There are going to be many issues with the LaTeX conversion, such as every “Mr. ” needing to be “Mr.~”. Any en dash should be two – and each em dash should be three -. Quotes need to open with `` and close with ''. This can all be worked out over time. For me, it’s not a big deal.

One of the big reasons for a move to LaTeX is to start giving all my stories the same directory/file layout within each story’s directory on my computers. This will be the biggest effort, and so far I’ve only started to work it out for “Characters” and “Chapters”.

Characters

The layout for characters is as follows: Within the story’s root directory (the folder containing every file related to the story) is a “Characters.tex” file. There is also a “Characters” directory. Within the “Characters” directory, for each character there is a .tex file and a directory. The directory for the character contains multiple .tex files with information, and the .tex in the “Characters” directory for that character pulls those all together. The “Characters.tex” file includes all the character .tex files.

When it comes time to generate a PDF listing all the characters, I simply run Characters.tex through pdflatex. \input{} statements will include the .tex file for each character in the “Characters” directory, and each of those files will include the .tex files for that individual character.

There’s still work to be done on designing this part. Right now, a file such as Noemi.tex contains basic information on the character called Noemi. When I create a Noemi directory, how will I name the files with information about her? It needs to be done in a way that can be standard across all stories.

My current plans are to have a at the very least an Appearance.tex for each character, which describes how they look. Another file should tell something about their personality, I support Personality.tex. A Development.tex file would contain character development information. This tells how the character develops during the story, giving their motivation, their goal, the conflicts they face, what will impact them to allow them to overcome that obstacle.

At the moment, each character file begins with a \chapter{} with that character’s name. Each file in that character’s folder begins with a \section{}, and may divide into \subsection{}s. There’s probably a better way to go about this than using \chapter{}, so I have more to research before I get too far in this conversion.

Chapters

A Story.tex file is in the root directory, pulling in all the chapter files. I’m placing all chapters within a “Chapters” directory. Within the “Chapters” directory, there is a directory for each chapter, and a .tex file. The directory holds a .tex file for each scene.

This is where using LaTeX starts to help out with the organization. The Story.tex file lists an \input{} for each chapter. If I want to move a chapter to another position, I simply move it around in the Story.tex file. If I have a chapter called “Entering the Craft”, and I want to re-order a scene in the chapter from the middle to the end, I simply move its \input{} in the “Entering the Craft.tex” file. If I want to move a scene to a different chapter, I move the file to the other chapter’s directory, and move its \input{} to the other chapter’s .tex file.

Everything Else

I haven’t even considered settings, events (such as historic events, festivals, etc.), technology, and other things. I have a long way to go when it comes to organizing my writing, but it gives me something to do when I’m not up to actually writing, especially when it’s due to having limited time, or being in an environment where I simply cannot write.