Dan Harmon Story Circle | A Simplified Plot Structure 

Wow @.@ the circle truly is everywhere. I loved seeing this laid out!

Cloud Kitten Chronicles, hehe, really enjoyed the video and subscribed to the channel.

Sorry about that. Not really anything I can do now though. On the plus side the circle transitions are only used in this video and none of my other ones

@@CloudKitten haha no worries I really did enjoy what you had to say

haha same, I got dizzy 3 minutes in

I got so dizzy. I had to look away and just listen to her voice lol

The transitions was so annoying that makes me only listen to the áudio. Worst idea ever

Thank you my good sir! It's a pain when I need to find a book and can't remember the spine color, but it certainly has its perks

Thank you!

Thanks. Well done. Helped me to see the flow ...

Thank you soooo much for this comment. I saved it to the folder I look at when I need to feel inspired lol. My videos take a ton of work but every comment like this makes it feel so much easier. (PS: I thought I replied to this but RU-vid claims I have not, so if this is a duplicate, I apologize lol )

THIS ^

Oh yeah, I bet this structure pairs great with novellas and I'm happy you have a method that works for you. If you ever get bored or have a story that needs something a bit different, check out my video on Kishotenketsu. It's a 4 beat east Asian based story structure that will feel super unique to Western audiences and is excellent for any story involving a mid-point twist. There are so many cool structures out there. I really need to get around to finding them all.

This is so cool to hear because I thought this structure would work well for TV but have only written novels myself. So it's great to hear it's useful for TV from someone who actually writes it! And thank you so much for the kind comment. When the algorithm buries or ignores videos I've put countless hours of work into, it can be discouraging. But it's comments like this that keep me going ❤ thank you for that

In some making of videos and interviews Dan Harmon describes making a circle for every character that is important or returning in the story line. He describes one of his writers during an episode of community with a lot of characters in a room covered wall to wall with story circles, like a serial killer's bedroom.

Moreheroes ok thanks I will try and find. I’m working on a short animated anthology of a random story every episode kinda of like tales from the cryptkeeper but a 1v1 (heroVSvillain) usually with the villain as the protagonist. Trying to find research to see if they both get a story wheel or only the protagonist?

KM weilwands creating character arcs book describes corruption arcs where neutral or good characters buy into a larger lie or corrupted truth, while being tempted towards and resisting the good

Yes villians are human in my world..I'm actually 40 pages into a criminal drama focus on a criminal survival and downfall in his environment which he is a product of. It's not a origin story hell it's picks up him already being a robber😂 but he got a family etc I just interested in giving bad unlikely guys the same treatment we do to the heros.

So yeah I'm doing his journey I guess to survive and get out his environment.

Plus Rick & Morty bonus points for the win ALWAYS

You are so very welcome. It would have been wrong to cover the topic with no mention of Rick & Morty or Rachel Stephens

Thank you so much for the kind comment ❤ you are wonderful!

You're very welcome! This is the nicest comment I've seen today so thank you a lot.

That's awesome!!! Story is the best way to connect with people and I've heard of story circle being used in commercials, but I never would have thought to apply a structure to a product. That's brilliant! I'm so happy I was able to help and wish you the best of luck with your product, it seems to be in great hands.

Thank you!!! I'm always looking for places to improve. I find video editing so fun ❤

Thank you! We stopped using it due to high audience drop off but it hurts me every time I skip it

@@CloudKitten well I love your work! Thank y'all for everything you do!

I swear this video isn't sponsored lol

@@CloudKitten XD

You're very welcome!

The power hours are always so funny.

You're very welcome!

Thanks for sharing! This is a really great method and is pretty similar to what got me through Aletheia. I started with the big scenes I had pictured and then arranging it on the structure helped me find where the blanks were and gave me ideas for how to fill it in. Notecards and the floor ftw (if you have cats using Trello or Campfire Write might be advisable, I lost so many hours to scattered cards lol)

Campfire is great! But Drawio can do the trick for those in need.

thank you

Rachel Stephen is probably singlehandedly responsible for like 20% of all people using plot embryo lol It's beautiful

You are so welcome! And thank you so much for this uplifting comment

Oooh interesting I didn't know that about Loki. I did a follow up video to this using Rick and Morty as an example. I'll have to look into using Loki for another one, it has been on my to-watch list. And yeah I definitely agree, this works best for short term content.

And this is an incredible comment. Thank you!

I'm so glad to hear it!!! I actually have a video going up on Friday about the 3 act structure so I've been researching screenplays this week. It's really neat that the screenplay centered structures can translate so well to novels. I'll have to give screenplay writing a try one of these years.

Glad you enjoyed it!

You are so very welcome. I think this is an excellent structure for short film. Hopefully it works out for you. Don't hesitate to drop a comment if you have any video requests for issues I might not have covered yet

You are so very welcome

Sorry. I don't use it on any other videos though, so if you want a similar video I covered the Story Circle in Rick and Morty, and also I have a video summarizing the most popular story structures, which includes story circle.

Yeah plot embryo brings to mind some odd visuals lol Josh loves Game Grumps and I often watch them with him. They have some interesting conversations and are overall a funny pair lol.

This is defenitely on my to-do list. I just had really bad video retention last time I covered examples in the same video as the structure so I split it up this time and haven't decided on a movie to break down yet. Do you have any suggestions? The circle can be applied to most movies but that makes choosing one that much harder lol

@@CloudKitten took me a minute to think of a movie that isn't as simple as some action movies... And it made me realize I would love to see how the circle applies to Parasite! The ideas in that film are much less obvious, which I think would make for a very interesting dissection.

I think I was trying to show in the editing stage that I was wrong for saying "mammals" since corvids are so intelligent but I should really have added some text to clarify lol

I have a BS in biology, I swear

You're welcome!

Sorry about that, no one had issues until about 5k views in when it was too late to pull. I appreciate you sticking around in podcast mode though

What the heck is oi vey

Thank you for the feedback. The circle transitions were actually unique to this video because they match the theme of story circle. I almost never use them in my other videos

@@CloudKitten Really excited to read your novel, you clearly have done your research on narrative structures! :)

Most defenitely. I actually just released a super comprehensive video on Josepu Campbell's Hero's Journey. But I do think for many people a less cluttered structure better serves screenwriting

The worst part about not drinking Pepsi and only watching Netflix is I literally didn't notice until all of you commenting 😂

The standard practice for series (not a hard rule, just what's consistently worked well), is to have each book be a whole narrative arc, but then each series also have a grand, overarching arc (no pun intended). As most book series have an initially vague but grand problem that is slowly addressed throughout all the books. And this can be done in tons of different ways, but it seems to work best when one of the two arc types (series vs books) follows a more loose flow and the other gets more specific, just because layering two complex structures can get overly complicated and could distract you from telling the story you're trying to tell. So, for example, a trilogy might have individual books that follow more detailed paths (such as hero's journey or story circle), but then the series overall follows a 3 Act Structure approach where book 1= set up, book 2 = set back, and book 3 = climax. As a more specific example, in How to Train Your Dragon each film has a complete arc focusing on its own message/problem (Save the Cat probably best matches it), but then you also have the trilogy overall which focuses on the problem of humans trying to co-exist with dragons where film 1 is the intro to the problem, film 2 shows an attempt at a solution and the cost of its shortcomings, and film 3 shows the bittersweet but ultimately necessary solution. IE: Setup, Conflict, Resolution. I can't think of an example of two complex and layered structures off the top of my head, but I am sure they exist. And of course some stories do just split a single structure, though it's hard to do this without leaving an unsatisfied audience. As a good way to experience this from the audience side of things, look for book to movie adaptions where the movie was done in parts and then watch just one part and analyze how it stands on its own assuming release gaps. The Hobit movies, Allegient Part 1 (RIP part 2, victim to the split plot problem), and Hunger Games Mockingjay. Harry Potter 7 suffers a little from this, but contains so much information that it distracts from a lot of the hollow feeling that can result from split plots. I think at the end of the day it matters a lot less how you layer narrative structures, and a lot more that you are telling satisfying plot progressions and character arcs that satiate an audience enough to get them through the waiting period between releases. So it's a lot more about content density and progression than anything else, but those two things _are_ easiest to manage when you use narrative structures as guidance.

Alas it is not. A quick Google search tells me that is from Star Trek which I have yet to watch. Rather the earring is just a cool style I found and liked. Not super common a style but not super rare either

Still it looks really similar in my opinion

Oooooh I really want to apply this to Avatar episodes now @.@

I legit have the game grumps clip on hand to use whenever I need to demonstrate something crashing down lol it is the best

It's just two pieces of stock footage stitched together.

The circle of life? *queue you having lion king songs stuck in your head all day*

I still don't know how that happened. I think I was supposed to make a joke or correction there in post production to point out that I discounted birds in scripting. But then the text overlay never made it in. Or my script said "animals" and I read it as mammals but edited the video using the script as my main guide... I have a bachelor's degree in biology and my undergraduate research study was constructing a site to track and display the taxonomy of local wildlife. And honestly, I'm not sure if that makes this odd error more or less embarrassing lol

You might be the only person with the power to survive the 35 minute video I'm dropping next week. You are the chosen one.

I don't see why that makes this any less useful as a guide to new writers struggling with plotting and pacing. And different writers connect with different formats even if they all lead to the same place and take most of the same steps. If it helps people, that's what matters.

@@CloudKitten Let me give another example from outside writing. Many years ago, I read an article in a music magazine comparing the actions, or physical key press feel, of several weighted keyboards. What the author of the article didn't know, was that the whole mechanical key setup for every one of them, was made by the same company, and had the same part numbers inside. This didn't stop anyone from having detailed preferences.

Congrats on the awards!! That's awesome! It does seem so far like Save the Cat applies best to screenwriting, story circle to TV and short stories, and the Hero's journey to books. At least based on the comments I've recieved on each of those videos. As a novel writer I've definitely found hero's journey most helpful for my needs.

Pantsing refers to writing by the seat of one's pants. In other words writers who wing it, write by instinct, and don't plan out the whole trajectory of their stories. It's a spectrum but you could say it's the opposite of outlining.

I'm thinking I might start using it for that. That's such a good idea. Because it's short and sweet, and side characters need something short and sweet.

I think you are correct and I apreciate your efforts ❤

I'm not sure if this comment is positive on the story circle or not lol but you aren't wrong. I think that's why the circle is great for people who want the most minimal influence while still having a rough guide to follow. I think it also makes it good for short form like short stories or even TV show episodes (which isn't surprising as it's what Dan Harmon writes). I prefer to start with a Hero's Journey base but I've been writing 150k+ novels so a more detailed base ends up minimal in translation

@@CloudKitten don't worry. Its positive. I was just surprised that dan made this super simple.

Pixar supposedly has their own structure they use internally which is similar but somehow even simpler than story circle. I've considered covering it a few times though it would be a short as hell video. Supposedly it is as follows: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

Sorry about that, I was trying to go with the circle theme but didn't factor in some people might get dizzy. Rest assured I almost never touch the circle transition in my other videos, and generally stick to a super quick and simple flat blur swipe.