Write a GREAT Book! 43 A Writing Secret from Neil Simon Surprising as it may seem, great works of art like Michel- angelo’s Pietà weren’t created simply by emotion and inspiration. From the days of ancient Greece and Rome through the Renaissance, artists of all kinds used care- fully worked out mathematical formulas as the founda- tion for their highly emotional or even spiritual creations. 吀栀is was also true of poets and dramatists. In fact, the most successful writers still take a very rational approach to their work, (although the trick is to keep this fact well- hidden). Neil Simon, for example, who cre- ated 吀栀e Odd Couple and dozens of other hugely success- ful comedies for stage and screen, is known for carefully following the Rule of 吀栀ree. Wikipedia describes it as follows: 吀栀e Rule of 吀栀ree is a principle in English writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more e昀昀ective than other numbers of things. A series of three is often used to create a progression in which the tension is created, then built up, and 昀椀nally released. From slogans (“Go, 昀椀ght, win!”) to 昀椀lms, many things are structured in threes: 吀栀ere were three musketeers, three little pigs, Goldilocks and the three bears, and 吀栀ree Stooges.