Question: What is the writing principle that suggests that events or characters introduced in threes are more humorous, satisfying, or effective in execution of the story and engaging the reader and is used in a novel featuring Allison Gross, a hideous witch?
Context: Chinese characters of Empress Wu, or the Zetian characters (), are Chinese characters introduced by Empress Wu Zetian, the only reigning female in the history of China, to demonstrate her power.  The characters were not created by the Empress herself, but were suggested by an official named Zong Qinke, the son of one of her cousins, in December 689 AD.  The number of characters varies between 12, 17, 19, or 30 characters.  They were forcibly used by people during her reign but fell into disuse immediately after her death, so they help to determine dates of printed materials. Runtime verification is a computing system analysis and execution approach based on extracting information from a running system and using it to detect and possibly react to observed behaviors satisfying or violating certain properties.  Some very particular properties, such as datarace and deadlock freedom, are typically desired to be satisfied by all systems and may be best implemented algorithmically.  Other properties can be more conveniently captured as formal specifications.  Runtime verification specifications are typically expressed in trace predicate formalisms, such as finite state machines, regular expressions, context-free patterns, linear temporal logics, etc., or extensions of these.  This allows for a less adhoc approach than normal testing.  However, any mechanism for monitoring an executing system is considered runtime verification, including verifying against test oracles and reference implementations .  When formal requirements specifications are provided, monitors are synthesized from them and infused within the system by means of instrumentation.  Runtime verification can be used for many purposes, such as security or safety policy monitoring, debugging, testing, verification, validation, profiling, fault protection, behavior modification (e.g., recovery), etc.  Runtime verification avoids the complexity of traditional formal verification techniques, such as model checking and theorem proving, by analyzing only one or a few execution traces and by working directly with the actual system, thus scaling up relatively well and giving more confidence in the results of the analysis (because it avoids the tedious and error-prone step of formally modelling the system), at the expense of less coverage.  Moreover, through its reflective capabilities runtime verification can be made an integral part of the target system, monitoring and guiding its execution during deployment. Phil Janes is a writer and author.  He has published a series of three science fiction comedy novels about interstellar space travel, in a humorous style, similar to Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Grant Naylor.  He has also published a humorous novel featuring cats as its main characters, suitable for both children and adults. The Zigzag Way is a 2004 novel by Anita Desai.  The novel is about an American academic and writer who goes with his girlfriend to Mexico and rediscovers his passion for fiction writing.  The novel was received with mixed reviews.  Liz Hoggard of "The Guardian" emphasized how the characters often get overwhelmed by the descriptions of the scenery losing the patience of the reader.  Similarly, "The Scotsman" emphasized how the novel often is distant from the reader, often providing more information than the reader needs and not engaging with the characters. The British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama "Misfits" features a number of fictional characters.  The main cast comprises five characters, while a number of additional characters support the show.  The main cast originally consisted of Alisha Daniels (Antonia Thomas), Curtis Donovan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Kelly Bailey (Lauren Socha), Nathan Young (Robert Sheehan), and Simon Bellamy (Iwan Rheon).  After Sheenan (Nathan) left the role Rudy Wade (Joseph Gilgun) was introduced.  Rheon (Simon) and Thomas (Alisha) departed their roles at the end of series 3.  Seth (Matthew McNulty) is initially introduced as a guest character but later begins appearing in a recurring role.  Jess (Karla Crome) and Finn (Nathan McMullen) join the cast in a main role at the beginning of series four.  Supporting characters introduced have included Sally (Alex Reid), Pete (Michael Obiora), Superhoodie, Nikki (Ruth Negga), Shaun (Craig Parkinson) and Greg (Shaun Dooley). Barbara Emile is a British television producer.  Emile contributed to the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" for several years.  She first started working on the serial as script editor underneath producer Leonard Lewis, and she began producing the programme in 1992.  Following the departure of Lewis in 1994, Emile was promoted to Executive Producer.  Storylines that aired under her tenure included Sharongate, Nigel and Debbie Bates' wedding (an on-screen celebration that aired to mark the show's 1000th episode), and Ricky Butcher's love triangle with best friends Bianca Jackson and Natalie Price.  Barbara cast actress Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell.  Innovating the writing talent, Emile introduced a pioneering structure to develop writing talent, led by Tony Jordan, Tony McHale, Ashley Pharaoh and Matthew Graham.  In 1994 Emile took the programme from twice a week to three times per week.  Under Emile's stewardship she led the series onto achieve ratings of 23 million viewers.  Characters introduced included Tiffany Raymond, Roy and Barry Evans.  She remained with "EastEnders" til early 1995 and was succeeded by Corinne Hollingworth. Allison Gross, a hideous witch, tries to bribe the narrator to be her "leman".  She combed his hair, first.  When a scarlet mantle, a silk shirt with pearls, and a golden cup all fail, she blows on a horn three times, making an oath to make him regret it; then she strikes him with a silver wand, turning him into a wyrm (dragon) bound to a tree.  His sister Maisry came to him to comb his hair.  One day the Seelie Court came by, and a queen stroked him three times, turning him back into his proper form. Something Weird is a 1967 American exploitation film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.  It stars, among others, Tony McCabe and Elizabeth Lee and features a paranormal plot involving LSD drug use, a psychic, a hideous witch who morphs into a sexy young woman, a séance, a kung-fu chopping socialite, ghosts, psychopaths and federal agents. "Interrupting Chicken’s" plot has a repetitive nature, with a humorous story line and a good underlying message.  The story begins with little red chicken’s bedtime.  Little red chicken’s calm, patient father is referred to as “Papa.”  Papa is getting little red chicken settled for bed.  Little red chicken eagerly suggests reading a bedtime story.  Papa often refers to how little red chicken regularly interrupts bedtime stories before they are finished.  Papa informs little red chicken that she should not interrupt the story like past experiences, little red chicken promises to “be good tonight”(4).  "Interrupting chicken" includes other classic children’s books such as: "Hansel and Gretel"," Little Red Riding Hood" and "Chicken Little".  Papa begins by kindly reading "Hansel and Gretel" to little red chicken.  Before reaching the end of the story little red chicken interrupts the story!  The images show little red chicken in the story of "Hansel and Gretel" and she is yelling, “don’t go in she’s a witch!”  which results to a sudden end to the story(18).  Little Red chicken appears to be absolutely delighted with her decision to step in and save the day while her father was not so impressed.  Papa addresses little red chicken's behavior and she promises not to engage in such activity for the next story.  Papa begins by reading "Little Red Riding Hood".  Before Papa could get through the story little Red chicken jumps in once again and informs Little Red Riding Hood that she is not to talk to strangers.  Papa begins to become tired and informs little red chicken that she should not be interrupting because the purpose of bedtime stories is to make her sleepy.  Little red chicken defends herself by saying “he was a mean old wolf.” (18).  Little red chicken convinces Papa to read another story, this time, "Chicken Little".  Little red chicken once again jumps into to solve the problem.  Papa is becoming exhausted and little red chicken is upset because there are no more stories to read.  Little red chicken believes she cannot go to bed without a story.  Papa suggests that little red chicken tell him a story.  Little red chicken loves the idea and climbs into bed, yawning and tired.  Little red chicken then writes a story about reading stories for bedtime until she realizes papa has fallen asleep!  The story ends with little red chicken saying “good night, Papa” and the last picture shows both of them cuddled up happily in bed(40). The rule of three is a writing principle that suggests that events or characters introduced in threes are more humorous, satisfying, or effective in execution of the story and engaging the reader.  The reader or audience of this form of text is also thereby more likely to remember the information conveyed.  This is because having three entities combines both brevity and rhythm with having the smallest amount of information to create a pattern.  It makes the author or speaker appear knowledgeable while being both simple and catchy.
Answer: rule of three