Monday 23 May 2011

THE POWERFUL THREES OF WRITING

Wondering what I wanted to say, I tripped over a post on a Lighthouse Writing Tips Blog. Only the internet knows what I put in my give-me-inspiration-please request, but it turned up a post that was originally written in 2008 by Kathy Krajco but it was about a post she had read on Pat Bertram’s Blog. (Did you spot the subliminal three?;)
I'd never thought about the quality of threes, but what I read made a lot of sense.
WRITING IN THREES
  • To use the power of three in a mystery: give one clue to tantalise; two to suggest a direction of discovery; three to create a pattern.
  • To use the power of three in a story: create tension, develop it, release it.
  • To use the power of three in description: combine three attributes.

Three is a balanced number, it creates a series, a sequence, a path of cause and effect in the most economical way.


THREE QUESTIONS
Selling works using three emotive questions that are related to each other – they say the fourth question breaks the spell

Do you fail to reach your writing goal, even though you have allocated sufficient time during the day?
Is your perfect story falling short even after you have read 100 books in your chosen genre?
Are you seeking the adulation of an agent to get your novel “out there” into print?

You need: hard work; perseverance and hard work ;)

THE THREE ESSENTIALS:
creativity of approach
originality of concept
writing in simple sentence

I'm unashamedly hurrying today, but keeping everything in triplicate. ;)

I'm digging through my manuscript - again - one word at a time.

Are you having fun? 

4 comments:

  1. 3 is the magic number. Fascinating post.

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  2. That's really interesting. I think I've heard something about the power of three or a balancing like that but never looked into deeper. Very cool.

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  3. Great reminders for any writer. They all sound so simple in theory, but are actually quite difficult to apply successfully. Especially when attempting to create tension, develop it, and then release it. Timing is everything, in threes.

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  4. Hi Melissa
    I was singing that line too ;)

    Hi Jennifer
    Thank you :D I found it fascinating too.

    Hi Gail
    Pacing to achieve the correct effect is such a challenge. Falling on either side of wrong is dull or mawkish.

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