How to write a novel … and other tips for writers

I stole the first portion of this headline from Nathan Bransford's recent blog post, mostly because I love that he not only dared but quite successfully managed to fit so many key points about this "rotund, ginormous, massive, weighty, of-gargantuan-proportions" topic into one post. (I'd have begun with character development, but that's just me.) And keep in mind that Nathan is not only a writer but a literary agent, so his advice comes at least in part from what he looks for in a new...