Storytelling Guide: Dan Harmon’s Story Circle Explained

The act of storytelling has always been with us. Anthropologist Joseph Campbell collected stories from around the world and discovered that they all share the same basic structure. Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” lays out each fundamental step in that story structure. Decades later, Dan Harmon drew on this idea to create the “Story Circle.” In Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, there are 8 basic steps that can guide almost any story from fade-in to fade-out.

The Universal Language of Storytelling

There are two universal languages. One is mathematics… and the other is story. Storytelling is part of the human experience. We use stories to pass down history, learn how to live, and answer questions about “right” and “wrong.”

You don’t need a PhD in English literature to know whether a story works. We all know what a story is supposed to do, even if we can’t clearly express it. Perhaps the narrative element that most often determines a story’s success or failure is story structure.

Our goal today is to spell out a narrative formula: Dan Harmon’s Story Circle. Let’s start with a simple definition.

What Is Dan Harmon’s Story Circle?

Dan Harmon’s Story Circle is a story structure broken into eight distinct parts that describe the protagonist’s journey. These eight steps, also known as the “story embryo” or “plot embryo,” map out the process by which a character leaves their everyday life to pursue a goal. Whether or not they achieve that goal, they ultimately return to normal life changed.

Screenwriter and director Dan Harmon is best known for Community and Rick and Morty.

The 8 Steps of Dan Harmon’s Story Circle:

1. You – A character is in a comfort zone,

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.

Admittedly, those eight steps for the Story Circle are very simplified. The image below shows the order and shape of the structure.

Why is the Story Circle a circle? Why isn’t it a straight line from Step 1 to Step 8? The circle gives the story an invisible momentum, almost like a roller coaster.

The protagonist starts at the top of the story and is destined to go through a symbolic descent, which is also a literal downward move on the Story Circle. At the bottom of the circle, the protagonist is at their “lowest point,” both literally and metaphorically, and their eventual rise to success is likewise presented visually in the Story Circle.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Harmon’s Story Circle is highly relatable. The stories we often tell naturally tend to follow Dan Harmon’s Story Circle. Harmon himself, the legendary writer, once explained the Story Circle and how it works in an episode of Rick and Morty.

You need to go, search, find, take, return, and change. These eight steps make up Dan Harmon’s Story Circle. Narrative is how we make sense of the world around us. You can also think of the Story Circle as a streamlined version of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! is another three-act structure that follows a similar path.

Campbell’s work had a huge influence on George Lucas in creating the most successful film series in history, Star Wars. You can also see Campbell’s influence in The Matrix, Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings.

Step 1: You

The essence of the “You” step is to establish the story’s protagonist. The protagonist doesn’t have to be an individual; it can also be a family or a team. This is our introduction to the main character and our chance to get to know them before the story truly begins.

This is crucial for building a compelling character arc. A key part of storytelling is the “transformation” the protagonist undergoes along their journey. At this stage, we clearly define the character arc so we can evaluate that transformation by the story’s end. At the same time, it’s a key period for understanding the setting the character is in—their world, its rules, and how they fit into it.

If we look at our case studies, we can see what the “You” step looks like:

• Toy Story — We meet Woody and see the joy he gets from being Andy’s favorite toy.

• Inception — We meet Cobb and learn that he’s a contractor who steals information from people’s subconscious.

• Star Wars — We meet Luke, stuck working on his uncle’s farm, longing to explore the wider universe.

Step 2: Need

Once we know the protagonist and their world, the next step is to figure out what they “Need.” Something happens to the protagonist that raises a problem or question (in other words, an inciting incident). This is when the story begins to take shape—if “You” is the “who” of the story, then “Need” is the “what.”

Here, we learn the protagonist’s main goal, and the pursuit of this goal drives the rest of the story.

• Toy Story — With the arrival of Buzz Lightyear, Woody needs to figure out how to become Andy’s favorite toy again.

• Inception — Cobb must decide whether to accept Saito’s job, which could give him a chance to go home to his children.

• Star Wars — When R2-D2 delivers Princess Leia’s message, Obi-Wan invites Luke to join him in delivering the Death Star plans.

Step 3: Go

Need pushes us to act. “Go” marks the protagonist’s first concrete step toward fulfilling that need. That’s why you always hear, “We need a proactive protagonist.” If there’s “Need” but no “Go,” the story is over. When writing your own screenplay, make the need so compelling that the character simply cannot resist acting.

Crossing this third step also means the protagonist enters the lower half of the Story Circle, leaving their original world behind and stepping into the unknown.

• Toy Story — After Woody knocks Buzz out the window, the other toys turn on him. Andy takes Woody to Pizza Planet.

• Inception — Cobb begins assembling a team to carry out Saito’s mission, including a new architect, a forger, and a chemist.

• Star Wars — After returning home to find his aunt and uncle murdered, Luke sets off for Alderaan with Obi-Wan.

Step 4: Search

The Search phase complicates things, both for the story you’re telling and for the process itself. Characters can, in theory, satisfy their Need by searching for answers. But strong stories rarely present this search in a straightforward way. In Harmon’s Story Circle, staying active and direct in the narrative is the key.

In an epic film or novel, “Search” is far more than just looking around. It means the protagonist must overcome a series of obstacles. This is where we really test whether the protagonist can achieve their goal.

• Toy Story — Woody finds Buzz, but they end up trapped in Sid’s house, facing imminent destruction.

• Inception — Cobb’s team is ambushed, Saito is shot, and they have no choice but to push forward with the plan.

• Star Wars — Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star, and the Millennium Falcon is captured by the Death Star’s tractor beam.

Step 5: Find

Found it! After a long search, the hero finally finds the thing that drove them onto this journey. But is the story over? No. Because in a good story, the hero doesn’t actually find what they truly need.

They might get what they thought they wanted, but it turns out they need something much bigger than that. This is often where plot and character development intersect.

• Toy Story — Woody plans to escape Sid’s house and talks with Buzz about the joy of being a toy.

• Inception — Cobb uses his target, Fischer, to help him enter deeper levels of his own subconscious, but Robert is killed and sent to Limbo.

• Star Wars — While planning to escape the Death Star, Luke and Han rescue Princess Leia from the detention block.

Step 6: Take

Take what you’ve found—and run! Campbell might describe this part of the story as “the magic flight.” Even if the hero succeeds in obtaining what they needed, there is a price. Even after initial success, protagonists often suffer great losses.

Depending on the genre, these “losses” might be temporary setbacks or the deaths of major characters.

• Toy Story — As Woody and Buzz try to get back to the moving truck, the RC car’s batteries die, leaving them stranded.

• Inception — To rescue Fischer and Saito, Cobb and Ariadne risk entering Limbo. Cobb ultimately lets go of his guilt over Mal’s death.

• Star Wars — During the escape from the Death Star, Obi-Wan sacrifices himself so the others can get away.

Step 7: Return

The Return stage is the approach to the end. The character brings everything they’ve found and taken back into the normal world. Whether it’s a magical object, a person, or a lesson, the result is that they have changed.

• Toy Story — Woody and Buzz make it safely back to Andy.

• Inception — Cobb and Saito wake up from Limbo and find themselves on the plane; their mission has succeeded.

• Star Wars — The Rebels attack the Death Star, and Luke succeeds in destroying it.

Step 8: Change

This change may be personal, or it may be a change in the surrounding world. In a film or long-form story, it’s often both.

Sometimes the change can even cut the other way. The world may be better off, while the protagonist has become worse off. Clever use of this step can be very interesting.

• Toy Story — Woody learns to coexist peacefully with Buzz Lightyear.

• Inception — Cobb lets go of his guilt and returns to his children.

• Star Wars — Luke grows from a farm boy into a Rebel pilot.

Ending the Story Circle

Change is what makes a good story. Change is the key to any narrative. The eight steps of Dan Harmon’s Story Circle are designed to facilitate that change.

What are we doing when we tell stories? At the most fundamental level, we are trying to understand the changes around us—changes we cannot control. Why do people die? Why does the sun rise every day?

We use stories to better understand the world around us. In a sense, stories are also how we cope with change. They constantly remind us that change will come, and life will go on.