2) All first novels should have titles derived from the Bible and/or Shakespeare.
The manuscript should be placed in a spot of the basement that’s prone to flooding, because a flood hitting the manuscript on which you wasted your youth is kind of biblical, which goes along with the title. And using a title from the Bible or Shakespeare is also Faulknerian. Everyone starting out of the blocks thinks they’re going to be Faulkner. You’ve got to, or you wouldn’t start at all.