Structures of a Story: Going in circles

So far in this series, we've looked at ways to conceptualise narrative structure along a line, whether it's a basic rise and fall of tension or something a bit more interesting. This week, we're going in a different direction and thinking about circularity!

Rings make for another popular way to conceptualise a narrative's shape. They are, naturally, a more comfortable fit for stories with a "coming home" element, where the characters return as changed people to their starting point, whether that return is geographical, social, emotional, or via some other way.

The most well-known circular structure is the Hero's Journey, which was initially developed to chart patterns in a number of myths from different cultures. Despite the universality suggested by its marketing as a monomyth, the Hero's Journey has proven to be somewhat less than one-size-fits-all, so the general idea has been adapted and reworked into more thematically specific or simplified alternative structures. One commonly-used alternative is Dan Harmon's Story Circle, which tightens up the beats from the Hero's Journey and internalises the movement more.

Like the Seven-point Story Structure, circular narratives are focused less on building tension and more on building character development. They work particularly well for the journey of a single character as opposed to an ensemble (note "Hero's" Journey), centring on how the events of the story create lasting changes to that character.

The Hero's Journey

The genesis of the famed Hero's Journey is in the studies of Joseph Campbell, who noticed a structural pattern in the myths he was studying and codified it into an analytical framework which he somewhat presumptively labelled the monomyth. This monomyth idea was then adapted by Christopher Vogler into a much more practical twelve-step writing tool, which will be what you've seen in all the infographics.

The twelve stages of the Hero's Journey are divided into three acts. The first act is the departure, where the character leaves their old life behind. The ordinary, familiar world is established, and the character hears the call to adventure. They start by refusing the call, but then they meet a mentor figure and cross the threshold into the new life of adventure.

At this point, the story moves into the second act: initiation. This is when the character begins to face tests and meet allies and enemies. As the challenges get tougher and the stakes get higher, the character approaches their goal and prepares to face their biggest ordeal yet. It's a difficult struggle, and when the character comes out of the side with their reward, they have been changed by it.

This change propels the story into its third act, where the character makes their return. They start on the road back to normality, but are stopped by the resurrection of antagonistic forces―which are now stronger than before. The character struggles even harder to defeat their enemy than they needed to last time, and the change that had begun in them after the previous ordeal comes to fruition. Now the character may finally return to their former life, irrevocably changed and wiser for their experiences.

The Hero's Journey is an epic structure based on epic stories. It works well for narratives that echo the grandeur of great legends, but it requires you to have a distinct hero to focus on. This structure also tends to build stories that have a lot of heft to them, and isn't terribly streamlined, so if you don't like heavy plotting organisation this probably won't be for you.

Dan Harmon's Story Circle

The Hero's Journey might be all well and good for full-length films or fantasy series, but in episodic television shows there isn't time to go into all of that journeying. Dan Harmon, the screenwriter and producer behind hit shows like Community, developed his own version that simplified the circle and could be implemented more easily, especially in a collaborative and fast-paced creative environment.

Instead of twelve stages, Harmon's Story Circle has eight, and rather than a three-act division uses a dichotomy of order and chaos to organise the narrative events. The story begins in a state of order, establishing the central character in their comfort zone. However, there's something that the character needs (or really wants) which provides motivation for them to cross the threshold into the unknown―into chaos. The character searches for the thing they need, facing challenges and adapting to the new chaotic normal. They achieve what they want (yay!), but must pay a price for it (boo!). Now they can return to their starting point, back into order, but they have changed in the process.

This structure is a lot less bulky than the Hero's Journey, though it takes a similar narrative path. It's a more flexible option because of this simplicity, but also less epic in scale. You can tell much shorter stories with it, and stories with smaller stakes. Instead of saving the world, your protagonist might just be saving face in front of their neighbours. Nevertheless, it is still focused on the way that your central character goes out into the story and returns to normality having been changed by the events that happened.