THE MAGIC NUMBER
Margaret James explores the power of three in fiction
Margaret James
FICTION FOCUS
A few months ago in this column, I discussed myths and legends and mentioned the Rule of Three: three brothers, three sisters, three friends, three choices, three challenges, three parts to every story – three just about everything. This got me thinking about all kinds of threesomes in fiction, particularly in traditional fiction.
Why are storytellers so endlessly fascinated by situations that come in threes?
As writers, we all know stories need a beginning, a middle and an end – or, if you like, a conflict, a catastrophe and a conclusion – not necessarily in that precise chronological order, but certainly in that emotional order. We’ll want all our stories to ask a big, potentially complicated question, we’ll hope to find it’s even bigger and more complicated than we first thought, and we’ll also want to offer our readers some answers, preferably satisfying ones.