Stories as a circle
Campbell concluded there are characteristics of an effective story and those characteristics are consistent regardless of religion, race, time, or ancestry.
And Dan Harmon built a structure that helps anyone build a story well.
He created the story circle a distillation蒸馏 of the monomyth英雄征旅 into 8 steps.
And we draw a horizontal line through it the top represents where the (character’s) journey starts and finishes the bottom represents. The world that needs to be traversed穿过 to grow and change. The basic sense(upward) is the ordinary world, and this(downward) is the special world.
There are three circle show that in the upward side there is a good or optimistic thing while in the downward side there is a bad or negative thing.
Now we draw a vertical line down the center now and dividing it in to 8 parts.
Going up and down means the hero enters a new situation and is forced to adapt often struggling to do so this usually means that the protagonist flights some external force.外部的
The second line is defining the inner struggle of the hero once the hero crosses this dividing line. He or she finally faces and tries to overcome his or her inner flaws or problems.内心的
Story arc
Exposition: Introduction of setting, characters, and the problems they face.
Rising action: Moves the plot forward by showing characters fighting.
Climax: It is the tensest moment of a story and is the moment when the characters face a crisis that controls the rest of the plot.
Falling action: It moves the plot from the climax toward an ending.
Resolution: It returns the story to stability by showing the final results of the climax.
Story curves
Character types
Protagonist: The main character in a story. They can be a good character, but this is not always the case.
Antagonist: The character or group of characters that stand against the protagonist. They are usually considered to be bad, but this is not always the case. Sometimes the antagonist simply has something to learn.
Dynamic character: They are characters that experience some type of important inner change. A character that experiences inner growth of learns an important lesson is said to be a dynamic character.
Static character: He or she is a character that changes very little throughout a story. They tend to learn no important lessons nor make any significant changes. Such as an evil villain who do not learn the errors of their ways.
Round character: they are often well-developed lifelike characters with realistic emotions, conflicting feelings, multiple traits.
Flat character: they are often one-dimensional characters who typically lack emotional depth. We may know some of their traits, but we probably do not understand why they are.
10 villain types
The bully: They are less straight up evil and more just a jerk of course. Because flight gives them some sick satisfaction to pick on挑中，欺负 someone weaker than themselves or someone they have power over.
The dragon: Literally a dragon at least not usually in modern stories. They are the ones doing all the dirty work and making life hard for the protagonist. We do not often see this guy is the immediate threat to the hero.
The vengeful复仇者: they are awfully可怕地，很 chilly寒冷的. They do not care who they have to hurt of even if they end up getting killed themselves as long as they make the one who did them wrong suffer. They waited patiently for years to exact their revenge and a quick death is not nearly enough
The fallen hero: These villain once fought on the side of good but ambition weariness疲劳 or tragedy set them down a dark path.
The terrorist: They are not in personal gain but are fighting for an ideal or belief and will do anything to achieve their goal. They often threaten innocent lives or putting their own life at risk. This villain is tough to defeat without risking collateral附属的damage.
The beast: they are not filled with evil or hatred憎恨, usually they are just hungry. What is more, protecting themselves or driving by instinct. But they will kill you in a second. They also can be other strange things like ghosts, versus.
The unhinged精神错乱的: These are the guys who just do bad things because they can. They are deprived贫困的，穷苦的，严重匮乏的 and forces of chaos with an unpredictability不可预测性 that makes them a tremendous threat.
The machine: These bad guys cannot be negotiated with or reasoned with and have a single-minded focus killing whatever is in their way. They usually have human intelligence or greater.
The equal: A mirror image of our protagonist this villain is so threatening because he is so much like the hero. The heroes and villains of this story are not dealing in black and white morality.
The mastermind幕后的黑手e ultimate villain always multiple steps ahead of the hero. He is the evil genius who usually appears towards the end of the story and has orchestrated everything the heroes have to overcome.
Hero types
Hero:
Mentor:
Threshold guardian守卫者:
Herald传令官，报信者:
Shapeshifter:
Shadow:
Trickster骗子:
Allies(sidekicks)朋友，同盟:
Applying to movie
Now I will use one of my favorite movies called Zootopia to show the story circle and character archetypes.
- YOU
Judy realized her dream of becoming an excellent rabbit policeman. Ready to go to Zootopia, where she always looks forward to going.
- NEED
She wanted to be a good policeman in Zootopia, so she kept trying to adapt to the city and her job as a traffic police officer.
- GO
To prove her ability to be a real policeman, Judy decides to find Emmitt Otterton in two days. If she strikes out, she will resign. So, she and Nick start looking for Emmitt. In fact, it is going to be a big case.
- SEARCH
After a step-by-step search, they finally found Emmitt and solved the case of the missing animals in Zootopia.
- FIND
Judy succeeded in keeping her job and became a respected police officer. And she invited Nick to be her partner.
- TAKE
Although the crisis is relieved, Nick is angry with Judy about her views of herbivores and predators, and her remarks increased the herbivores ‘ fear of predators in Zootopia. Zootopia is no longer peaceful.
- RETURN
Judy realizes her mistake and Nick forgives her. Together, they found out who was the mastermind and got an antidote to the predator’s recovery.
- CHANGE
Zootopia is restored to its original state. Herbivores and carnivores live in harmony. Judy is really recognized by the other animals as good police officer and makes Nick her partner.
Protagonist: Judy, Nick
They are absolutely the protagonists of the story, not only solving the disappearance of Zootopia animals, but also making the city more peaceful and freer of discrimination.
The mastermind: Assistant Mayor Bellwether
It is not until the end that the audience learns that she is the one who ultimately causes the carnivore to go berserk, and although she does not directly cause trouble, the heroes overcomes many difficulties.
Shapeshifter: Mayor Lionheart
Lionheart came close to being the culprit, but he was not exactly right. He almost misled the protagonists and the audience.
Herald: Discrimination in Zootopia
Yes, it is not an animal, it just is an event. If they do not solve this problem, Zootopia will not always peaceful and diversity.
Allies: Animal who do not discrimination in Zootopia
It is not a specific animal, and the Protagonist ‘s biggest problem is discrimination in Zootopia. So anti-discrimination animals can be counted as teammates. Or what does not stand in the way of the Protagonist are Allies.