#dan harmon's story circle

[yaraaltrospace]

Which is your style: Storytelling Structure/Writing Method

I identify as a Snowflake Methodist on the long run. Glad to know there was a name for my type of writing, tbh

More info about each here

Tag your fellow writer/storymaker/lorebuilder/OC tale developer pals!

I tag for starters: @ultfreakme and @janethepegasus!

[cinderella-ish]

JuJutsu Kaisen Story Structure: Prologue

To get ready for my series on JuJutsu Kaisen's story structure, I want to establish some basics.

First of all, I'll be using three-act structure as the primary basis of my analysis, but I might also look at some other formats, like Blake Snyder's Save the Cat, Dan Harmon's Story Circle, Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, Freytag's Pyramid, Kishotenketsu, and some others.

Second, it's important to know that the three acts of three-act structure are not of equal length. The first and third acts are 25% each, and the second act is the middle 50% of the story. For this reason, I'll be breaking the story down into quarters like so:

Act I

Act IIa

Act IIb

Act III

Last, timing obviously plays a big role in three-act structure! I don't want to talk about certain plot points until I've established where they fall in three-act structure, and what's *actually* there in JuJutsu Kaisen. To that end, here's a list of story arcs in JJK, and the chapters where they fall:

Fearsome Womb arc: chapters 1-18

vs. Mahito arc: chapters 19-31

Kyoto Goodwill Event arc: chapters 32-54

Death Painting arc: chapters 55-64

Gojo's Past arc: chapters 65-79

Shibuya Incident arc: chapters 79-136

Itadori's Extermination arc: chapters 137-143

Perfect Preparation arc: chapters 144-158

Culling Game arc: chapters 159-221

Shinjuku Showdown arc: chapters 222-271

Now, here is a list of major plot beats in three-act structure, and the point at which they typically fall in a story:

Hook: at the very beginning

Inciting event: 12%

First plot point: 25%

First pinch point: 37%

Midpoint: 50%

Second pinch point: 62%

Third plot point: 75%

Beginning of climax: 88%

Resolution: 98%

Note: because the midpoint is the second plot point, the next one is called the third plot point.

With all that in mind, here's approximately where each of these plot points should happen in the chapter count:

Hook: chapter 1 (beginning of Fearsome Womb arc)

Inciting event: chapter 34 (near beginning of Kyoto Goodwill Event arc)

First plot point: chapter 68 (near beginning of Gojo's Past arc)

First pinch point: chapter 102 (mid-Shibuya Incident arc)

Midpoint: chapter 136 (end of Shibuya Incident arc)

Second pinch point: chapter 170 (early in Culling Game arc)

Third plot point: chapter 204 (about two-thirds of the way through the Culling Game arc)

Beginning of climax: chapter 238 (early-ish in Shinjuku Showdown arc)

Resolution: not more than the last 5 or so chapters (end of Shinjuku Showdown arc)

I think this is fairly accurate, though there are some points that I think are slightly off; for example, I think it's more likely that the first plot point occurs before Gojo's Past arc, and that Gojo's Past begins the second act.

So, for the purpose of this series, I'll be analyzing the four quarters as follows:

Act I: Fearsome Womb, vs. Mahito, Kyoto Goodwill, and Death Painting arcs

Act IIa: Gojo's Past and Shibuya Incident arcs

Act IIb: Itadori's Extermination and Perfect Preparation arcs plus part of the Culling Game arc

Act III: remainder of the Culling Game arc and Shinjuku Showdown arc

Read below the cut for the approximate timings for the other plot structures I mentioned:

Save the Cat

Opening image: ch 1

Theme stated: ch 12

Set up: ch 4-27

Catalyst: ch 29

Debate: ch 32-59

Break into 2: ch 61

B story: ch 73

Fun and games: ch 64-133

Midpoint: ch 135

Bad guys close in: ch 137-182

All is lost: ch 184

Dark night of the soul: ch 187-206

Break into 3: ch 209

Finale: ch 211-268

Final image: ch 271

Harmon Story Circle

You: the protagonist is in a zone of comfort (ch 1-34)

Need: the protagonist wants something (ch 41)

Go: the protagonist enters an unfamiliar setting (ch 68)

Search: the protagonist must adapt to the unfamiliar world (ch. 82)

Find: the protagonist finds what they wanted (ch 136)

Take: the protagonist must pay the price for what they found (ch 176-203)

Return: the protagonist returns to where they started (ch 204)

Change: the character is able to shift the world around them (ch 230-236)

The Hero's Journey

Ordinary World (ch 1)

Call to Adventure

Refusal of the Call

Meeting the Mentor

Crossing the First Threshold (ch 68)

Tests, Allies, Enemies

Approach to the Inmost Cave

Ordeal (ch 136)

Seizing the Sword

The Road Back (ch 204)

Resurrection

Return with the Elixir

Kishotenketsu

Ki: Introduction (ch 1-41)

Sho: Development (ch 42-170)

Ten: Twist (ch 171-243)

Ketsu: Conclusion (ch 244-271)

Freytag's Pyramid (will be using specifically to analyze Gojo's Past arc)

Introduction (ch 65)

Rising Action

Climax (ch 72)

Falling Action

Catastrophe (ch 78)

All Structures Plotted Together:

Hook, Opening Image, You, Ordinary World, Ki begins (ch 1)

Set up begins (ch 4)

Theme stated (12)

Catalyst, Call to Adventure (ch 29)

Debate, Refusal of the Call (ch 32)

Inciting Event (ch 34)

Need, Meeting the Mentor (ch 41)

Sho begins (ch 42)

Break into 2 (ch 61)

Fun and Games (ch 64)

First Plot Point, Crossing the First Threshold, Go (ch 68)

B story (ch 73)

Search, Tests, Allies, Enemies (ch 82)

First Pinch Point, Approach to the Inmost Cave (ch 102)

Midpoint, Find, Ordeal (ch 135-136)

Bad guys close in (ch 137)

Second Pinch Point (ch 170)

Ten begins (ch 171)

Take, Seizing the Sword (ch 176)

All is Lost (ch 184)

Dark Night of the Soul (ch 187)

Third Plot Point, Return, The Road Back (ch 204)

Break into 3 (ch 209)

Finale (ch 211)

Change (ch 230)

Climax, Resurrection (ch 238)

Ketsu begins (ch 244)

Resolution, Return with Elixir (ch 266)

Final image (ch 271)

Note that these timings are all approximate! Upon analysis, they may shift but only slightly.

[djwaglmuffin]

Dan Harmon's Story Circle: Yea or Nay?

[feedthefandomfest]

this is far and away my favorite explanation of the story circle!! will schoder's videos in general are excellent

Writing Notes: The Story Circle

The Story Circle by Dan Harmon is a basic narrative structure that writers can use to structure and test their story ideas.

Telling stories is an inherently human thing, but how we structure the narrative separates a good story from a truly great one.

The Dan Harmon Story Circle describes the structure of a story in 3 acts and with 8 plot points, which are called steps.

When you have a protagonist who will progress through these, you have a basic character arc and the bare minimum of a story.

As a narrative structure, it is descriptive, not prescriptive, meaning it doesn’t tell you what to write, but how to tell the story.

The steps outline when the plot points occur and the order in which your hero completes their character development.

These 8 steps are:

You - A character is in their zone of comfort

Need - But they want something

Go! - So they enter an unfamiliar situation

Struggle - To which they have to adapt

Find - In order to get what they want

Suffer - Yet they have to make a sacrifice

Return - Before they return to their familiar situation

Change - Having changed fundamentally

The hero completes these steps in a circle in a clockwise direction, going from noon to midnight.

The top half of the circle and its two-quarters of the whole make up act one and act three, while the bottom half comprises the longer second act.

In their consecutive order, the Story Circle describes the 3 acts:

Act I: The order you know

Act II: Chaos (the upside-down)

Act III: The new order

Working with the Story Circle enables you to think about your main character and to plot from their emotional state.

The steps will automatically make your hero proactive as you focus on their motivation, their actions and the respective consequences.

Sources: 1 2 3 More On: Character Development, Plot Development

[danglovely]

Look, I'm no creative writer (though I think I'm an excellent analytical writer). That said, I have never thought Harmon's story circle was all that good of a writing tool. I've heard him explain it and I've tried to look at the things he's written in the context of it, and it doesn't even seem like he uses it himself.

It's actually a tough thing to say, because I think it's inarguable that he's an excellent writer. Sarah Silverman understood that and still fired him for being impossible to work with.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I remember back in school that they taught us how to write stories like a picture that looked like steps or a triangle where it would show the conflict, rising action, falling action, climax, etc. etc. So I wondered if you have found those methods to be effective or is there another way about it that you'd recommend?

Basic Story Structure

What you're talking about is very basic story structure, like this:

While this is certainly an effective way to understand how stories work at the simplest level, it's not great for showing all the plot points that happen in each of those sections.

If you're interested in a more in-depth story structure method or template, you can Google ones like Save the Cat Writes a Novel! to Larry Brooks Story Structure, Three-Act Story Structure, the Snowflake Method, The Hero's Journey, Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet, Derek Murphy's 24 Chapter Outline, Gwen Hayes' Romancing the Beat, Shawn Coyne's Story Grid, The Seven Point Plot Structure, Dan Harmon's Story Circle, The Five-Act Structure, James Scott Bell's A Disturbance and Two Doorways, Kishōtenketsu Structure, Story Spine.

The key with any story structure method or template is to know you don't have to follow them exactly. They're just a suggestion... like a suggested travel itinerary. You can follow it or you can augment it and work in some of your own stops along the way.

For more, head over to my Plot & Story Structure master list. :)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[ourlordapollo]

Problem 1: I want to write the kinds of books I like to read, and these are often driven heavily by the relationships between characters, not the Looming Threat of Some Bad Guy, and I wasn't sure how to translate that

Problem 2: All the plotting advice ever written seems to assume you're either an aspiring romance novelist or that you want to write the next Star Wars

Problem 3: In pursuit of my goal, I have encountered many, many plotting methods that I only sort of grasped

Solution: I sat down with a guide to Dan Harmon's Story Circle, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, and K.M. Weiland's various blog entries, and synthesized them into a comprehensive plot wheel that I understand perfectly and makes NO MENTION of The Looming Threat of Some Bad Guy. It's color coded. Multiple people tried to armchair diagnose me with autism when I posted about this elsewhere. Can't imagine why.

Now I ramble:

I started with the Story Circle because I really thought I was gonna be doomed to writing Sherlock Holmes-esque short stories for the rest of my life, so I wanted to study TV format. It's fine, but it's a little vague. However, the way it talks about CHAOS vs ORDER and LIES vs TRUTH specifically, I found extremely helpful. The Story Circle's biggest influence on my wheel is all that highlighter and the words in boxes, as well as the words in all caps.

The other thing about the Story Circle is that it implies, by virtue of splitting up the Circle into perfect 8ths, that each section (YOU, NEED, GO, etc) takes up the exact same amount of story, which is not true

By contrast, Weiland divides stories into (roughly) 9 equal parts, thus assigning them all a spoke on the wheel (with the very first and very last part sharing a spoke, hence 9). That's why the wheel is divided evenly and the Story Circle sections are scattered unevenly across the circumference.

I called on Save the Cat the least for this enterprise because, after study, I found it the least helpful. I was able to marry each of its "beats" to one of Weiland's sections, and I used those descriptions to inform how I filled in that information. (For example, under 'renewed push,' Weiland is somewhat vague about what should happen, but STC includes suggestions for contrasting how the preceding plot point ended.

And there we have it! I can't say exactly how long this took me because I did most of it while on the clock at work. Maybe 8-12 hours? Not too bad at all because I already had comprehensive notes on everything.

[alexanderwales]

Chapter 4 of Save the Cat! was the one that I was most looking forward to: the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet and some discussions on story structure.

Maybe because he's a hack writer, or maybe because he's writing specifically with the intent to sell mass market movie scripts, he goes very structured. The Blake Snyder Beat Sheet is basically what this chapter is about, and when he's describing it, he's very firm about where each individual beat will be. A screenplay of the kind he's describing is 110 pages, and by God you better have the Catalyst exactly on page 12.

Going in, I was curious about two things. First, I'm very familiar with both Joseph Campbell's monomyth and Dan Harmon's story circle, so I was curious how easy the mapping would be, or whether there were any notable deviations in terms of what he suggests.

The BS2 is extremely similar to the monomyth. Of course, the monomyth was meant as observation, and the BS2 is meant as rules to follow for making a good story (or one that will sell), but many of the steps are identical. Snyder calls it the "Catalyst", Campbell calls it the "Call to Adventure". Snyder calls it "The Debate", Campbell calls it "Refusal of the Call". Interesting, Campbell said that refusal of the call was optional (since it didn't show up in all stories across all cultures) but Snyder insists on it.

Snyder doesn't call it the underworld, but he does repeatedly reference the "fun house" or "upside down" aspects of the middle part of the story, the antithesis to the setup's thesis. But here there's a break from Campbell, because for Snyder this is where we have the B-story, a plot that's contained within what Campbell would call the "underworld", which I found conceptually interesting, and which I could immediately map to a lot of stories and movies.

So there wasn't a lot new for me on that front. Opening, catalyst, underworld, enemies close in, triumph, synthesis ... it's not revelatory, and Dan Harmon does a better job explaining the fundamentals of why each piece is there, which helps if you ever want to monkey with them. I specifically found the "underworld B-story" bit interesting, and the phrase "promise of the premise" tickled something in me, but that was it.

Snyder's "promise of the premise" happens during a section he calls "Fun and Games", which happens in the second act, usually before the midpoint. It's the place where the characters are just having fun, where the plot isn't racing forward, where we're seeing all the stuff that's cool and awesome about our premise. I could immediately picture this in my head, and so far as I know, this isn't part of Campbell nor mentioned by Harmon (though it's been a bit). This is "the gang's all together and having fun", it's most of the stuff you'd put in the trailer, and yeah, I think conceptually this is a really strong narrative beat, and a valuable addition to my arsenal of storytelling concepts.

So second, I don't write screenplays, I write webfic that's ideally written in such a way that it becomes ebooks to sell on Amazon, and so I generally have some sense of what I'm doing in terms of structure, but wanted to see if these screenplay lessons had any mapability to the stuff that I do.

And overall ... kind of? Dan Harmon has this insight from TV work that the whole season of television is a big ol' monomyth circle, and each episode is a circle, and each bit of television between the ads is a circle, and you can just nest circles like that.

So my first step would be to say "fuck it" to this stupidly rigid structure, then to duplicate it across different spans of writing, and maybe make sure that I'm not missing anything that way. I think this would be fine, though mostly what I care about are the fundamentals, making sure that there is an underworld, that there is a synthesis, and that we do get some kind of climactic battle where the thematically appropriate forces of darkness seem like they might win. And then subvert a lot of that, because that's more interesting than playing it straight, and eventually playing it straight becomes so cliche that it just won't hit.

I generally do book-level plotting similar to story circle, though I'm not consistent in my approach, sometimes to my detriment. Understanding Snyder's method is helpful in the sense that it reinforces my understanding of what's important to have, what plot beats are most vital for having pleasing structure ... but I actually think that's maybe it?

I really do dislike the dogmatic approach, and really would have loved an exploration of movies that deviate hard from this approach and what makes those work. But Blake Snyder doesn't do that, and maybe is incapable of that level of analysis.

At this point in the book I'm thinking that he's a guy who can only build a single type of bicycle. He understands that bicycle really well, but not the actual mechanics of bicycles generally, so if you showed him a tandem bike or a recumbent he'd just scoff and say that it doesn't work in spite of clear evidence that it does.

[duhragonball]

Roundabout

I watched CJ the X's video about Rick and Morty, mainly because I kept seeing people screencap the parts about perfectionism near the beginning. Well, I thought I should see it for myself, and then I wound up getting pulled into the "Story Circle" concept used by series co-creator Dan Harmon.

This may be old news to a lot of people-- in fact, I'm sure it is, because Harmon admits that this is heavily based on the monomyth concept popularized by Joseph Campbell. I've never fully appreciated the "Hero's Journey" idea before, but I think Harmon has refined it by simplifying the names of the steps. "Atonement with the Father" just becomes "Take", and that's a lot easier for me to grasp. Campbell probably never meant to suggest that every story features a literal "atonement with the father", but his work involved identifying common elements in story structure, so I'm sure he had trouble coming up with fitting names for everything.

Harmon's circle might be a little too simplified, since there's a lot to unpack in the word "Take", but his model is focused on making a formula to write new stories, as opposed to comparative mythology. What I like a lot about the Story Circle is that Harmon insists that it's not a rule that must be learned and followed. Rather, it's an observation of something all humans do when they tell stories, whether they realize it or not. But sometimes it can be helpful to be made aware of the pattern, like checking a map even when you're familiar with the route.

It can be fun, although probably distracting, to apply the circle to existing works. The Star Wars movies used Campbell's monomyth as a blueprint, so that's probably too easy. But it can also be used on individual scenes too. Luke(1) falls down a trap door and now he has to find a way back out (2) before the rancor eats him (3). He manages to avoid being eaten using a bone and some nooks and crannies in the pit (4) but at last he finds a door out of the dungeon, except it's locked, leaving him cornered (5). But he manages to drop a heavy gate on the rancor as it approaches him, which kills it (6). The bad guys then open the door to bring him back to Jabba (7), who now prepares to feed him to an even worse monster outside (8).

And that probably sets up the next cycle in the movie, where Luke saves everyone from the next monster, and so on. I think at long last I understand why these kinds of story structures are presented as "circles" or cycles". You don't have to do multiple laps, but the structure allows you to do so, and acknowledges that multiple cycles can also form a larger circle, and so on.

With episodic television series, the final step, change, often means reverting to the status quo. There's a M*A*S*H episode where Radar tries to become a serious writer, and he keeps trying to inject his army reports with purple prose, until finally Hawkeye explains to him that he has to use his own words and stop trying to imitate what he thinks the "pros" use. So Radar does learn a lesson, but the lesson basically puts an end to the weird dialogue he was using the whole episode and puts him back to normal. The Korean War doesn't end, and Colonel Potter doesn't die, and Klinger still wears dresses, but the structure is still followed and sets up the next cycle.

I can see how this is very useful in a writers' room for a television show, especially one like Rick and Morty, where the characters seem to be capable of almost anything. It probably helps to take stray ideas like "Rick turns himself into a pickle!" and run that through a formula to make sure you can get a working script out of the gag.

Anyway, I'm currently trying to use it to flesh out some ideas for my fanfic, since I have a lot of story beats I want to accomplish, but I don't have much to connect them together. Using the Story Circle seems to be helping me figure out which pieces I'm missing, so maybe this will compensate for all those years where I could just use DBZ Episode 66 and Xenoverse 1 as loose outlines that I could follow. This fall, I gotta build my own story skeleton before I can fill it in, and the clock is ticking...

[thesoftboiledegg]

"Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie" sounds like a wasted episode on paper: it's a ridiculous concept, it's a sequel that nobody asked for, and the two leads are a side character and a one-off cameo. In fact, it wasn't even a cameo. I had no idea that Dan Harmon voiced Ice-T in "Get Schwifty" until today. I thought the writers introduced Ice-T because he wanted to be on the show, but it was just a goofy pun.

But somehow, the writers balanced hip hop, action movies and outrageous antics without going overboard. "Rickdependence Spray" in season five is "going for it" gone wrong--a barely coherent mess that nearly everyone agrees is the worst episode in the show.

Conversely, "Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie" is pure entertainment. The jokes, digs at action movies and running gag that Water-T has no idea who Morty is are hilarious. Water-T's song at the end is actually catchy and the perfect soundtrack to the climax.

The fact that Ice-T voiced himself this time helped, too. Hugh Jackman's role in "How Poopy Got His Poop Back" would've been pointless namedropping if that weren't actually Hugh Jackman.

[Edit: Apparently, Ice-T only voiced Helium-Q? Damn, Dan Harmon nailed that impression.]

And man, everyone really is queer in the Rick and Morty universe! People call Morty the token straight character, but I think he's bi after his weird, unexplained obsession with Bruce Chutback in season five. Wish the series would say it outright, though.

Evidently, B-plots are a thing of the past. Some B-plots from earlier episodes are classic, but I also like one plot getting a full 20 minutes because it gives the leads more time to develop.

Speaking of leads, one issue I had is that Morty is overshadowed yet again. Rick has dominated seasons six and seven with little time for Morty. Sometimes, Jerry or Summer take his place. And now Morty's overshadowed by...Mr. Goldenfold and Water-T?

You could have edited him out and had virtually the same story. It's obvious that he's only present because people might not watch a Rick and Morty episode without at least half of the duo.

This episode did make me think about Dan Harmon's statement in 2022 that Rick and Morty could go on forever. You can do anything in a show with infinite dimensions to explore. Check in on old characters, develop existing relationships, travel to the craziest planets, make social commentary, see what Water-T's been up to, add another twist to Rick's lore--that one has limits, but a 70-year-old man has a long history.

Still, we've all watched THAT show that dragged on too long, declining so sharply that it almost ruins the classic episodes. People say that Superjail! ended too early, and it's even more lawless than Rick and Morty, but it took the viewer to bizarro land and ended before it went stale. Sometimes, enough is enough.

Rick says in "Promortyus" that he doesn't do sequels. However, after six seasons in total and four seasons that stubbornly refused to give fans what they want (not a bad thing, but fakeouts get old after a while), I think we've earned some follow-ups. It feels like the series is coming full circle as we gear up for the last 32 episodes.

But let's give Morty something to do! He has flaws, but he's the moral heart of the show. Without him, Rick would be a miserable old man in a house full of people trying to out-snark each other.

[regular-theodore]

"our daughter is fine" your son is writing in his faggy little notebook about dan harmons story circle

[laughingsquid]

Dan Harmon Applies His Often-Referenced Story Circle to the Primary Characters of 'Rick and Morty'

[sillygoblinantics]

I wanted to bring this up as I saw something recently that spread information about the elements to writing and character story.

So allow me to sperg to those who are looking for knowledge about the elements of story.

How should I structure a story?

Depends on the type of story, for the sake of consistency in topic; we’ll go into the multilayered story.

You may have heard this name before or read books by him but the way we write and outline our stories came from the mind of Joseph Campbell.

This is a good video for my visual learners out here, it’s very good and gets the points across very well!

While Campbell is the go to for his 12 step structure there are a plethora of other authors and writers who’ve just as equally mapped out the hero’s journey!

Dan Harmon a man that needs no introduction as far as bibliography goes: a fellow nerd, dnd fanatic, telovision writer and creator.

In his story circle, he takes Campbell’s journey and breaks down the fundamental key points to how any storyteller should structure an episode or general story outline/arc.

In other words: it’s simple and straight to the action!

It’s so easy to forget or lose track of your story without a simple point of reference to structure your characters arcs!

Arcs?

Character arcs

This are crucial to not only telling but showing the moments of who we are following on the journey.

Without hurdles, highs and lows, pain, and every kind of thing that life has and will throw at you, than what thrill and satisfaction will the audience get from their turning point?

“Rome was not built in a day, for if it was, the Romans would be left with nothing to do”

- Illymations (animal crossing video)

I like quoting this when the topic of storytelling comes up.

If you had everything you ever wanted and didn’t need any kind of work to get it would the reward still feel rewarding? Probably not. That’s why when you put off doing simple chores and finally get around to completing them that you feel better; it’s rewarding!

Your character should have to run an obstacle course to get to the finish line, but it’s can always look different.

Some stories start with a climax while others have it in the middle!

As long as your character goes on a journey where they return home having grown into someone new and learned something important that forever changed who they started as. You have a story.

And the setting can be just about anywhere and any time. Past/Present/Future, modern or scifi, even in a coffee shop.

Note:

I want to specify that by no means should the point of my lil sperging be disregarded by personal bias and opinions of the names mentioned as its not relevant

Properties of the three acts!

The three act structure is the three different key moments to any narrative: the beginning, middle and end. When I talk about acts I’m not talking about plot, that’s a different story ;3 (badumm tsss)

Act 1:

Introduction

Act one is where we establish the world, setting and rules that apply to it.

It is also where we meet the character(s) of the story.

As we proceed I will be using the Steven Universe movie as an example for the 3Act Structure.

Act one perfectly captures the key points of the first act!

A recap of the events in the show

Introducing Steven and company

As well as the motivations and personality of each main focal character: Steven, amethyst, pearl and garnet

We get a somewhat forward send off to one character

We reach the very last few points of the first act believing nothing bad could change the day before

Once we meet the final focal character we are thrown into the main overarching plot.

Once Spinel gets poofed, act one ends

Act 11

Not in Kansas anymore

The second act is where the character(s) have to interact with the changed/new environment, the struggle or challenge being had.

We follow them as we have to trek the difficult terrain and solve puzzles that help the character get closer to the end goal

In the movie Steven needs to face three problems: reviving his family (gems) stopping the injector and figuring out who spinel is.

The hero usually faces three trials

They’ll get through 2 but the third is often not successful.

We get garnet back but not fully (this is the failed trial. For now)

Amethyst is first to be brought back

Pearl needs to be reminded of a rebellious spirit to come back

Spinel runs off

And now we enter the final lap

Act 111

Race to the finish line

As we get to the climax and resolution, we have the big confrontation between the character(s) and the driving force. Sometimes said force is the reason for our arrival into the second act, either by a force of nature or by something/someone.

In the movie Steven confronts spinel rather he chases her, we learn more about her past and her motivation and her relationship with Steven’s mother. The two are able to talk about it now knowing the full story so as Steven returns and catches the others up, all is well until a seed of doubt and fear plants itself in spinel as she panics. Before we get a 1v1 between Steven and spinel garnet returns.

Conflict and the climax have been reached when the highest point of tension finally erupts! And as we fall so too does the tension as we reach the resolve.

So… where do we get there in the movie?

Spinel slowly realizing before during and after she lets all the bottled feelings she’s kept inside out and she calms… as we close to the victory lap the first minor plot returns with the diamonds coming to earth and spinel finally gets her need.

Wait need? What about the want?!

I left it out for this section.

Characters want vs need

In the beginning the character has a want or that’s what they think until the middle of the story… right in the middle of act 2. Our hero realizes that the original want is no longer there. Now, they have a distinct need. This is when our character grows up and matures!

In the movie Steven has to learn or relearn that he isn’t his mom and doesn’t have to be someone that others expect him to act or be.

Alright I’m low on spoons, but that’s my points!

Oh and characters aren’t perfect just the same as people, if everyone was there wouldn’t be excitement or interesting stories to be told!

[pauls1967moustache]

Hello. I am a fan of your fics and I'm trying to write my first fic now. I hope you won't mind if i ask you a couple of writing questions?

Did you ever take a class in writing?

How long do you take to write each fic?

Do you ever feel bad about your writing or read someone else's writing and think you arne't as good as them?

Do you use a beta?

Thank you if you answer!

Thank you! And I love this journey for you. Writing is fun :)

Did you ever take a class in writing? Nothing beyond English class in school, and googling Dan Harmon's story circle a million times and then never using it. But that doesn't mean writing is just something I fell into and was magically good at. (I feel like people who don't write always think this about writing, and then get frustrated when they are not magically good at it). I've been writing fic (on and off) since I was about 14, and before that I used to write little stories in my free time. It's something I've had a lot of practice in, and was probably very shit at when I started. So, y'know, unless you intend to write professionally I don't think you need a writing class, but you do need to actually do some writing, instead of just thinking about doing writing. You don't have to do it every single day (there were solid years where I didn't write more than like half an outline for anything), but if it's something you want to improve on you do actually need to make some sort of effort to do that. This was not the answer to your question, but I feel it answers the spirit of your question.

How long do you take to write each fic? Depends! The actual writing itself is usually about 3-5 days altogether (but I don't write anything very long anyways). The outlining before the writing can take anywhere from a week to months to years. I often start an idea, then leave it, then come back to it when the vibes are right in my brain. Some fics come out of me basically fully formed and some I have to shadow box into coherence. It is what it is.

Do you ever feel bad about your writing or read someone else's writing and think you arne't as good as them? Yes and no. Everyone who writes experiences this to some degree, because it is the nature of doing something creative. But also, as I've grown more confident and self-assured (in my writing, and just like, as a person alive), I find this happening less, or at least it feels less emotionally volatile when it happens. The trick to this, I think, is writing for yourself and not for others. Ignore every fic opinion you've ever read in your life, and write the fic you want to read, so that you like it enough that even when parts of it aren't that good, or when you don't get the response you want, you still like it enough to not let any of that affect you. The other trick to this is when you find someone whose writing you think is good and you keep feeling the need to compare yourself to them, get proper technical about it. What do you like about their writing? Is it the style? The structure? The themes? How did the writer do those things? How would you emulate that? (You honestly should do this for any writer you like, not just fic writers).

Do you use a beta? No, I never knew how to get one when I was younger, and kind of just developed a very self-contained writing process as a result. If you have a friend in the fandom though, it can help to have someone to chat to - not even as a beta, just to have someone to vent to who will cheer you on when you doubt yourself. I sometimes do this, and should honestly probably do it more so I don't get stuck overthinking ideas as much.

And lastly - again, you didn't ask - but the best advice I could possibly give you is that the creative process is a wild beast you will battle forever, so you kind of have to go with the flow here. You can use what I (or any other writer) does as a jumping off point, but there's no guarantees that any of that is going to work for you, so take what you need from whatever I said as a loose guideline rather than this is the way. If it's not working for you, try something else.

Good luck! Have fun! xxxxx