I have a strange way of setting up on my Linux laptop. I split the screen into two windows, one with the storage document and the other with the text editor I use for reference while working. I shrink both windows according to the dimensions that would fit the importance of both open tabs. The tabs I put in the windows varies, depending on which tab I want to keep open for the entirety of the time. Usually, it's the document itself. I can easily switch from writing mainly and scrolling through my reference for information.
There are many stages to a novel, and it all begins with a storyline. It's excessively hard to write without any idea of what you're doing, or at least hard to make it sound decent when you do. Otherwise, your novel ends up like, quite literally, a monkey trying to type the works of Shakespeaker blindfolded.
Formatting is not what I'd consider the most vital in a novel, but you want your font to be legible, right? I have my preferences on fonts more like this one or something called "IM Fell Double Pica", because I like a font that I won't get mixed up into reconsidering it in the middle of the first hundred pages.
My biggest challenge in writing a novel is reminding myself that it's the best thing to write about. From reading random books, I pluck bits of inspiration here and bits of inspiration there, but I never seem to get the concept I'm finally satisfied with. I'm also lazy, and when it comes to stamina and patience, I lose it.
Your conclusion, last chapter, and epilogue are really difficult to cope with, mostly because it's nice to end with a cliffhanger or something ecstatic like that. It's similar to how you want a hook at the beginning, but it's the end, and better since you have more information about the entire novel. Still, in the middle of the book, I tend to burn out, which is annoying.