==================== Draft Writing System ==================== When you're writing something short, a Google Doc or Word file works great. But get beyond a few thousand words and all of a sudden opening that file comes with a sense of dread. Philosophy ---------- 1) Writing in *modules* (or 'scenes' in Draft lingo) is easier and more fun than working out of a single large document. 2) Writing in plaintext is a more pure and distraction-free experience than `WYSIWYG `_ word processors. 3) Git is too useful a tool to not use in a writing project. Organization ------------ Folders ~~~~~~~ A Draft project is made up of a simple file tree as shown below:: whalebook/ └─project/ Organization: │ └──Moby Dick Or The Whale/ [Title] │ └──01-Nantucket/ [Section 1] │ │ └──01-Meeting Ishmael/ [Chapt 1] │ │ │ └──01-Loomings/ [Sub-Chapt 1] │ │ │ │ 01-His Name is Ishmael.md [Scene 1] │ │ │ │ 02-Habit of Going To Sea.md [Scene 2] │ │ │ └──02-The Carpet-Bag/ [Sub-Chapter 2] │ │ │ │ 03-Old Manhatto.md [Scene 3] │ │ │ │ etc. │ │ │ └──03-etc. │ │ └─02-Shoving Off/ [Chapter 2] │ │ etc. │ └──02-Whaling/ [Section 2] │ etc. └─settings.yml └─.gitignore You don't *need* to use every 'level' of the project -- i.e., you could just have the Title and a bunch of scenes, only use sections and scenes, have some scenes in sub-chapters and some scenes in chapters, etc. The only required elements are the ```project/`` folder, the ``title/`` folder (here called ``Moby Dick Or The Whale/``), and scene ```.md`` files. Sequencing ~~~~~~~~~~ Prepend ``01-``, ``02-``, etc. to your folders and files to keep them cleanly sequenced. As you get to have a lot of folders and files, *re-sequencing* can get to be a pain (e.g., if you have 50 scenes and decide to split scene ``02-`` into two separate scenes, you'll need to *re-sequence* the original ``02-`` to be ``03-`` and so on all the way to ``51-``). Fortunately, just run ``draft sequence`` and Draft will auto-resequence for you. Compiling --------- Each directory level corresponds to a Markdown heading level. When the project compiles, the indices (e.g., ``01-``) are stripped out and each folder's title is inserted as a heading (note: *Scene* titles are ignored). By running ``draft compile``, the above folder structure would translate into a ``Moby Dick, Or The Whale.md`` file with the following contents: # Moby Dick, Or The Whale ## Meeting Ishmael ### Nantucket #### Loomings Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Writing ------- Writing with Draft works best under the following guidelines: 1. **Use Markdown.** 2. **One sentence on each line.** This isn't required -- it won't break anything! -- it's just better for tracking changes in Git 3. **Save hash-based Markdown headings for separating sections.** If you need to use big font for whatever reason, stick to other header conventions (e.g., ========) 4. **Use Git and Github, and Commit often.** Git is incredibly useful in a writing environment and it's branching feature is a godsend if you want to try something radical (e.g., what if we switched from first to third person?). Github is a great visualization tool and provides a Cloud storage option for your project. And COMMIT-ing often is just good hygiene. 5. **Use a text editor with soft-wrapping and Markdown preview.** * **Soft-wrapping:** Keeps your single-line sentences from running off of the page * **Markdown preview:** See how your text translates into Markdown * `Atom `_ has both of these features