Three adjectives, verbs or nouns can add extra power to your headlines.
This can include sub-headings in new sections of your modlette:
- A Brief Guide to Fixing Your Old, Neglected and Broken Modlettes.
- How to Stay Healthy, Happy and Combative in Impossible Political Times (The Guardian)
- 37 Tips for Writing Emails That Get Opened, Read and Clicked
- How to Run Your First Webinar (with No Skills, No Stress, and No Budget)?
Alliteration can add extra flair:
- The Underused Writing Trick That Makes You More Powerful, Popular and Persuasive
- 50 On-line Training Mistakes That Are Costing You, Clients, Cash, and Credibility.
Repetition and the rule of three
You may have heard repetition in writing is bad.
But that’s only true for accidental repetition. When used with care, repetition can add stress and a pleasant sense of rhythm. For instance, notice how the phrase “we can’t” is repeated three times.
As writers, our toolbox may seem limited. We can’t shout. We can’t use body language. We can’t even bang on a table to add weight to a message.
Following the rule of three religiously, however, becomes monotone and dull. So use trios in moderation.
Add an element of surprise
In all the examples so far, the 3 phrases seemed to form a logical trio, as in powerful, popular, and persuasive; and old, neglected and broken.
When you break your learner’s expectation of what’s coming along next, you add an element of fun and surprise to your writing.
Here’s an example from Grace Dent’s memoir “Hungry”
“Dinner consisted of three stainless-steel terrines of mushy, lukewarm, delicious chips sat close to warm jugs of lumpy, powder-based gravy.”
Mushy and lukewarm both have negative associations, so you’d expect a third negative to turn up, but no, Dent breaks the expectation by introducing the word delicious. The abrupt change from negative to positive shakes expectations and makes learners pay attention.
Here’s another example from the same book; note that sketty means spaghetti:
“Dad’s sketty is always, always delicious. Comforting, sweet, and gloriously stodgy, because Dad boiled the pasta for at least thirty or forty minutes too long.
Gloriously stodgy is not a phrase you’d expect to come after comforting and sweet, right?
Veni, Vidi, Vici
“I came. I saw. I conquered” … Julius Caesar
The number three is the smallest number to create a pattern; and patterns please our minds.
So go ahead.
Use the magic of three in your modlette content. Add a dash of flair. A sprinkle of rhythm. And a dollop of poetic beauty.
Your learners will walk through your training narratives with a smile on their face.