The Kishotenketsu Compass

The Kishotenketsu Compass

A comprehensive guide to the Japanese 4-Act plotting structure used by anime and manga writers

Shaun McIntosh

Calamus Press

Copyright © 2023 Shaun McIntosh

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-9936783-1-8

Cover design by: Shaun McIntosh

Contents

Recommended Reading and Viewing

Introduction

Part One - Understanding the Basics

Chapter One - A Tale of Two Cultures

Chapter Two - Character Arcs and Plotting Structures

Chapter Three - 3 Act Structure – an overview

Chapter Four - Act One - The Introduction

Chapter Five - Act Two - The Conflict

Chapter Six - Act Three

Chapter Seven - Dan Harmons Story Circle

Part Two - The Art of Kishotenketsu, the Japanese four-act structure

Chapter Eight - The Basics

Chapter Nine - Ki(起)  - The Introduction

Chapter Ten -Sho (承) - The Development

Chapter Eleven - Ten (転)  - The Twist

Chapter Twelve - Ketsu (結) – The Conclusion

Chapter Thirteen - The Polaroid Exercise

Chapter Fourteen - The Kishotenketsu Compass

Part Three - Applications for Kishotenketsu

Chapter Fifteen - Case Studies in Kishotenketsu

Chapter Sixteen - Examples of Kishotenketsu in a variety of Genres

Part Four  - Hybrid Plot Structures (with story arcs)

Chapter Seventeen - Using Kishotenketsu for secondary characters

Chapter Eighteen - Using Kishotenketsu as the base for the first half of your story

Chapter Nineteen - Using Kishotenketsu for the villain

Chapter Twenty - Enriching your 3-Act story with hybrid story arcs

Conclusion

Glossary of Terms

Index

Table of Figures

References

Rediscover a Classic with Calamus Press

About the Author

Recommended Reading and Viewing

All recomendations include affiliate hyperlinks

"The Anatomy of Story" by John Truby

"Save the Cat," by Blake Snyder

"Save the Cat Writes a Novel," by Jessica Brody

"The Hero With a Thousand Faces," by Joseph Campbell

"The Writers Journey," by Christopher Vogler (Expanded on the concept)

"The Art of Fiction," by Ayn Rand

Stein on Writing, by Sol Stein

The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman

Poetics, by Aristotle

Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks

The Story Grid, Shawn Coyne

Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling

Myth Adventures, by Robert Asprin

How William Shatner Changed the World, Documentary

Star Wars: A New Hope

Die Hard (AKA, The best Christmas movie ever)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Links to the following are manga on Amazon.  I can't link directly to the Netflix page.

The Promised Neverland

Romantic Killer

Kakegurui, Anime, found on Netflix

Introduction

Welcome, and thank you for buying this book. 

This book results from a research project I have undertaken for my YouTube channel, Calamus Press.  It started as an exploration of alternative plotting styles to the western 3 Act Structure.  I initially only mentioned it in a couple paragraphs in an article on my website, www.calamuspress.com.  I made a few videos on the topic, not because I thought it was so groundbreaking but because I wanted to explore the topic of plotting to its fullest extent.  So to benefit my YouTube audience, I created a series of videos exploring the method in depth.

The result was far from what I expected.  My views exploded after I uploaded the video.

Exploded for my channel, at any rate.  I was far from a big dog on YouTube, but after I uploaded my Kishotenketsu series, my subscriber base more than quadrupled within the next few months.  And that’s without posting another single video over the summer of 2022 and well into the winter.  Almost all of that was in response to my Kishotenketsu series.  There’s a hunger for this content, and people seem to like what I’m serving.

And that’s what I bring to you now.  This book is the result of a research project.  It’s a topic that interests and concerns me greatly as part of my education toward my vocation as an author.  And, since I started my research, I must admit to having developed a particular affection for the topic.  I’ve put much time and effort into its study, and I hope it also interests you.

What this book is and is not

This is a book on plotting styles, and my primary topic of concern is the Kishotenketsu method.  But I’ll also cover the 3 Act structure as its natural alternative and to highlight the differrences between western and eastern media.  Later, we will dive into culture and its role in developing the western 3 Act Structure and the eastern 4-act Kishotenketsu structure.  We will also cover some plotting devices to guide you through plotting either method.  Finally, we’ll look at some case studies of Kishotenketsu in action and examine other uses for the form.

Thisis not a how-to-draw book.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  But this isn’t that.  If that’s what you’re after, I can give you some great recommendations like Mark Crilley:

https://www.youtube.com/@markcrilley

Mark is a talented mixed-media manga artist with many instructional videos on YouTube.  He’s also written a few books on how to draw anime and manga characters.  I also like Jazza:

https://www.youtube.com/@Jazza

He’s another mixed media artist on YouTube with fun, informative content to help you draw better.  If you’re looking for help to improve your drawing skills, he’s a good choice.

But this book isn’t about drawing.  It’s about the craft of writing.

At the end of each chapter, I’ve included a Test Your Knowledge section with important terms and questions to test your knowledge and help you learn.  I’ve also included an alphabetical Glossary of Terms at the back. As well as an index, all of my resources, and a Table of Figures.  None of these are necessary for you to enjoy the book, but they’re a good resource if you’re interested.

Finally, I’ve prepared a Companion Guide for this book that’s free to you.  It has all the charts, tables and glossary of terms as the original text version, plus questions at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge.  It’s basically a quick guide to the charts, tables and glossary, if you are interested. 

I’ve also included in the guide a chapter that I cut from the book on the advice of my beta readers (plus my insightful wife.)  There’s nothing wrong with the chapter and those who read it agreed that it was interesting.  It simply didn’t fit the tone of the book so they advised that I cut it.  I included it as a bonus chapter in the guide.

It’s yours if you care to read it.  You can get your copy of the free Companion Guide athttps://calamuspress.com/the-kishotenketsu-compass-2/. 

Part One  

Understanding the Basics

Chapter One  

A Tale of Two Cultures

Why is culture important?

Culture matters.  But most people don’t really understand what culture is.  We think it’s something other people do, but never ourselves. 

We think culture is what you experience during a Japanese tea ceremony, but never swilling coffee at home.  It’s when you hear an Imam intoning the Quran over the faithful in Qatar, but never the ringing of the church bell around the corner.  It’s when the intellectual gushes after a live performance of Himalayan throat singing, but never Tenacious D blaring over your latest bonfire. 

It’s always something someone else does.  As if we don’t think we’re worthy of cultured status.  Some of us get downright cynical about our own culture.  During a stand-up routine at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in 1998, comedian Lewis Black said:

It’s very, very important for Americans to leave their country at least once a year.  Because otherwise, Americans start to believe they have a culture.

This cynical attitude has fueled the worldwide travel and tourism industry to the tune of 600 billion dollars a year.  As a society, the west would rather spend 600 billion dollars to experience another culture than revel in the one in their backyard.  Yet, all this is without giving much thought to what culture is.  If more people knew, they might be more forgiving of their culture.

But what is culture?

This idea of culture is also at the heart of the issue if you want to master the art of Kishotenketsu, or the Japanese Four Act Structure.  In some ways, culture affects literature, and in others, literature affects culture.  If we want to understand how culture affects our understanding of Kishotenketsu, we must understand what culture is.

Culture is a selection of shared principles, ethics, traditions, and practices that shape a society and its way of life.  The Japanese tea ceremony, rooted in Zen philosophy, is an example of culture; and so is swilling beer at Oktoberfest.  The ring of a gong in a Tibetan monastery is an example of culture. So is the chime of the church bell around the corner.  The fact that something is familiar doesn’t make it less culturally relevant, and the fact that something is exotic doesn’t make it more. 

Literature, for our purposes, is any collection of written work with artistic merit, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry.  We will also generously include modern media such as TV, Movies, Radio, and even Video Games in that definition since all require talented writers.  So, the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer are obviously literature and for our purposes, so are the works of Crichton, King, Rowling, and Spielberg.

The fact that culture influences literature should be evident since literature is an expression of culture.  The values and beliefs most people take for granted inevitably find their way into the media they consume, thus reinforcing the culture from whence they came. 

A great example of this would be the work of Michael Bay. Say what you will about the artistic relevancy of his movies, but they are the direct result of the culture from which they were spawned.  That is to say, they tend to be deeply rooted in flag-waving, American patriotism, and that’s not bad.  It’s just the culture.  And this culture influences his art.

Likewise, literature also influences culture.  The relationship can be circular and reinforce the existing culture, and that’s perfectly fine.  But it can also be transformative and challenge the culture.  In fact, a well-crafted and well-placed piece of literature can alter the course of culture altogether.

An excellent documentary called How William Shatner Changed the World takes a tongue-in-cheek look at Star Trek’s influence on American culture since its original run in the 1960s.  It’s incredible to think that many of the modern conveniences we enjoy today were inspired by that campy product of a bygone hippy era.  Cell phones, personal computers, microwaves, and even the rise of modern Virtual Reality results from viewers looking at what they saw and saying, That’s cool, and I want it!  So, they went out and made it. 

And that’s the power of literature.  It can reinforce the current paradigm or change it for better or worse. The propaganda of Nazi-era Germany can divide us and reduce marginalized groups to inhuman entities fit for slaughter. Shows like Star Trek can show us a new vision of the future and what we could achieve if we set aside our differences and work together.

For clarity, a Paradigm (pronounced: peh-ruh-dime) is a pattern or a model of something.  In society we can say that your paradigm is the society in which you live and the cultural patterns or traditions to which you have beocme accustomed.

Romantic Stoicism

Much of western media is based on European principles of philosophy and literature.  Our mythical traditions are based on the works of early authors like Aristotle and Homer.  Their literary philosophies were based on principles of Stoicism and Romanticism, which were pervasive in Europe. 

Stoicism, for our purposes, is the view that life is suffering and should be endured without quarrel or complaint.

Romanticism is a worldview that stresses the supremacy of the individual.  It has nothing to do with the slick-haired Casanova, seducing his way through the Italian countryside.  Rather, a man has the right to shape the world according to his will and defend it against all odds. 

Taken together, I’m calling these principles Romantic Stoicism.  Romantic Stoicism is a principle in literature used to form a protagonist who endures hardship readily, conquers it, shapes the world in his image, and returns the conquering hero.  This is the classical, sometimes cliched, story of the hero who storms the castle, slays the dragon and gets the girl.  This is the foundation upon which most western media is based, to varying degrees.

If you want an example of a good Stoic Romanticist, I would recommend the work of Ayn Rand.  Especially her seminal work, Atlas Shrugged.  In her book The Art of Fiction, it’s interesting that Rand considered Romanticism as the highest virtue of literature.  She deemed its counter philosophy, Determinism, to be wrong, literarily unworthy, and downright evil.  And I’m not exaggerating on that front. 

While I think she was a fantastic writer, I disagree with her on that point.  There’s a place for both; much of this book is devoted to Determinism and its exposition.

Determinism

But Japan is different.  Japan has traditionally had what’s known as an honour/shame culture.  Honour/shame cultures are cultures that don’t tend to celebrate the heroes in their midst but, instead, downplay the individual and his accomplishments. The focus is on harmony, not bringing shame to your family and community. You don’t do what you do because it’s right or even because it works. You do it because it’s what the community’s doing, and you don’t want to bring shame by going against the grain.

Here in the west, we have a saying.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

The individual who stands out and makes himself known gets the best results. But eastern cultures pioneered a very different saying.

The protruding nail gets hammered down.

And you can guess what that means.

So, they don’t see the world as a prize to be conquered, as we do in the west. Instead of being something you bend to your will, the world is something that bends you to its will. You don’t have a choice; fighting against it will only shame your community.  When taken to unhealthy extremes, this tends to stifle not only individual liberties but social and technological growth as well. Both need individuals to stand out and buck norms to make progress.

This is what we call Determinism.  When properly understood, it’s the central underpinning of the entire Kishotenketsu method.  Determinism is the view that all events, including human actions, are determined by external forces. As such, characters in a Kishotenketsu story usually don’t go out and affect their world.  Instead, they are affected by their world through the story.

Test Your Knowledge

Terms

Questions

What are some examples of culture unique to your local community?

Does the fact that it’s familiar mean it’s less culturally valid?

What are some examples of literature you can think of?

How