Establish your credentials

Before you start telling other people how to write a novel, make sure you finish at least one. I cannot tell you how many conferences and workshops I have attended that are peopled with writer wannabees. I usually ask people at these what they are writing. Often, it is the same novel that they've been writing for ten years and haven't finished or they TELL me the idea for a novel they want to write but haven't written yet.  A novel is black words on white paper, not some story in one's head. Jane Kirkpatrick in one of her newsletters said that only 1% of the people who say they are going to write a novel ever do.