Is it your dream to have a book published? Leeds novelist Andrea Semple has already had her dream come true.

Here she shares her top ten tips for would-be writers.

Some people are so bogged down with being good that they never write anything at all. The trouble is, if there's nothing on the page or the computer screen, you've got nothing to work with. After all, Michelangelo didn't go around looking for rocks shaped like an Adonis, he had to make them that way. Likewise, even the best writers cannot expect every sentence they write to be word perfect. Perfection (or, at least, the desire for it) comes later. At the start, you need to concentrate on getting the process underway - rubbish or not rubbish. Of course, some writing stays rubbish and never improves, but most people can end up producing something worthy so long as they know how to edit. Francoise Sagan put it best when she said 'I have to start to write to have ideas.'

'If you want to be a writer, you must do two things,' reckons Stephen King. 'Read a lot and write a lot.' And it's true. Writing is ultimately about the production of words, and the more words you consume, the more you'll be able to produce.

Before you concentrate on the task of putting whole paragraphs or chapters together - even before you start structuring the story - just focus on individual sentences. Play about with different styles and decide what you like best. This is what creative writing tutors call 'finding your voice.'

As well as clearing your desk clutter, you need to clear your mind. Most of all, you need to forget about every single member of your family who may one day get to read your novel. If you don't, you will avoid reality altogether and start writing like Enid Blyton. There's an important difference between editing and self-censorship.

This is perhaps the most frequently given piece of novel writing advice there is. But it's also the most important. In relation to character it means not wasting loads of time telling the reader what someone is like, but showing them instead. If the heroine of your novel is a compulsive liar, don't just tell the reader this fact, but actually show the character in the act of lying. If she's a nymphomaniac, place her in a room full of attractive men. If she's got a nut allergy (or, more interestingly, if she's a hypochondriac who thinks she's got a nut allergy) have someone offer her a peanut butter sandwich. If she's angry, place her in an anger management class.

Character comes from dialogue, even in the most basic of conversations. For instance, if someone is asking 'Can I have the car keys?' they might do it in different ways depending on their character. A brain-dead surfer would
say: 'Dude, the keys.' A nervy type would say: 'Can I, um, can I have the car keys . . . if that's okay . . . please?' While an aggressive hitman probably wouldn't say anything at all and just grab the car keys from whoever's hand, before headbutting said person to the floor.

People often say that in the time of a crisis or a dramatic event they really see what they are made of. So to really see what your characters are made of you may need to give them something harrowing to react to. An unwanted pregnancy. The death of a parent. A kidnap. A Pilates class. (Okay, maybe nothing THAT harrowing).

In order to have the best chance of getting an agent, you need to know who is out there. Before I got an agent for The Ex-Factor, I bought a copy of The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook (published by A and C Black). It includes the names and addresses of just about every agent worth contacting.

Most novels are between 70,000 and 120,000 words. Agents simply do not have the time or the desire to read that many words from a complete stranger. Your best bet is therefore to send the first 10,000 words, or three chapters to give them a taste of your novel. As well as three chapters agents will also want to see a synopsis or overview of your novel. This should be about two or three pages long and should be as well-written as the novel itself. When writing the synopsis, try and think about what you would write on the back cover of your book in order for people to read it.

Salman Rushdie had written 800 pages of Midnight's Children when he decided to swap the third person and go for a first person narrative instead.