Writing a Novel

Do you want to write a novel?  Well, the first thing you will need is an idea.  Reading novels online can be a good source of ideas for you.  Many sources have novels that you can read free, so you can simply open a website and read a book for free to inspire your creative juices.  Reading other books is a great way to inspire new ideas.  Literature is meant to inspire.  So grab a romance novel or a mystery novel and read a few chapters.  Or do a search on the web for writing ideas.  Make sure the idea is something that really speaks to you - if you are not excited about telling the story, the readers will not be excited about reading it.  Popular books can help us to think like a writer, and you will be imitating great writing, so it will help you to raise your quality as well.
Maybe you had some past experience that can motivate a story.  Is there some experience that you enjoy talking about?  Try writing it down.  It doesn't have to be the beginning of the novel, but maybe you can fit it in somewhere and make the authenticity more meaningful.  My high school writing teacher told us to have a notebook with us at all times in case you think of a sentence or a plot twist or a character.  Basically we are hit by inspiration at any possible time, so we need to write it down before we forget it.  Thanks to cell phones, we have a great memo pad with us all the time now.  No excuse for forgetting to write it down.  Find an app that you like to use - either for voice memos or for writing a quick memo.  I like writing it down, because it's easier to quickly check later.
If you are like me, you don't want feedback from others while you write; but this is actually indispensable.  Imagine you are working on a piece of science fiction and you get done writing 45 chapters before someone else takes a look and tells you that it is no more than Star Trek fan fiction.  Ouch!  When you write, have someone read it and give you feedback, then make changes.  Proof-read for errors in spelling and grammar - that should be obvious too.  But for content suggestions, the writer is too close to the work to be objective.  It is art and sometimes we cannot see obvious problems until they are pointed out to us.  Do you think popular books were simply printed from the computer of the author?  Nope, they were examined and poked and prodded like a flank steak at an Outback Steakhouse.  Publishers and agents know that if anyone will read a novel, it has to be perfect.
Online novels have changed the game, now anyone can post a novel online and readers can read online.  So there is less quality control than ever before.  If you want your novel to stand out from the crowd, proofread and have a friend read it also.  Make sure that your ideas are original and that your language is not too confusing.  Don't be satisfied to just tell a story, write some literature!  Be a great novelist.  You can do it.