The story circle, Walter White and your best stories.
Let’s discover how stories have similar paths, but different finals. Then, you will know how to write your best story. Why Walter White? Let’s find out.
Everyone who enjoys writing or reading stories should be familiar with the concept of the “Story Circle”, brought by Dan Harmons. Don’t you know about that? It’s your lucky day; I’m going to guide you to this fascinating theory, which will change the way you look at stories and at your life. As well, everyone who had to face the complexity of procrastination in his daily life, should be familiar with the concept of “comfort zone.” Today we are going to mix both theories, with the ambitious purpose to improve your life, enjoying the stories of other characters. Can we do that? Let’s start our analysis.
THE ORIGIN OF STORY CIRCLE
Dan Harmons is an American writer, authors of the famous “Rick and Morty”, a popular cartoon which I recommend to watch. He has also analysed how we usually tell a story, and he has produced a breakdown in eight points:
You, a character with a story, is living in his comfort zone. Suddenly, he/she/it realises that he needs something which doesn’t make him quiet. Therefore, he decided to go to look for what he wants. At this point, he starts to search for it, till he finds it. To take it, he needs to adapt to stressful situations, and he will need to make difficult choices. Finally, he finds what he wanted it, but not necessarily what he needed. I’m going to explain to you the difference very soon. After that, he is ready to return to the beginning of the circle but, after all of the difficulties he had to overcome, he is not the same person anymore, because he changed meantime. And this is what makes a story interesting for all of us. The continues challenging that our hero needs to overtake, to get what he needs and change, in a new way that we will like, or we will dislike. Interesting, isn’t it?
WALTER WHITE, THE STORY CIRCLE IN PRACTICE
But this is just theory; let’s apply this concept to one of the best characters ever created: Walter White, the incredible protagonist of “Breaking Bad.” I’m sure that most of you have watched this series, if not the next paragraph will contain some potential spoilers. It’s up to you to continue to discover something which for me has been very important in shaping my life.
You:
Walter is teaching chemistry to his high school class. He is a regular man, who has a typical family, a wife, a son, and a daughter; a lot of bills to pay and a salary which is never enough, and he needs to take a second job to support his family. I would say a pretty ordinary life, for the incredible character we are going to meet. And it’s easy to discover the two faces of Walter in just the first episode.
Need:
Mr White needs to feel alive, especially after he found out about his lung cancer, which will offer him a few years before to say goodbye to this world. He wants money and quickly to provide for his family. He needs a change for himself before it’s too late and to protect his loved one. Need and want two different verbs to describe two various necessities. Walter wants money to protect his family from a challenging future. But we will discover that he needs to become someone different from the quiet and boring husband with not much to offer. He needs a change to his life; he needs to feel alive again, to feel the danger, he needs to be a man of power. The other side of what all the people around him know about Mr White. He needed to be Heisenberg.
Go:
He needs to take actions to exit his comfort zone. He decided to participate in a police operation, thanks to his brother in law Hank, who works for the D.E.A. Lately, he wanted to meet Pinkman, his ex-student, who is working in the methamphetamine business.
Search:
He decided to join a new career, where he can experiment is chemistry knowledge, showing everyone his skills, very far from the idea of the regular teacher role. He entered not only into a new business but into a new life.
Find
He found the way to answer to his wants and needs. Challenging death and himself, to become the best “cook” ever. He adapts to a different habit and situations to survive and continue his evolution as a person.
Take:
Walter made a fortune, he became millionaire, but it wasn’t that easy. For every penny he won, there was a lot he had to give up. For example, he loses his wife, who can’t accept the idea that the father of her children is a criminal. He lost the same family he wanted to protect with that money. He wanted something, but he ended up with something different. He fulfilled his needs to become the best methamphetamine cooker and businessman, forgetting why he did it in the first instance. He couldn’t stop or, perhaps, he wanted to calm down that thirsty of revenge he needed, mainly after he sold his share of the “Gray Matter Technologies”, a multi-millionaire pharmaceutical company, for just 5,000 dollars. Walter has contributed to research on proton radiography, which helped the team to award a noble prize in chemistry; he is a genius not fit for an ordinary life. For those reasons, he wanted his vengeance.
Return:
After all the crazy and fantastic adventures, he decided to go back to his family, but nothing is anymore as previously. Everything has changed; everyone is now different because actions produce consequences, that we can’t always control. He travels to Skyler’s new apartment and admits he continued his pursuits in meth production for his satisfaction and ego, rather than for the benefit of his family as he had always asserted.
Change:
Walter changed during this time. He is not anymore the ordinary man who was providing for his family. Mr White is now the man of power and success who secured a prosperous future for his loved ones. He accomplished his goals to make them rich enough to live properly without him. Walter showed to himself and every one his skills and personality. He changed because he lived his fears and overcame them. The price to become so wealthy was very expensive. He lost the people who were trying to protect, but he did something great for himself. And this is why we love him.
It’s just a short description and analysis of what happened in this incredible series, where the continual becoming of the characters make our excitement reach its pick.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT:
But why I told you this story? Why is this important to me? And why it can be vital to you? Walter knew he was worth a lot more of his ordinary life. He had talent, but he was trapped in his fear to provide for his family. The certainty of dying soon let him find the courage to escape from his reality, to feel life again, because he had nothing left to lose with his cancer pushing him to craziness.
ARE WE IN A DIFFERENT POSITION?
I’m afraid to tell you, but I need to do it. All of us will die one day. The real drama, or perhaps the real excitement, is that we don’t know when. Why are we continually procrastinating to get control of our lives? And why we are not progressing and take what we need? Are we perhaps scared of changes in our lives, how can we do it? Maybe it’s just craziness to fulfil our dreams, to satisfy the thirst of our needs? But how long it’s left before we can’t try it anymore?
I’m telling you this because life is now. Carpe diem (seize the day) the beautiful sentence taught us by this incredible Latin poet Horace.
My personal experience with all of this is incredible too. I love to write, to create music, lyrics, photography, stories anything where imagination can overtake reality. I started to breakdown my passions to finds my needs, despite the fear to fail or to try. I made space of time for them in my life. And here I’m telling you about this story, with the hope to inspire you and let you get control of your desires and of your days. I started to live my life differently, always seeking the best inspiration, emotions, the best part of myself. I began to write my own story in the pages of each day life will offer me, because when I’ll breathe my last breath, it’s the moment where I want to feel that I have lived, and not only existed.
THE 8 INGREDIENTS FOR YOUR CHANGE:
You know now which are the eight ingredients for a change, good or bad that they will be, but I wish you something which will shape your present and your future because it will be what exactly you will decide to write. Look for yourself, find the real version of you and, especially, live it. We don’t love Walter because of the bad things he did. Neither for his mistakes, nor for how his life changed, or for how terrible he was with his family. Still, because he was alive, he lived his unconscious, perfect life, showing to himself and the other that he wasn’t the boring man who needs to survive, but the one we can lead his life to great success, to accomplish his goals and to fulfils his personality. Be yourself, take the risk, there a lot of new things to discover for you and of yourself, and we shouldn’t stop our evolution as a human. Of course, it’s reasonable to fear failure or to regret a change, but we need to adapt and find the right balance to live our lives, without any sort of limitations or compromise.
One day, when the sun will set upon our lives, the last thing we should think are regrets. We should smile to our memories, to our happiness because the most precious thing we have is our life, and we need to take care of this beautiful experience; we need to enjoy so that our memories will be the light upon the darkness of our regrets. In this way, the sun will shine on our thoughts. As a poet said: to live is the price of the future. Then just remember that today is the future of yesterday, now you understand that your future is now.
THE PRICE OF THE FUTURE:
Changes are severe, Sheldon Cooper will agree for sure, but I want to leave you with the last sentence from our friend Walter White, from the first episode of the series. A big spoiler if only we start to listen more carefully to the language of the stories:
“Chemistry is the study of change. Electrons, they change their energy level. Molecules change their bonds. Elements they combine and change into compounds. Well, that’s all of life, right? I mean, it’s just the constant, it’s the cycle. It’s solution, dissolution, just over and over and over. It is growth, then decay, then transformation. It is fascinating, really.”
The continuing change and exchange of what and who we are.
It’s the most excellent way to summarise the story of “Breaking Bad’ and to let you understand your life. Get ready to start your memories. The only failure is when there are no actions. In this case, you can’t even have a story to tell. And that’s a pity because now you know how to do it.
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