The Story Circle
Dan Harmon · 2009 · 8 stages
Harmon distilled the Hero's Journey into 8 steps arranged in a circle. Designed for TV episodes and short-form narrative, it's the most compressed and practical version of the monomyth. Each step is a single verb or phrase.
You (A character is in a zone of comfort)
Establishment of the character and their status quo.
Psychologically: Persona territory: comfort zone, adapted self.
connects to: The Persona
Need (But they want something)
A desire or need disrupts the comfort zone.
Psychologically: The psyche's demand for growth: compensation beginning.
connects to: Individuation
Go (They enter an unfamiliar situation)
The character crosses into unknown territory.
Psychologically: Ego entering unconscious territory.
Search (Adapt to it)
The character struggles and adapts to the new situation.
Psychologically: Ego building new capacities in unfamiliar psychic territory.
Find (Get what they wanted)
The character achieves their goal.
Psychologically: Contact with the unconscious content that was being sought.
connects to: The Self
Take (Pay a heavy price for it)
The achievement costs something. There's always a price.
Psychologically: The sacrifice required for individuation: the old self must die. Shadow confrontation.
connects to: The Shadow
Return (And go back to where they started)
The character returns to the familiar world.
Psychologically: Bringing the transformation back to ordinary life: integration into the Persona world.
Change (Having changed)
The character is different. The circle is complete but the character is not the same.
Psychologically: Individuation made visible: the personality has been enlarged by the journey.
connects to: Integration · Circumambulation