An eight-step circular story framework that distills the hero's journey into a simple, repeatable loop of change.
The story circle is a narrative structure that arranges a character's journey into eight sequential steps forming a circle: a character in a zone of comfort, who wants something, enters an unfamiliar situation, adapts to it, gets what they wanted, pays a heavy price for it, returns to their familiar situation, and has changed. The circular shape isn't just decorative. It emphasizes that the character returns to where they started, but transformed by the experience. The framework draws directly from Joseph Campbell's monomyth but strips away the mythological language to make the pattern accessible and practical for any kind of story.
The story circle works because it focuses on the one thing every compelling story needs: change. Whether you're writing a 90,000-word novel or a single scene, the circle gives you a reliable engine for creating movement and transformation. Its simplicity is its superpower. You can learn it in five minutes, apply it to almost any genre, and use it at multiple scales, from the overall arc of your book down to individual chapters.
Harmon famously used the story circle to structure every episode of Community, making it the most visible proving ground for the method in television.
One of the oldest story circles in existence. Odysseus leaves home, faces trials in an unknown world, and returns to Ithaca transformed by twenty years of wandering.
Marlin's story circle is textbook: comfortable in his anemone, driven by the need to find Nemo, crosses the ocean, adapts, finds his son, pays the price of letting go, and returns home a less fearful father.
The threshold crossing in step 3 needs real weight. If your character can just walk back to comfort at any point, there's no tension driving the rest of the circle.
Getting what you want should never be free. The price your character pays is what makes the transformation in step 8 feel earned rather than convenient.
The story circle tracks your character's internal journey, not just external events. Each step should reflect an emotional shift, not just a plot point.
The story circle works at every scale. Try applying it to individual scenes, chapters, or subplots. A single conversation can follow the eight steps if it involves genuine change.
Map your current work-in-progress onto the eight steps of the story circle. Write one sentence for each step describing what your protagonist experiences. If any step feels empty or forced, that's your story telling you where it needs more development. Then try the same exercise for a single chapter or scene to see how the circle works at a smaller scale.