[libreoffice-users] Preparing a Manuscript

This is going to be a lengthy post so please bear with me. I have my own hand
written document which I wish to edit and prepare as a manuscript for
publication. I was fairly successful,  but also frustrated by the quirks in
the s/w, because of the many different formatting options, and I am not
really sure which formatting option applies where in general and where
specifically to a selected part, and how it affects other options. And if a
general option is changed, such as a paragraph style/option, do these
changes apply to the entire document, particularly the preceding parts or do
they apply forward only. How are the Default Style/Text Body/Paragraph
styles different ? Ideally I would like one general format for the entire
document with exceptions possible, wherever necessary. The help topic on
templates seemed the way to go.  Anyway, as a basic I need to
set/format/edit the styles for each of the following,
1) Title page, in which to place the Title and the Author, and if possible
also the edition, since revisions and updates are always forthcoming. 
2) A page for table of contents. This I should be able to handle. Although a
clarification would be useful. If TOC is a set of hyperlinks to portions of
the document particularly their heading, would it not be useful for every
chapter/section heading to automatically contain a hyperlink back to the
TOC, to ease  navigation through the document for the reader. This is fairly
independent of the format, besides it also favors exporting to HTML and
possibly other document formats as well, and alleviates the need for having
to place a separate link back to the TOC. Although I suppose this can always
be done manually now ?
3) A page for each chapter heading, and a standard format for each chapter,
together with the page numbering, and how page margins, and paragraph
settings etc are affected by the presence of other elements such as lists or
illustrations and so on.  And this grouping of drawn elements and bring to
forward, send to back options tend to be tricky, even a bit dicey. I kept
re-drawing lines which never appeared but later found them to be present in
the background, when I moved the rectangle/box above them. 

Also, since these documents are meant to be interoperable, yet their
underlying document types such as a text, or a picture or a drawing on a
canvas or a formula, or a chart or a spreadsheet, or a figure or a table,
most of which I need, are all different.Now after plonking a few of these
elements on a page, after previewing it, I change some aspects like say the
font size or line spacing, affecting perhaps one document type, these things
seem to have slightly unpredictable effects which I have a hard time
handling. Suggest best way to go about doing this. I feel it might be better
to use Math and Draw independently outside of Write, although now the number
of documents becomes considerably large  and if there are many such elements
one has to systematically name them and have them organized, and keep a
track of which one is which. 

Otherwise the s/w is good , aside from these rough edges and side effects
and the fact that I think free s/w should always be free in letter even if
it is not in spirit since I do not understand what that phrase "free in
spirit or free as in freedom" means since clearly it does not mean
unconditional anyway, which is why I feel free s/w should be free in price
only and should be head and shoulders above in terms of its  quality and in
terms of its concept and in terms of its every other aspect, be it in its
design or in its implementation when compared to its non-free counterpart. 

Tips from seasoned users/writers/authors who regularly use this s/w, who are
willing to share their information will be appreciated.



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