Thanks for your question,
As a blogger, I usually don't work on such big assignments as
actually writing a Book or a Novel, I usually work more on much shorter
writing assignments as writing Twitter tweets, Forum replies,
E-Books/-Reports and Blog posts....,
I do however like your question,
It's a great basic question, that actually might be an interesting topic
to write more Blog posts about on my Writing Blog !
Since I do have a certificate in Screenwriting, I also read Books about writing Books/Novels, So I also do know some things about story structures etc. that might come in handy when writing about such a topic.
On - The Writing Secret - page on my blog I somewhat already
started with giving a basic answer to your question.
Thanks for bringing up your question !