Recently,
I was talking with a friend from China about the importance of the number
three. She said it’s a lucky number in her culture. We realized that some form
of the number three is important in many cultures and religions around the
world. For example, Christianity has the Holy Trinity, ancient Romans believed
that everything that comes in threes is perfect, and the ideals at the heart of
Buddhism are called the Three Jewels.
So,
if three is universally significant, is it important in writing? Well, the
three act structure of
beginning, middle and end is basic to a good story.
Plus, several books and films have memorable titles using three such as,
“Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” “The Three Little Pigs,” and “The Three
Musketeers.”
Further,
in stories it’s often the first two attempts that don’t work, while the third
is successful. For instance, Goldilocks tried to sleep in two beds but found
them uncomfortable. The third was just right.
But
is there an actual rule of three for writing? After some searching I found that
the answer is yes. There is a rule and it’s old. I’m simplifying, but Aristotle
wrote in his book, Rhetoric, that
people can easily remember three things but not more.
Grouping
things in threes also provides greater impact. For instance, three-worded slogans
like “Go, Fight, Win” or Nike’s “Just Do It” stick with us. And who can forget
the French Revolution’s memorable slogan, “Liberté, egalité, fraternité.”
A
series of three establishes a progression where tension is created, added upon,
and then released. In Charles Dickens classic tale, A Christmas Carol, he uses three spirits—the ghosts of Christmas
past, present, and future—to teach Ebenezer Scrooge a lesson. The third ghost
is the most frightening, yet after Scrooge confronts the last ghost, he changes
for the better and the tension is released.
Use
of a “comic triple” is a classic joke telling technique. Comedians use two similar
elements to establish an expected pattern then the third is a clever twist to hopefully
make the audience laugh. Here is an example from The Dick Van Dyke Show: “Can I get you anything? Cup of coffee?
Doughnut? Toupee?”
When
writing dialogue some authors caution to write no more than three continuously
“spoken” sentences by the same character otherwise it’s a speech instead of
dialogue. Also, write no more than three exchanges between two characters. Add
action or narration to break it up and keep the reader’s attention. Consider adding
a third character to a two-person scene to make the dialogue more complex.
For
similar reasons they recommend limiting back story or flashbacks to three or
fewer sentences then return to the real time scene. If there are more than
three sentences, the reader may become immersed in the back story and forget
about the primary story.
There are even suggested uses for the rule of three when
writing
mysteries:
1.
Introduce
a crime within the first three chapters of your novel in order to hook the
reader.
2.
Plant
three clues and mention each three times in order to give a reader fair warning
that it’s important.
3.
Provide
three possible solutions to a crime.
Do
you use the rule of three in your writing?
Do you have a lucky number? Did you use it to
play the recent Mega Millions Jackpot?
