New documents: opening, saving

When I double-click Pages, it opens to Desktop, and I have to click 'New Document' before I can start typing. Similarly, TextEdit opens to Documents and again I have to click 'New Document'. With most other applications, the app.opens straightaway to a new document. Is there any way I can make Pages or TextEdit open to a new document?

Similarly, when I want to save a Pages or TextEdit document, the default place to save it to appears as iCloud. With other apps, it is Documents or some other place on my computer — which I much prefer. Is there any way I can set the default place for saving Pages or TextEdit documents to somewhere other than iCloud?