But am I right about being able to change it in an hour or so if needed?

And surely a publisher can get it the way he wants it this way as well?

I might seem stubborn and hell, I am a bit stubborn, but I'm really just trying to find out if it's worth it for me. I think I really want to be able to read it properly before sending it to a publisher.

You can self-publish too. Amazon is full of self-published books.

A publisher won't even accept a manuscript without double-spacing. It's really easier for you to change your habits (learn to read and write double-spaced). After a few days it will feel natural...but it's up to you.

And most word processors can change the spacing of a section with a simple "select-all/format" kind of option.

Draug - I've tried that with my manuscript so far and it didn't work, I had to copy paste each chapter and format them. I've now resorted to keeping each chapter in a seperate document. Dealing with long documents is a lot harder than common sense would dictate

Honestly, that is the best way. I know I set up folders for technical documents and then a document per "chapter". I will merge them together to generate the TOC att he end and for key word index generation, but the editing is usually a chapter per document.

Of course, user manuals for software can vary from 50 pages for something simple to hundreds of pages for more complex software.

So the best way is to save them per chapter? And I can save them as normal, so no double spacing or however it was called? Does that solve any problems that may turn up?

And I was indeed thinking of possibly self-publishing it. Either way, I want to write the book first I think.

You need to double space before sending to the publisher. It won't get past the gatekeeper to an actual assitant editors desk for possible review if it isn't double spaced.

But can't I easily make it double spaced when I have it saved normal per chapter?

Steephie there's no concrete answer ot that question. I have experienced loads of "anomalies" editing large amounts of text. Incorrent fonts popping up, things getting shifted around etc...

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2lcb3bq&s=5

Is that good? I changed it to that in a few clicks, and can change it back in a few clicks as well...

So if I save it normal or like the screenshot (doesn't matter to me since it's just a few clicks) per chapter I should be good, right? I still think I'll save it normal then, and change every chapter separately if I ever send it to a publisher...

Is there any problem I'm missing here?

Just man up and use LaTeX.

Looks fine to me steephie.

Ok, thanks.

That still leaves one question unanswered: what's about a good amount of words for a chapter? 1000?

I think I just finished chapter 1 with 894 words, is that okay? Or too short?

Come to think of it, if it becomes around 60,000 words and the chapters are 1000 words, I end up with 60 chapters... That does seem to be quite too much... Maybe the next ones will be longer though...

I'm also still looking for a name for the male mathematics teacher, he's about to wake Hugo up because he fell asleep in class...

Got it. Mr Vanderhuis. Thanks to Crazy Anglican!! See this thread works? :P

Don't do things like Find/Replace on a document though. I just finished reading a book that had terrible grammar and spelling, as in, below a 2nd grade level. One of the things he did was, he used "Elves" as a proper name for a race, such as Dutch or English, and then did a find replace on elves/Elves. What ended up happening was words such as 'themselves' became 'themsElves' and 'shelves' became 'shElves'. The author also used incorrect spellings of words, is there/their and to/too regularly throughout the book. I enjoyed the storyline, but not enough to pick up any other books in the series.

Haha, no I'm not planning on messing with it anymore than changing the width between the lines back and forth. Thanks for the warning though. I also save them separately by chapter so I only need to rewrite one chapter if I screw up one document.

LaTeX is for lazy asses. Now, TeX, on the other hand, is for real men (and real women). For bonus points, generate TeX from XML sources using XSLTs.

Steephie I imagine that if you are writing chapters of 800 words, that as I suspected you don't have a complicated enough plot to write a book about.

Nah, I just think I was a bit too eager to finish the first chapter :)

I just don't really know when to start a new chapter I think. That's why I asked.

So when do you think you should start a new chapter? And how big should a chapter be? Like 2/3/4/5 thousand words?

You should start a new chapter when your old chapter naturally peters out. That shouldn't be in 800 words however

I just don't have a clue when that is. I started a new chapter because the character fell asleep 2 hours after the time the book started, and wakes up after an hour, which is where the new chapter starts. Those times are in the book. So I think 800 words makes sense for 2 hours, but not for a chapter. I just don't know when to start a new chapter then...

When the event of the first chapter is over. That event wouldn't be "Harry meets Sally" but rather "Harry meets Sally, they go out a few times and begin to feel an attraction"

It really depends what your chapters are about.