How to write a novel

I attended a great writing workshop run by a writer for Coronation Street, a short story writer, and a few people who had books published with some success. They encouraged us to write very short stories in the workshop, share and get feedback, and then said 'go away and do this for increasing lengths of time to hone your skills. Don't throw anything away, as you might want to re-write it as you improve, and if you keep at it, you'll find you can plot and characterise your stories so they are interesting to others.' Unfortunately, they didn't tell us how to get motivation back when it disappeared!

I have just read a brief book by Mark Haddon on my kindle - bit boring really, but he did share an idea that he uses on writing courses: cover a big sheet of paper in various unrelated scenarios (e.g. woman swimming in river, child playing basketball, ambulance speeding down motorway - anything really) then sit down and draw lines between them to form a narrative.

It has been said that everyone has a book in them - I have always admired people who can put their thoughts into words in a way which is informative/entertaining for the reader. I wish I had that talent.