I find myself frustrated by the limitations of MS Word. Specifically, I want the ability to make tabs like you would with excel that I can make to indicate as chapters. I'm shocked that Word doesn't have this. Or maybe they do and I'm just a freaking idiot and can't figure it out.

Anyway, if someone knows how to do that on Word, let me know. If not, anyone have some better word processor options (preferably free)?

Been thinking of rebranding my character as younger, around his mid-teens. I wrote him as being rather vanilla at the moment, was thinking putting a Young Adult spin on him would bring out a few characteristics better. Problem is, the storyline I'm writing has him as an art thief. It's not a major part of the story I'm planning but it ties up a lot of backstory and propels the plot at the beginning (he steals something he shouldn't have). I don't condemn the theft or make any apologies for it - I'm wondering if I should worry about any kind of moral compass to my main character in this aspect.

Curious what kind of process other authors take with their writing... it took me a long time to get comfortable with it, and it may sound like its time consuming, but its a process that has worked well for me.

First step is, I just write the damn thing. Nothing special, nothing fancy. I don't even name most of my characters, I just come up with descriptions of them... ie

• The guy in the sunglasses went to the bank and robbed it. The robbery took ten minutes and then he was out the door before the cops arrived.

Next step I take is, once the whole thing is finished, I go back and rewrite it to fix some plot holes and fill in some details.

• John went to the bank and robbed it. The alarm was triggered by a nervous teller. The teller didn't have much money, but he made it out the door before the cops arrived.

Then lastly, I go back and rewrite it with more detailed descriptions of what, how, who, where.

• John went to the bank at the corner of Franklin Street and Grimes. The teller was cashing Phil's check when she noticed the gunman and tripped the alarm. John threw the bank bag at the teller who immediately filled it with the cash that was going to be Phil's. It was all she had. Disappointed, John rushed back out the front exit before police arrived and surrounded the building.

Perhaps each copy isn't as starkly different as the example given. Sometimes I put a bit of detail in the first copy, but my motivation is... make the story first, flesh it out second, get it right third. Which has been very helpful to me.

What kind of pattern do you follow?

I've toiled with a novel for the last couple years but it proved to be too big for me, so I'm working on another one instead which is progressing much much faster.

My question is, I'm attempting to write a novel. My initial story blew up to about 160 pages before it just got too big for me, this one is only about 40 pages and feels like its nearly complete. I'm intending to break it into multiple arcs that would be spent over three separate storylines that intertwine. Forty pages feels small in comparison to works by Butcher which are several hundred pages. I'm wondering if I read too much into it. What is the usual transition from a doublespaced 10pt font MS Word, to a paperback or hardback novel?

In other words, realistically - what page count should I strive for? I don't want to drag the story out, obviously. I'm wondering if instead of making it three separate stories - if I should make it one big novel, with three novellas composing the narrative. How many pages would an editor or agent desire in a story? It's not intended to be a short story - I'd love it to be a serial that I can pick up and expand on in the future.

If anyone's interested in giving it a read. I've posted about half of it online so far. Some feedback would be awesome as well.

edit :took down the book for now out of concerns for plagiarism