Org Novelist is a system for writing novel-length fiction using Emacs Org mode. It works by linking notes to your story text for easy access while writing.
While Org Novelist focuses on making the writing process simpler, it's also easy to share your work by exporting to other formats.
- Simple Text Files. There are no proprietary file formats in Org Novelist. Everything is plain text. The Org mark-up provides formatting and structure while still being easy for humans to understand and use. Nothing is more future-proof than plain text, so even if your software no longer works in the distant future your files will still be usable in any text editor. This also makes Org Novelist stories perfect for version control systems like Git.
- Divide and Conquer the Files. Rather than store everything in one large text file, Org Novelist splits things up into sensible files and directories. This makes writing more manageable by hiding things until needed. A collection of smaller text files also improves interactions with version control systems.
- Settings Stay in the Stories. Each story folder contains all the information Org Novelist needs. You can easily move and copy your story folders for archive and back-up. And, because all the files are plain text, you can open them in any text editor.
- Minimise Dependencies. If you have a recent version of Emacs correctly installed, Org Novelist should have no problems doing its thing.
- Language Agnostic. Writing in your native language makes you feel more comfortable. Org Novelist's headings, templates, and even error messages can be setup to use any language just by creating a language pack.
- Write Once, Publish Anywhere. By default, Org Novelist exports stories to a single Org file. You can manually export this file to a large variety of other formats using third party systems like Pandoc, or use export templates designed explicitly for Org Novelist. When you use Org Novelist export templates, the system will generate every output format at the same time. Your Org Novelist story can be the single source that publishes everywhere you need.
- Maintain the Power of Emacs. Org Novelist works with the rest of your Emacs setup. If you already use Emacs and Org mode, you should feel right at home with Org Novelist.
- Opinionated Organisation. I designed Org Novelist for my own writing needs. It should be general enough to work for most Emacs novelists, but it is not infinitely flexible. Org Novelist keeps your notes in order and easy to access by doing the hard work for you, but straying too far from this layout will break the system. If you can make peace with that and embrace it, you will find story organisation bliss.
The Org Novelist package requires a correctly installed version of GNU Emacs 28.1 or higher. You can find more information on how to install and use Emacs at the GNU Emacs website.
If you just want to try Org Novelist without making it a permanent part of your Emacs setup, start by downloading the org-novelist.el file. Then, in Emacs, open a command buffer with M-x and run load-file. Navigate to org-novelist.el and its functions will be available in Emacs for the current session.
To permanently install Org Novelist on your system, download the org-novelist.el file, then edit your Emacs configuration file to include a line like the following, which points to the place you stored org-novelist.el:
(load "~/Downloads/org-novelist.el")You may also choose to change the following variables in your Emacs configuration after the load command:
(setq org-novelist-language-tag "en-GB") ; The interface language for Org Novelist to use. It defaults to 'en-GB' when not set
(setq org-novelist-author "John Urquhart Ferguson") ; The default author name to use when exporting a story. Each story can also override this setting
(setq org-novelist-author-email "mail@johnurquhartferguson.info") ; The default author contact email to use when exporting a story. Each story can also override this setting
(setq org-novelist-automatic-referencing-p nil) ; Set this variable to 't' if you want Org Novelist to always keep note links up to date. This may slow down some systems when operating on complex stories. It defaults to 'nil' when not setFor users of use-package, an entry like the following will setup Org Novelist on your system:
(use-package org-novelist
:ensure nil
:load-path "~/Downloads/" ; The directory containing 'org-novelist.el'
:custom
(org-novelist-language-tag "en-GB") ; The interface language for Org Novelist to use. It defaults to 'en-GB' when not set
(org-novelist-author "John Urquhart Ferguson") ; The default author name to use when exporting a story. Each story can also override this setting
(org-novelist-author-email "mail@johnurquhartferguson.info") ; The default author contact email to use when exporting a story. Each story can also override this setting
(org-novelist-automatic-referencing-p nil)) ; Set this variable to 't' if you want Org Novelist to always keep note links up to date. This may slow down some systems when operating on complex stories. It defaults to 'nil' when not setIn order to learn the system, let us create an Org Novelist story. As usual, all these Org Novelist functions can be used by bringing up a command buffer with M-x .
Start a new story by getting Org Novelist to create a skeleton project. This can be done with the command: org-novelist-new-story
You will then be prompted to enter a name for your story.
After the name is set, you will be asked where to save the story folder.
You will now have a new buffer, main.org. This file is the entry point for your story and contains links to the other sections and files that you will use. You can write a brief summary of your story here if you like, but it is purely for your own reference. The only parts of this file that must be left unchanged are the first line which lets Emacs know this is an Org Novelist file, and the first header line which let's Org Novelist know what the story is called.
If you wish to rename your story, it is better to use the command: org-novelist-rename-story
This will save you having to go through every file that references the story name and manually changing it. It will also give you the option to rename the story folder to match your new title.
It is also worth noting that when an Org Novelist file does not have a #+TITLE: value, it indicates that this file should largely be left untouched by the user.
For now, follow some of the links to explore the skeleton story. All files link back to one another, so you should never reach a dead-end. The Org Novelist commands can be run while any story file is in the current buffer (you do not need to return to main.org to run more Org Novelist commands as long as the current buffer is part of your story).
The Notes and Research files will not be cross referenced with the main story text, so you can write whatever you like in them. They are especially useful for the early planning stages and for notes that don't quite fit anywhere else. As with all files, do not remove the top line indicating this is an Org Novelist story, and don't remove the #+TITLE: or first heading lines.
Let us now add your first character to the story with the command: org-novelist-new-character
Enter a name for your character when prompted, then you will be taken to the character index file. Your new character will now appear in the index as a new heading. You may also notice that this file does not contain a #+TITLE: line, indicating that you shouldn't mess with its layout too much. The heading for your new character will also be marked as TODO. This is a feature of Org mode to let you know that you still have to work on this character. You can cycle through the options when required by keeping the cursor on the heading and running the command org-todo multiple times to set the state of your progress.
For now, let us follow the link to open the character file. The character file template will include a number of prompts that you can choose to fill in or ignore at your pleasure. You are also free to edit anything after the first heading line (initially, this will be placed on the third line of the file).
If you have automatic referencing turned on, you may also see a section at the bottom called Appearances in Chapters. This section is generated automatically by Org Novelist and you should not feel the need to edit it manually. If you don't have automatic referencing turned on, but would like to update the references at any time, just run the command: org-novelist-update-references
This will update all references in the entire story for all known files.
Whenever you use the name of a character in your story, it will provide a link to a glossary, which will then link back to the relevant notes file.
But let's say that you don't like the character's name any more and want to change it. You can update your notes with a new name by running the command: org-novelist-rename-character
After selecting which character you want to change and then giving the new name, you will return to the character index showing the update. If you follow the link from the new character name, you'll see all your notes intact, but with a new name applied next to #+TITLE:
You might also have spotted that there is a new line at the top called #+ALIASES: which contains the previous name of your character. Org Novelist will not attempt to rename the character within the main text of your story in case you've used a name which could apply to multiple things. Instead, aliases allow the old name to continue linking back to this notes file. From here, you can see all the appearances of the old name in your story and visit each one before updating it.
You can also manually add your own terms to the character's aliases, or remove the old ones if you don't want them any more. Just separate each term after the #+ALIASES: property with a comma. This can be especially useful if you've given your character a first and last name, but will mainly be using just their first name (or a nickname) in your story text.
Remember that automatic referencing will always keep the notes and glossary references up to date, but if you have this turned off you can always manually update the references by running: org-novelist-update-references
If you completely change your mind about a character and want to remove all their notes, Org Novelist provides the command: org-novelist-destroy-character
When you run this command and select a character to delete, Org Novelist will present you with each file it is about to irrevocably remove from the system to confirm that you are happy to delete it. You must type in yes or no each time. Whether you choose to keep the note files or not, the appropriate entry will be removed from the character index. If you did keep the files, then you can still link to them from their references in the main story text. If you want to keep the old character files, but not have the story text link to them, the easiest solution would be moving the old character files from your story folder and storing them somewhere else. Another option would be to delete the #+TITLE: and #+ALIASES: lines in the old character notes files, or change them to something else like, #+OLD-TITLE: and #+OLD-ALIASES: so that they will no longer be found when the references are updated.
Running the destroy function will not change any of your story's main text. In fact, none of Org Novelist's functions will touch your main story text. As such, you can be confident that you alone have the power to edit your story's content, and Org Novelist simply helps you manage and access your notes.
In addition to character notes, Org Novelist also supports notes for places. Place notes will behave exactly the same way as character notes. The only difference is the starting template you are presented with.
You can create, rename, and remove location notes from your story with the commands: org-novelist-new-place, org-novelist-rename-place, and org-novelist-destroy-place
Any other notes that you would like to link to in the same way as characters and places can be added as props. These behave exactly the same way, but have a very minimal starting template. While this could include actual props relevant to the story, it's really for any other notes that you'd like your story text to automatically link to.
You can create, rename, and remove prop notes from your story with the commands: org-novelist-new-prop, org-novelist-rename-prop, and org-novelist-destroy-prop
Now that you have developed notes for your story, you can start writing some actual content.
Org Novelist stories consist of chapters, with each chapter classed as one of three matter types. These are front matter, main matter, and back matter.
Chapters that exist before the main story (such as a preface or foreword) are usually put in front matter.
The main story chapters usually get put into main matter.
Back matter is for chapters that would come after the main story text (this could be an epilogue, or perhaps an acknowledgements section).
In terms of writing, how you class your chapters does not matter. However, Org Novelist export templates may make use of this information to format the matter types differently from each other. Don't feel overburdened by this decision; you can easily change a chapter's matter type by moving its header into the correct section of the chapter index file.
Let's create a new chapter with the command: org-novelist-new-chapter
You will be prompted to enter a chapter name. Although you may not wish to use chapter names, this is a requirement of Org Novelist while writing. However, export templates can be created to drop these names if required. If you are writing a story with only a single chapter, I would suggest putting it into front matter, as this section is the least likely to have complex formatting in an export template.
After entering a name, you will be asked to choose a matter type, and then your new chapter will appear in the chapter index, marked as TODO just like when you added your note files. Following the link will open up your new chapter. You should restrict all your text within the Content section and use Org mark-up to format it.
If you have automatic referencing turned on, you should see a Glossary at the bottom of the file, containing links to all the note files you have created so far. If you have automatic referencing turned off, you can always manually update the references by running: org-novelist-update-references
With the glossary in place, whenever you use the name or alias for anything that has a notes file, the text will turn into a link to that entry in the glossary. Once at the correct location in the glossary, you can link to the associated notes file.
If you have automatic referencing turned on, then every time you save your main text, the note files will be updated to reference all lines of text in which they appear, allowing you to quickly link to that point in your story.
Going back to the chapter file, you should see a link at the top to Notes for the chapter. This is the only link to these notes. They are useful if you want to make notes on a chapter without cluttering the main chapter file.
Similar to other files in Org Novelist, there is a command to rename a chapter: org-novelist-rename-chapter
And, again, a command to delete a chapter: org-novelist-destroy-chapter
When deleting a chapter, you will be asked to confirm deleting both the main chapter file, and the associated notes.
The last thing you need to know about chapters is that the order they are listed in the chapter index is the order that they will be exported. The exception to this is that all chapters in the front matter will appear ahead of the main matter, which will appear ahead of the back matter.
Org Novelist can export a story to a single Org file. This can then be fed into third party systems like Pandoc, or Org mode's built-in export functions to save to other formats.
Another option is to write new export templates and add them to the export list in the story settings file at org-novelist-config.org
Whether you use the org-novelist-config.org file or not, you should never rename or move it from its position in your story folder. Org Novelist uses this to identify the folder as an Org Novelist story.
Let's write a couple of simple export templates and add them to your story. First, create a file called org-latex-export-to-pdf-en-gb.el inside the Exports folder of your story, with the following contents:
;;; org-latex-export-to-pdf-en-gb.el --- Org Novelist example export template to PDF -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
;;; Commentary:
;;; Code:
(require 'org)
;;;; Required Entry Point Function for Org Novelist Export
(defun org-novelist--export-template (org-input-file output-file)
"Given an ORG-INPUT-FILE from Org Novelist, export to OUTPUT-FILE."
(let ((org-export-with-toc-orig nil)
(org-export-with-title-orig nil)
(org-export-with-author-orig nil)
(org-export-with-email-orig nil)
(org-export-with-date-orig nil))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-toc)
(setq org-export-with-toc-orig org-export-with-toc))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-title)
(setq org-export-with-title-orig org-export-with-title))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-author)
(setq org-export-with-author-orig org-export-with-author))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-email)
(setq org-export-with-email-orig org-export-with-email))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-date)
(setq org-export-with-date-orig org-export-with-date))
(setq org-export-with-toc t)
(setq org-export-with-title t)
(setq org-export-with-author t)
(setq org-export-with-email t)
(setq org-export-with-date t)
(find-file org-input-file)
(org-latex-export-to-pdf)
(setq org-export-with-toc org-export-with-toc-orig)
(setq org-export-with-title org-export-with-title-orig)
(setq org-export-with-author org-export-with-author-orig)
(setq org-export-with-email org-export-with-email-orig)
(setq org-export-with-date org-export-with-date-orig)
(make-directory (file-name-directory output-file) t)
(rename-file (concat (file-name-sans-extension org-input-file) ".pdf") output-file t)
(rename-file (concat (file-name-sans-extension org-input-file) ".tex") (concat (file-name-sans-extension output-file) ".tex") t)))
(provide 'org-latex-export-to-pdf-en-gb)
;;; org-latex-export-to-pdf-en-gb.el ends hereThis is a simple wrapper for Org mode's built-in org-latex-export-to-pdf function, and will turn the story into a cleanly formatted PDF file. Org Novelist will run any code you place within the org-novelist--export-template function for whatever template file you create. As input, it takes the complete file name of the single Org file that Org Novelist export made, as well as the location of where you want the main output file to be. Most of this code is just turning on the variables that you want the built-in Org function to use, and then setting them back to their original values when the export finishes.
Let's make a second export template for an odt file. Create a file called org-odt-export-to-odt-en-gb.el with the following contents:
;;; org-odt-export-to-odt-en-gb.el --- Org Novelist example export template to ODT -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
;;; Commentary:
;;; Code:
(require 'org)
;;;; Required Entry Point Function for Org Novelist Export
(defun org-novelist--export-template (org-input-file output-file)
"Given an ORG-INPUT-FILE from Org Novelist, export to OUTPUT-FILE."
(let ((org-export-with-toc-orig nil)
(org-export-with-title-orig nil)
(org-export-with-author-orig nil)
(org-export-with-email-orig nil)
(org-export-with-date-orig nil)
(org-odt-styles-file-orig nil))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-toc)
(setq org-export-with-toc-orig org-export-with-toc))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-title)
(setq org-export-with-title-orig org-export-with-title))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-author)
(setq org-export-with-author-orig org-export-with-author))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-email)
(setq org-export-with-email-orig org-export-with-email))
(when (boundp 'org-export-with-date)
(setq org-export-with-date-orig org-export-with-date))
(when (boundp 'org-odt-styles-file)
(setq org-odt-styles-file-orig org-odt-styles-file))
(setq org-export-with-toc t)
(setq org-export-with-title t)
(setq org-export-with-author t)
(setq org-export-with-email t)
(setq org-export-with-date t)
(setq org-odt-styles-file nil)
(find-file org-input-file)
(org-odt-export-to-odt)
(setq org-odt-styles-file org-odt-styles-file-orig)
(setq org-export-with-toc org-export-with-toc-orig)
(setq org-export-with-title org-export-with-title-orig)
(setq org-export-with-author org-export-with-author-orig)
(setq org-export-with-email org-export-with-email-orig)
(setq org-export-with-date org-export-with-date-orig)
(make-directory (file-name-directory output-file) t)
(rename-file (concat (file-name-sans-extension org-input-file) ".odt") output-file t)))
(provide 'org-odt-export-to-odt-en-gb)
;;; org-odt-export-to-odt-en-gb.el ends hereAgain, this is just a wrapper for Org mode's built-in org-odt-export-to-odt function, and will create a cleanly formatted ODT file.
Now that you have your templates set up, you need to tell Org Novelist to use them. From you story's main.org file, follow the link to Export Settings. The new file will be blank, but you can fill it with these contents:
* Exports
** [[file:Exports/Basic-ODT-en-GB/ExportedStoryName.odt][Basic ODT en-GB]]
Exports/org-odt-export-to-odt-en-gb.el
** [[file:Exports/Basic-PDF-en-GB/ExportedStoryName.pdf][Basic PDF en-GB]]
Exports/org-latex-export-to-pdf-en-gb.el
You can change ExportedStoryName to whatever you'd like the output files to be called. The directory before that is where the file will be saved. It doesn't need to be relative to your main story folder, but keeping it relative will make it easier to move and store the story folder elsewhere if you need to. The line under the heading is the location of the export template file. To ensure the output will be reproducible, storing the template in the story folder like this will be better. However, if you wish to use the same export template for multiple stories and only update it in one place, it might be easier for all your stories to link to the same file. Either way, the choice is yours.
Save the file, and then run the following command: org-novelist-export-story
You will be presented with a new buffer containing your whole story in one Org file.
Additionally, you should now have two exported files in two new folders within your story's Exports folder. You can add as many output formats as you like using this system. Other example templates can be found at https://github.com/sympodius/org-novelist-export-templates/
On the subject of keeping output files reproducible, you can also lock the title, author, author email, and date of any story. This is also useful if you want to publish something using a different name and email than what you set as the Org Novelist default for your stories. Change the export settings file to something like this:
#+TITLE: A Totally Different Story Name
#+AUTHOR: A. D. Ifferent-Author
#+EMAIL: pseudo@nym-email.com
#+DATE: [2023-03-17 Fri 12:00]
* Exports
** [[file:Exports/Basic-ODT-en-GB/ExportedStoryName.odt][Basic ODT en-GB]]
Exports/org-odt-export-to-odt-en-gb.el
** [[file:Exports/Basic-PDF-en-GB/ExportedStoryName.pdf][Basic PDF en-GB]]
Exports/org-latex-export-to-pdf-en-gb.el
From now on, running org-novelist-export-story will use these settings for the title, author, author email, and date, no matter what else is set in the story files, or the global Org Novelist settings. If you only want to override some of these, you obviously don't need to include the others.
This ends the tutorial for the main features of Org Novelist. I designed this system for myself, but I hope it proves useful to you. The main goal has always been to help make the boring stuff easier so that you can spend more time on writing. I sincerely hope it helps make your writing more enjoyable.
org-novelist-new-story- Setup the skeleton files for a new story.org-novelist-new-chapter- Add a new chapter to the current story.org-novelist-destroy-chapter- Delete the files and index entry for a chapter in the current story.org-novelist-rename-chapter- Rename a chapter in the current story.org-novelist-new-character- Add notes for a character to the current story.org-novelist-destroy-character- Delete the notes and index entry for a character in the current story.org-novelist-rename-character- Rename the notes and index entry for a character in the current story.org-novelist-new-prop- Add notes for a prop to the current story.org-novelist-destroy-prop- Delete the notes and index entry for a prop in the current story.org-novelist-rename-prop- Rename the notes and index entry for a prop in the current story.org-novelist-new-place- Add notes for a place to the current story.org-novelist-destroy-place- Delete the notes and index entry for a place in the current story.org-novelist-rename-place- Rename the notes and index entry for a place in the current story.org-novelist-update-references- Force a system update of notes references.org-novelist-rename-story- Rename a story and, optionally, its directory.org-novelist-export-story- Export the story to a single Org file, and any other formats specified in export settings.