All About Kishōtenketsu
If you learned storytelling in the West, you may not have heard of kishōtenketsu. Whilst some literature and screenwriting degrees may include it, most prioritise what I call ‘the transformative arc’.
The most obvious transformative arc is, of course, The Hero’s Journey. A protagonist must go from ‘zero to hero’ while challenging a ‘Big Bad’ of some kind. Most often that protagonist will undergo fundamental changes in dealing with a villain.
This villain may or may not be emblematic of ‘The System’. Good examples of villains that are part of ‘The System’ include Darth Vader (The Evil Empire, Star Wars) or President Snow (Panem, The Hunger Games).
Here are some articles I’ve written about The Hero’s Journey on this blog …
- Spotlight On Structure: The Monomyth Vs The Hero’s Journey
- Why The Hero’s Journey Is NOT Just For Male Characters
- How To Plot Like A Goddess: The Hero’s Journey vs. Voyage & Return vs. Rebirth
However, it is important to note the Hero’s Journey is a western ideal. It’s also rooted in patriarchy (which is why some women dislike The Hero’s Journey instinctively and feel it’s ‘for men’).
With all this in mind then, then me introduce you to kishōtenketsu!!
Not Conflict = CONTRAST
It’s tempting to think of storytelling as being ‘universal’, but it’s not. Cultural expectations and preferences will always have a part to play. This cultural aspect plays its part when we write stories AND when we consume them.
For East Asian writers – particularly in China and Japan – plot structure does not necessarily have conflict ‘baked in’. Instead, these stories rely on exposition and contrast to hook a reader or viewer. This structure is known as kishõtenketsu.
Consider the comic panels on the left. As you can see, a woman goes to a drinks machine in pic 1. In pic 2, she buys a soda. In pic 3, a guy sits alone. The woman comes along … and in pic 4, gives him the soda.
It’s a story based on contrast, rather than conflict:
- The woman takes an action
- She connects with the guy
- She gives him the soda
When I first learned about this plot structure, I recall thinking that people-watching was the ultimate kishõtenketsu. Watching random people do random stuff IS super-interesting for most of us, after all!
Stories MUST have conflict?
As we note from the comic strip, the protagonist does not have a problem or struggle of any kind. She is presented with the means to buy a soda, so buys one.
We don’t know if she plans to drink it now or later. We don’t know if she wanted the soda herself or is buying it for someone else. She may even be buying it ‘just in case’ (whatever that means to her, personally).
Whilst the man in pic 3 *might* be thirsty, he is not the protagonist, plus we are not told explicitly he is thirsty. The woman meeting him could be a chance encounter, or they might know each other.
In short, we only know what we see here
Essentially, nothing is ‘pitted’ against anything else. Even so, there’s a connection between the comic panels that keeps the comic from being a random series of events. This allows for a satisfactory ending without the need to ‘overcome’ anything or for a big showdown or victory.
It’s very fashionable for writing professors, script readers, producers, agents or other industry pros to insist stories MUST have conflict … but as we can see here, that’s actually BS.
(Of course, when we’re selling stories, especially in the West, this may be desirable because of that aforementioned cultural expectation … but that’s a different thing).
You can read more about kishōtenketsu HERE, or click on the comic strip.
Western Structure = Face-Off
Put simply, Western story structures typically include some kind of face-off. Conflict is the lifeblood of stories as far as Western audiences and readers are concerned. It’s what readers and audiences here want most of the time.
These conflicts involve dilemmas, characters, themes, settings or a combination of all of these. Generally speaking, one element must prevail over another.
It’s not automatically racist or sexist to prioritise transformative arcs
If we want to sell our novels and screenplays in the West, prioritising conflict in our stories makes sense. It’s what most of our readers and viewers want. This means industry pros will be looking for projects with traditional types of conflict.
However, it’s SUPER telling that those industry pros who REFUSE to do the work on decolonising their bookshelves or other media content etc fail to recognise anything *other* than the transformative arc.
Insisting on absolutes – such as stories MUST have conflict, or that characters MUST change – is rubbish. The evidence is all around us!!! MORE: No, Characters In Your Story DON’T Have To Change. Here’s Why
