Tuesday 15 October 2013

Zim hacks part 2: split a single-file manuscript into chapters and scenes

In a followup to Zim hacks part 1: compile a manuscript, this time I'm going to split a single file into chapters and scenes (pages and sub-pages) within Zim. For me this is actually the more useful of the two tools, since I write in FocusWriter and only transfer completed drafts into Zim for ease of reading and note-making when I'm preparing to do some rewriting. Anyway...

Zim hacks part 1: compile a manuscript

The following script runs in the Linux terminal and will compile a manuscript that has been divided into Chapters and Scenes in Zim Desktop Wiki. It's twitchy and a little annoying, but it's the first step in my attempts to find a comfortable Linux equivalent to Scrivener and yWriter. Scrivener runs natively if you don't mind some UI problems with dark-on-light OS themes and yWriter (sort of) runs in Wine, but I really want something that doesn't have all those qualifications added after the word 'runs'.