Like any good pulled pork (well, any good Southern pulled pork that is... still waiting for them northern folk to figure out that you can't fast-cook everything) a good novel takes time. A lot of time, really. Even if you're only at your keyboard for six hours writing, the story is in your mind all the time. And the plot lines, characters, destinations and localities all reside there on a permanent basis. The author should have a solid grasp on everything, and it'll taste wonderful at the end (insert crude joke here... c'mon, you know you want to).