Editing Research/Fiction Writing/Story Beats (section)

=== Dan Harmon’s Story Circle ===
Source overview: Reedsy includes Dan Harmon’s Story Circle among major story structures: [https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/ Reedsy]
Common form:
# You — character in a zone of comfort
# Need — they want or lack something
# Go — they enter an unfamiliar situation
# Search — they adapt and struggle
# Find — they get what they wanted
# Take — they pay a price
# Return — they go back toward the familiar
# Change — they are transformed
Revision use:
* Apply the circle fractally to whole novel, act, chapter, and scene.
* If “Find” has no “Take,” the plot lacks cost.
* If “Return” has no “Change,” the arc feels static.
* If “Need” is vague, the story’s engine is weak.
* If “Go” is passive, the protagonist may be dragged rather than driven.
The Story Circle is especially useful for diagnosing chapters: each chapter should often contain a mini-loop of comfort/disruption/search/cost/change.