Some months ago, I came across a structure called Kishōtenketsu, a Japanese narrative in four acts.

ki – intro

shō – development

ten – twist

ketsu – expansion, revelation, reconcilliation

Kishōtenketsu is not rooted in conflict. Conflict may exist but it’s not the generator of the story. The third act, a narrative non sequitur, appears seemingly out of the blue. The result is a break, a rupture between the third and fourth acts. On the diagram, the third act hangs in the air like a severed thread. There’s a blank space, an empty moment between the end of the third act and the place where the fourth act begins.

For the past few weeks, each time I hear someone ask if it’s the end of the world, I think of that cliff between acts. Getting to the fourth act requires a leap of faith, or imagination.