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Kishōtenketsu template

Kishōtenketsu is a four-part structure that does not need conflict. The first part introduces, the second develops, the third brings in something unexpected that seems to belong to another story, and the fourth shows how the two fit together, so the reader sees the whole anew.

Four scenes connect a man feeding pigeons, a girl banding a bird overseas, and a letter that reveals their link.

When to use it

  • Your story is quiet, and forcing a villain into it would break it.
  • You write short fiction, comics, or literary pieces built on a turn of view.
  • You want an ending that rereads the opening rather than defeats an enemy.

The shape comes from classical Chinese poetry and passed into Japanese and Korean storytelling, where it is still taught.

The 4 acts

  • Act One: Introduction. The people and the place, shown as they are. Conflict is not required.
  • Act Two: Development. The same situation followed further, until the reader thinks they know it.
  • Act Three: Twist. Something unexpected enters that seems to belong to another story.
  • Act Four: Reconciliation. The two halves brought together, and the whole seen differently.

The 8 beats at 5,000 words

The marks assume 5,000 words, because the form is most at home in short fiction. Each beat keeps its percentage at any length, so scale the marks to your own. The story structure calculator works them out for any length.

  1. What Is 5% · word 250 Who is here and what their days are like. Let the reader settle.
  2. A Detail Worth Noticing 15% · word 750 One particular thing worth watching: a habit, an object, a relationship.
  3. Going Deeper 30% · word 1,500 Follow it further. The situation deepens without having to go wrong.
  4. The Pattern Settles 42% · word 2,100 The reader thinks they know what kind of story this is.
  5. Something Unexpected 55% · word 2,750 An element that seems unrelated arrives: a new place, a stranger, a change of view.
  6. Holding the Contrast 68% · word 3,400 Let the new element stand on its own long enough to be strange.
  7. The Connection 82% · word 4,100 The ending finds how the twist and the first half belong together.
  8. Seen Anew 95% · word 4,750 The opening read again in the light of the whole.

A worked example

An old man feeds the pigeons on the same bench every morning.

  1. What Is. The bench, the bag of seed, the pigeons who know his step.
  2. A Detail Worth Noticing. One pigeon has a green band on its leg.
  3. Going Deeper. He saves the best seed for the banded one and names it after his late wife.
  4. The Pattern Settles. The reader expects a story about grief and a bird.
  5. Something Unexpected. In a city across the sea, a girl bands racing pigeons on her grandfather's roof.
  6. Holding the Contrast. She loses one bird in a storm and marks it as dead in the book.
  7. The Connection. The green-banded bird is hers; he reads the band and writes to the address.
  8. Seen Anew. The bench again, and a letter in his pocket with a stamp from another country.

Open this template in Tabularia

Tabularia opens a new Book on the Kishōtenketsu shape: its acts and a chapter for each beat, named for it, with each note pinned beside the chapter it belongs to. The book's word goal is set to 5,000 words. You name the Book before anything is created.

Open in Tabularia

Or take it away

The Word file has every beat with its note and mark, a line under each for your own plan, and the example above. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages, and LibreOffice.

Download for Word