How to write a novel

One of the most frequent questions I, or any writer, gets is "how do you write a novel"?

Well, there is no easy answer to that question because, of course, writing a novel is no easy feat.  After all, almost everyone will say they'd like to write a novel someday.  The number of people who HAVE written novels (published or not) is far, far smaller.

One reason it's such a hard question to answer is because there is no one, set, preferred way to do it. Some people labor over every word.  Others...