Power of 3 for your writing

As a huge fan of Psychotactics, Sean's clear explanation of using "3" as the ideal illustrative number for writers is worth reading. After all, how many is too many when listing attributes of a character or location? Three balances well and seems to work with the human brain's processing potential. Two looks whimpy. Five, seven or nine is overkill.

Psychotactics writer, Sean, offers three reasons why three works:

1. Focus quickly
2. Solid substance
3. Curse of knowledge

My favorite is "curse of knowledge" and I see this in student papers and works of novice writers. Editing and restraint seem to be missing from their dictionaries. Yes, you can know too much. In fact, the more expertise you have about a topic, the greater the danger. Before unloading a written tsunami on unsuspecting readers, consider Sean's advice: "three things restricts your amazing power to write endlessly". To that I would add: and bore intensely or overwhelm without mercy. Less is more. . .be concise then be done.