Choose your word processor. PCs come with Microsoft Works installed with an option to purchase Microsoft Word. If your chosen computer is a Macbook or IMac, they come with a program called Pages installed. Microsoft Word is available for Mac as well. If you'd like a program primarily focused on novel writing, a variety of programs are available online that offer features like story boarding, outlines, pictures, character bios and more. You can program many of them to eliminate computer distractions, like the Internet.
Outline your book using various word processing features such as bullets, lists and various page layout options. Alternative book-focused word processor programs such as YWriter, a free novel writing program, allows you to organize your book "project" with outlines, scenes, timelines and character bios.
Format your book using either chapters, units or sections. With a word processing system, you can choose whether you will write each individual chapter as its own saved document or keep the entire book together. You can format title fonts, key terms, dialogue and all other aspects of a polished published novel using a word processor.
Write your novel. With a word processor you can allow your creativity to flow by changing font sizes, the color of your words or by adding pictures. Organize your thoughts and the format of your book by using different colors and fonts to establish actions scenes, dialog and setting descriptions.
Submit your work to a publisher or self-publish by uploading your novel to Amazon or Kindle. By composing a book in a word processor, it is simple to mass produce your book and either print out many copies or send it electronically to readers through the Internet.