Looking at Harmon’s Story Cycle
The Harmon Story Cycle was developed by Dan Harmon (“Community”, “Rick & Morty”); it can be a valuable, simple template for writers.
The Harmon Story Cycle was developed by Dan Harmon, of “Community” and “Rick & Morty” fame. While derived from the Hero’s Journey, the Story Cycle is much more suited to character development. That is, while the Hero’s Journey is more interested in developing the legend overall and is thus more interested in plot development, the Story Cycle looks more at the character and how that character changes throughout the story. While both track the transformation of the character, the one tracks the narrative path and how that character interacts with his environment and society while the other tracks how the character changes from within and how his perspective changes.
Thus while it is possible to integrate the two to show the character’s complete transformation, it may be better to focus on one or the other. A more epic character will tend to be best expressed through the Hero’s Journey, as well as any story where the stakes involve societal changes. Conversely, if the stakes are smaller, possibly only important to the character or a small group, then the Story Cycle may be the better choice. Better yet, the Story Cycle can be incorporated into a greater story as a subplot with almost no real problem.