There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
Source: In 1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, ed. Robert Byrne, 1988.
-- W Somerset Maugham, (Jan 25 1874-1965), English novelist, short-story writer, playwright; He was an expert storyteller set in exotic locales; Of Human Bondage, 1915 and The Razor's Edge, 1944.