One, Two Three, Notice Me: The Rule of Three

Things happen in threes. It’s part of our culture and so ingrained in our subconscious that we notice (if not seek out) patterns that fit this rule. It’s also a great rule for writing, since it taps into this understood principle and lets the reader do half the work for us.

What is the rule of three?

It takes three things to establish a pattern.

People remember things in threes better. (Really, they’ve done studies) Think of famous speeches (Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), or clichéd ad copy (location location location). Even our stories are broken down into three acts. Three makes people pay attention, and you can use that to make them pay attention in your stories.

Using the Rule of Three
There are several ways to use threes in your stories.

1. To build tension or foreshadow
Establishing patterns is a great foreshadowing technique. Tension builds when readers are expecting something and waiting eagerly for it to happen.

• That the first time someone sees something they merely see it.
• The second time they notice it, because it stands out now.
• The third time, they’re looking for it because you’ve established a pattern.

This can happen over the course of one scene or the whole book. A brief glimpse of something that seems unimportant, but it’s seen again later with a little more importance, and finally revealed in a bigger way. It’s the creak in the night, followed by the thump, followed by the guy in the ski mask jumping out at you.

2. To make readers remember
Things mentioned three times get remembered. This can be tricky since repeating yourself can be bad, so make sure to slip it in where it feels natural. Your protag simply saying the same thing again stands out (but not in the good way). But the protag going over the plan, forgetting one thing, having a friend remind them, feels more natural. It also draws attention to that second thing, thus making the reader notice it even more. Then later when your protag is actively about to do that thing, they might think about it one last time because that’s what’s vital. (This is a good way to keep the stakes, goals, and motivations in your reader’s mind)

3. To surprise
Patterns that don’t go where we expect them to surprise us. This is the way many jokes work: they set up a pattern, then throw something unexpected in for the third item and shock us.

How do you get to my place? Go down to the corner, turn left, and get lost.

You can lead readers in one direction, then hit them sideways, be it with humor, drama, or even pathos. It works on a larger scale with scenes, and doesn’t have to be a single line. Two scenes set up the pattern, then third starts off to satisfy that pattern, then wham! Changes direction and offers a surprise.

Three really is a magic number. It works on a line by line basis or in a macro structure format. It allows for lovely sentence rhythm, memorable prose, and a way to add layers to flat scenes. Next time you’re stuck in a scene, try looking at what patterns you’ve created and how you can use those to get the story moving again. Or just make it better overall.