How to Build an External Plot 

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Every-time I structure a script or come up with an idea , Tyler’s speech pattern comes to my brain. I write how he speaks

Love this, definitely clears up the external side of writing stories. Would it be possible to get a video squarely discussing how to generate the internal side as well? Have you already made one about it?

Depends on the genre. John Truby gives 15 to 20 beats for each of the 14 main genres in his new book Anatomy of Genres.

This break down is good because it shows that the person holding the want doesn't have to be the main character, I'm guessing in star wars that character is Princess Leia until later on when Luke becomes more proactive in the story

Dude I’m TELLING ya, keep making videos like this where there’s visual aid, more video essay esk, as aposed to you just talking to the camera and your channel is going to skyrocket!!!

Hi Tyler I’d like to tell you that because of your teachings I made a short film called tremble and people really did like it, thank you for your teachings will always stick with them.

Man, this video just made it click instantly. Your previous videos were awesome but I struggled when it comes to applying the circle... I applied it effortlessly after watching this video. Can't wait to see how my short turns out. Thank You.

love the new template your using, is easy and more to understand than the previous one

Great video! Will you, in the future, go through more examples on building iconic characters using that 4 corner op potion method? Maybe using a few more examples to help solidify it (ie Breaking Bad, Batman The Dark Knight, etc...films/series you've used many times to help illustrate your point). Also, and this is just an idea, could you do a video series using all the methods/theory to build a story, from beginning to end? I think it would help TREMEDOUSLY as usually, these analysis/theory videos are great but I think the missing piece is actually showing us how YOU (the narrator) apply them to a story you're building.

Thanks T. The Outer plot - story circle. The squel.

You read my mind Tyler. This is precisely what I need right in my story now. Thank you.

I've watched your videos at least 2-3 times and each time I learn a few new things

i don't know how to thank you for this incredible knowledge you share with us

How to incorporate philosophical conflict into this

I think 1 & 2 Can be combined. As we meet our character we quickly find out what their goals and dreams are. It’s part of their character. Even in the example you gave we quickly find out what Fury wants. Steps 1 & 2 can easily be fused together.

You: In Japan, heart surgeon. Number one. Steady hand. Want: One day, yakuza boss need new heart. I do operation. Go: But mistake! Yakuza boss die! Yakuza very mad! Search: I hide fishing boat, Find: come to America. Take: No English, no food, no money. Return: Darryl give me job. Now I have house, American car and new woman. Darryl save life. Change: My big secret. I kill yakuza boss on purpose. I good surgeon. The best!

Finally I get what do you mean by "return" in act 8. These whole times, I wasn't able to understand what do you mean by "return" in act 8.

Damn this is exactly what I needed today

Man simplified a simplified version of the hero’s journey… respect.

i kinda like the dora the explorer type beat of the narration made me feel involved ngl

This is a great video clearly explaining everything to build an intriguing story. Also, if you try and click back and forth on the start of Sam Jackson getting out of the chopper when character starts, there's color video rendering issues. Maybe it's just me idk.

I think the piece that’s often confusing with these structures is the spacing they’re presented with. Each segment on the circle is the same length, when in a real story the 6-7-8 is likely compressed into as much space as 2-3 or 3-4, and 4-5 + 5-6 are probably the longest segments

Perhaps I have to re think this. Number 2, to me, is the inner. Think chris Parker, ' adventures in baby sitting. 2 equals romance.equals number8. Home equals number 7. Get home safe and sound( including car) Homefree is her new fufilled love interest.8. or take Mcarty Mcfly. Number two equals success. For himself and his family. Act 3. Bk to a transformed furture

can you make this same video for internal plot as well?

Yeah, but where's that darn cat? ;)

This is amazing this is good for understanding my characters in seasons and individual episodes.🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Thank you for this clarification. Much appreciated

Can this be applied to a TV show format?

One movie that does this almost perfectly is the original Kung Fu Panda. Po wants to basically be part of the Furious Five and learn Kung Fu, then gets picked as the Dragon Warrior (Initial Problem) and actually tries to be part of the Kung Fu Temple (Initial Action), and when he Gets what he wants even if he knows that he has only failed until then, Tai Lung frees himself from prison wanting to beat the Dragon Warrior (Pivotal Problem) and finally Shifu, Po's master, find the correct way to train Po and Po commits to it (Pivotal Action) and finally Po learns the truth about the Dragon Scroll and Changes, which enables him to finally be able to face Tai Lung and win.

I was curious to see if youd mention the triggering incident, followed by the first surprise which is supposed to commence Act 2. Then theres the false resolution. The O Yes moment followed by the O S moment, the second surprise- the big one, reversal of fortune.Thats in turn is followed by the climatic scene. If they fail, greek tradady perhaps. If they suceed, it catapults them bk home, number 7. And,if they get what they need, inner,number 8. Homefree .

That is, the eight parts of the story apply separately to each of the three Acts (or maybe each of parts of Act II) as well as the entire story, which has its own circle. Michael Hauge's model (which has 11 components as I remember) seems to apply to the entire story and is divided among the three acts according to a certain formula (as when he analyzes "Gladiator"). But with Harmon circles, the writer should try to come up with eight beats (for the protagonist) for each of the three Acts (total of 24) as well as aggregated 8 beats for entire script. Is this correct? Might be a good question for another video.

Hmm, yes, cool, for normal movies. Systemic change, how to tell that story? Here's the thing, many real world issues are systemic, not a clear evil one can battle and expect problem solved after a victorious battle. Yet always this same story gets boring, and predictable. But how to have heroes change a system, like racism, money in politics, global pollution, homelessness. There's inspiring movies about tiny victories, but I don't know of any movie solving such issues. I do know of movies that show how killing a system can be, from 'I Daniel Blake' to 1984, and many more. And when you think 1984, have heroes beat the dictatorship, like in hunger games, no, Stalin beat the Tsar and that was not an improvement. So, systemic change, how to tell that story? When the world wants to solve global pollution, we need stories about that, not more 'one final fight solves all'.

This has helped clarify my understanding of the story circle more than anything else I've watched. Thanks

I think people should just check the standard 3-act story structure. not much diff with harmon's story circle and easier to understand

Way too confusing

There is an animated show called Pantheon you should do a video on it, the writing of the ideas and the way the story progress its one of the best things I've ever seen

So what if the character’s external want ends up being the wrong thing for them and/or isn’t obtained in the end? Is that solely a matter of execution?

Yes, I will practice this. Thank you!

Great episode, Tyler! Cool idea to make the story circle as a color wheel with complementary colors and so on!

Thank You Tyler you're The Best teacher

I look forward to checking this out because I've made good progress on my story, identifying the central conflict and having an ending in mind; I need help getting there. Harmon story circle is really useful as it is just the Hero's journey which for me personally, reading the Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler has helped a lot. Thank you very much for posting this. Always push yourself and never give up.

Sorry, but I don't think Avenger or any superhero movie has good plot. They have nostalgia feel and known characters, played by with famous superstars. Although the structural concept is good and very helpful for beginner writers for sure. :)

How do you create characters and then give them some emotional meaning. I dont wanter a pixar kind of arc but more like Logan