3tml

!What is ruby2shoes?

ruby2shoes is a package of free software for writing screenplays
and fiction.  

The free part means you are free to use, study, and alter it
within the scope of the license.  The license is one that preserves this
freedom for everybody.  Free as in "free speech", maybe "free beer",
and certainly, as in "truth" and what it makes you.

The writing part has two pieces: the Emacs piece and the Python
piece. (Those nouns explained below.) There are two modes for Emacs,
one for screenplays and one for fiction, that make ruby2shoes files.
There is a Python application, Spirit, that runs from the command-line
to print or convert those files.

ruby2shoes files are textfiles with a simple markup.  If you don't like
Emacs, you can write simple macros (yes, you can) to mark up your
textfiles as you write in your own editor.  ruby2shoes prints these
files as draft, full mss, page selections, one or two sides.  It
converts these files to well-formatted text or HTML or LaTeX or
PostScript or PDF.

!Sounds geeky. Why bother?

I use it because it is simple.  You maintain one file for a screenplay
or novel.  Then you generate any product you need from that file
automatically.  The files themselves are simple; text is text.
Versioning issues never come up.  All of the printer formatting is done
with LaTeX behind the scenes.  The format is professional as it is.  If
you want to alter it, LaTeX is easy to learn.  The text and HTML files
look good; they aren't just the text dumped to a file.

The simplicity comes from removing all the fiddling in the middle.  You
write in the editor.  You tell Spirit what product you want.  No
fiddling with WYSIWYG documents, formatting, fonts, printer settings,
HTML tags, or any of that stuff.  Just write; ask for printed pages.
Write; ask for HTML.  Simple, simple, simple.

!What do I need?

You need any old computer.  You need Windows or Unix or Mac.  You need
Emacs, an free software editor.  Go to gnu.org, download it, do the
tutorial.  You need Python, a scripting language.  Go to python.org,
download the one for your operating system, install it.  You need LaTeX
and GhostScript.  On anything but Windows you may already have them.

On Windows you have a crucial decision to make: do you stick with paying
for everything or do you swap knowledge for money?  Bill bets you pick
number one.  If you pick number two, you have to noodle like the rest of
us do.  Go find LaTeX for Windows, follow the instructions and get it
working.  Do the same for GhostScript.  You will probably have to
install the cygwin Unix environment. All this stuff is free, as in
truth, really.  When you are done, you'll be able to do anything with
printing, PostScript, and PDF that a major university does because they
use this stuff too.  So do a lot of publishers.  And you won't need
money to do it.

