Writing fiction for publication is a different sort of activity than producing a letter, a class handout, or even a story intended for a website. Quite a few professional markets require manuscripts in this venerable format. Others want rtf files, or MS Word documents. In some cases, plain text is needed.

So one needs to create documents that can be easily moved into different formats with minimal time and effort, and minimal possibility for error. When I first began writing, I used MS Word's default settings, figuring it would be an easy matter to reformat into standard manuscript format to submit to publishers. After a while, it became clear that this was a pretty clunky approach. If it were simply a matter of changing to 12-pt Courier and double spacing, it would not be a great problem. But there are the little things, like changing curly quotes (both single and double) to straight quotes and changing dashes to double hyphens. These changes need to be made by find-and-replace, and proofreading afterwards is wise.

Here's what I do now.

I use MS Word with virtually all the "auto-correct" and "auto-format as you type" features turned off. I use two defined paragraph styles: one for standard paragraphs (no line spacing before or after, first line indented 0.5 inch), and one for centered paragraphs (for my scene breaks). I use a font and size that is I like for reading on screen and printed drafts (Times New Roman, 12 pt., line spacing 1.5).

When I've completed the story, I make two additional versions. The first is standard manuscript format (change font to Courier, line spacing to double, and add the obligatory first-page header). The second is an "attractive" version for keeping in my paper files and for sharing with friends and family. This is the draft run through Word's auto formatting to make the curly quotes and things.

I often end up making an rtf file of both the "standard manuscript format" version and my original draft, since some markets require these and some friends may have trouble with Word docs.

I use the Windows file system to organize the stories. There's presently a separate folder for each milieu I'm working on, which collects not only the stories but research and world-building notes. The "standard manuscript format" versions are kept in their own subfolder, so I can easily distinguish them from the other versions. (I'm surprised at how many computer users these days don't seem to be aware of Windows Explorer as a way of organizing and managing files, but instead rely on each application to provide access to the file system.)

I'm not compulsive about reataining earlier drafts of a story as I write it. I'll write in a single file (with multiple back-ups!), and also make my after-writing revisions and edits to that same file. If I later decide to rewrite or edit further (in response to critiques,say), then I will move the old version to a separate file and start a new one for the revised version.

I tried PageFour writing software, but decided to go back to Word as my primary tool. I liked the way PageFour organizes your files, and I liked the potential of changing format through printing templates. In the end, though, I missed having more WYSIWYG text entry, and having named paragraph styles. I'd already done the work of turning off Word's unhelpful features and defining my own styles and file system, so PageFour wasn't offering me much more than I already had.

An aside: you can actually put Word's auto correct feature to work for you, by having it replace a short code with a long name you'll be typing often. This is especially nice if the name has accent marks or other special characters that you would need to key in by hand otherwise.

The key to using a complicated piece of software like MS Word for writing for publication is to pare it down to the basic features you need, and get into the simplest work process you can devise. Avoid any formatting aside from italic (or underlining), paragraph indentation, centering, and page headers.