Breaking & Entering: Create Story Magic With The Rule of Threes

How many times have you heard “Good things come in threes”? While that might be wishful thinking, when it comes to storytelling there is a “Rule of Threes” that you can definitely believe in.

The Latin version is: “Omne trium perfectum.” Translation: Everything that comes in threes is perfection. Beginning – middle – end. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Past, present, future. Three primary colors. Genies grant Three Wishes. The Rule of Threes can be found throughout literature, across cultures, and in visual mediums. Oops – look at that – stories – societies – selfies! Three! Once you start looking for threes, you will find them everywhere.

The Rule of Threes dates back to the ancient Greeks, and our pal Pythagoras, who had a theory about triangles, and came to consider them sacred. It’s fundamental in design, architecture, and fashion. It forms the foundation of comedy, magic, and music. It is used in photography, cinematography, and fiction trilogies. It’s found in as disparate fields as religion, sports, and psychiatry. It is how we perceive, how we learn, and how we make meaning.

First, we learn our A-B-C’s, and then go on to The Three Little Pigs, Three Blind Mice, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Classic storytelling thrives on trios, whether it be The Three Musketeers, The Three Stooges (not to mention nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!) or the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The more you think about it, the more will notice its prevalence and its impact.

Three is no accident. It stems directly from the way our brains work. Three is just enough for us to recognize a pattern. A single event could simply be chance. The second instance might be coincidence, or perhaps serendipity. But the third occurrence is perceived as a pattern. Our brains constantly seek out patterns to make sense of the complexity of the world around us. Patterns make learning easier. Patterns help us make predictions. Patterns help us make decisions. Good decisions keep us alive, which is neuroscience in a nutshell. Our brains are designed to our bodies up and running. Natural selection eliminated our ancestors who couldn’t quickly identify a pattern, draw a conclusion, and make a life-saving decision.

Our brains love things that come in threes. Three is both brief and rhythmic, just enough for our brains to take notice. “Hey, there’s something going on here!” And in the face of a barrage of information, images, and input, what our brains are constantly trying to do is sort though and make sense of the world around us. On the other hand, brains like to be kept busy, and will get bored if everything falls into place all too neatly. The perfect mix is a comprehensible pattern with some hidden depth and unexpected variations.

Three is the key to best communicating to readers and audiences. A trio of events, conflicts, or characters are more engaging, more satisfying, and more humorous than other numbers. It’s clear, it’s effective, and it’s memorable.

In stories, The Rule of Threes is used to capture the reader’s attention, reinforce key points, and create a lasting resonance.

The Rule of Threes makes writing engaging, memorable, and persuasive. It connects concepts. It adds emphasis. It conveys a sense of completion.

Oratory is resonant with rhythm and cadence:

Bringing three words or phrases together to convey one idea connects the meanings to add up to a useful adage:

Three is memorable:

I bet you instantly recognized the product paired with those three word advertising slogans.

Sports reveres “The Hat Trick,” when a player scores three times in a game. Not to mention “Three strikes and you’re out!”

Comedians use it to build comic tension toward a surprise punch line. A joke is set up, the setup is reinforced, and the punch line subverts the audience’s expectations by breaking the pattern. It should be clever and surprising. Later, a great callback references the punch line with another unexpected, bigger spin, and gets a bigger laugh, partly because now we, the audience, are an active participant in the routine, by recalling the earlier joke.

In one of his comedy specials, Bigger & Blacker for HBO, Chris Rock, referencing his childhood, wrings out every possible joke out of Robitussin as a poor man’s cure-all, with a hint of sentiment. Five full minutes of fast-paced comedy whips by, when he deftly drops in a quick callback, stretching the joke further with sharp, satirical commentary, and resulting in instant hilarity. And nearly half an hour later, just when you thought there was nothing left to be exploited in the realm of cough syrup, he shifts the tone again, incorporating it into a riff on blowjobs.

Magicians plot a great trick with three parts: The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige. They grab the audience's attention, dazzle and baffle us, and ultimately, to leave us amazed.

Every form of satisfying story has a beginning, a middle, and end. Screenplays adhere to the concept with the three-act structure. The set up, confrontation, and resolution. No matter which guru you follow, they are all a variation on the classic three-act structure.

If you don’t know by now that I love the neuroscience of story, you haven’t been reading my column long enough.

The brain is constantly on the look out for patterns. They help us take in information and learn. And it gets a kick out of figuring things out – literally. Some researchers believe our brains get a chemical rush from correctly predicting “What Will Happen Next?” Suspense – the moments we are on the edge of our seats eager for the answer – is key tool to engage us in stories. It keeps readers turning pages. It adds dimension to settings, brings depth to characters, and underscores the theme. 

When working with consulting clients and mentees, I frequently remind them of the power of The Rule of Threes and how to use it to elevate their writing, their storytelling, and engross the reader with their words, as well as when it is not working in their favor. I believe that even articles can be more engaging when they follow the Rule of Threes, as I’ve done throughout, asking three questions, offering three explanations, and giving three examples, not to mention leaving some clever clues in the photographs. 

And with that, I’m leaving you with a cliffhanger and a quote.

As much as I’m fascinated by the simple yet profound power of The Rule of Threes, when it is overused, it simply won’t add up and may well wind up working against you. And as I have a lot more to say about both the pluses and the minuses, this is Part One of a Three Part Series. Next up: Part Two Terrific Trios – Unlock The Power Of Three Characters. Stay tuned for Part Three: Pack A Punch with the Three-peat – Description, Dialogue, and Characters.

Thus, as in Winston Churchill’s historic description of the Battle of Britain: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”