1. Learn to be a fantastic writer. Even if you are very talented, you will not write a publishable book without researching and learning about creative writing. Read a lot of fiction, and read with a critical eye. Take a creative writing class. Take another one. Join a writer's group. Read writing magazines. Everything. Listen to advice and take criticism on the chin. 2. Come up with an excellent plot and characters and plan it all out. For a long time. 3. Write it. Work hard. 4. Re-write it. Work harder. 5. Repeat step 4 ad nauseam. 6. Attempt to get an agent or publisher to take on your book. 7. Compile a huge file of your rejection letters. 8. Have the courage to put your rejected book aside and start writing another one. 9. Repeat steps 2-8 ad nauseam. 10. As the money fails to roll in, come to terms with the fact that less than 7 per cent of fiction writers make enough money to live on from writing alone. I don't mean to put you off, but that is the reality for novelists. Do this because you love it and couldn't bear NOT to do it. Do it because you've got stories in your head that you feel compelled to tell, and because you have an intrinsic love for the written word and all the incredible things that can be done with it. Don't do it because you want to make money or be famous.Сheck more