Seeing that my new book, The Best of Families, is slowly making its way into print, I’ve been thinking a lot about novels lately. But every time I do, I can’t help but hear Somerset Maugham’s oft repeated, “There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.” Well, to fill Maugham’s critical and emotional void, here are three rules that you may want to consider: 1. Not everyone’s going to like your book. 2. Many friends will be convinced that one of your characters was modeled after them. 3. The next one might be better. (Let’s hope!)