Story Circle depicts eight steps for the protagonist to travel into this special world. The Story Circle is also known as The Story Embryo as each step represents a new change in the story.

The Circle is split into two halves horizontally and vertically.

• The vertical line down the middle represents the character’s internal change.
• The horizontal line across the middle represents the character’s external change.

How Dan Harmon’s Story Circle Works

The right side of the vertical line represents a balance of order or a state of equilibrium, where the character is stuck in the normal world and has yet to face the change. The left side of the vertical line represents a character’s changing transformation. Entering out of the normal world into the special world.

The top half of the horizontal line represents a state of order, where everything is in control within the hands of the protagonist. The bottom half of the horizontal line represents a state of chaos, where the extraordinary world brings unknown trials that will challenge the protagonist and test their strengths and weaknesses.

Crossing the bottom half of the circle represents the character change, where the protagonist leaves their special world in a completely different position and state to when they entered that new world. They face new revelations and observe their new selves.

When the first threshold is crossed the character loses. When the second threshold is crossed, they will have learnt enough to beat the antagonist.