Writing a Book with several volumes

English
#1

I am writing an encyclopedia containing 8 volumes (each volume being one book). Each volume will have similar or the same introductory chapters and one chapter (the meat of the encyclopedia) that will contain all the materiel relevant to that volume - I propose using the book setup. That one chapter will have repeating narratives all in the same style for each subject in the chapter. There could be as few as two subjects or as many as 800 or more subjects. I have determined that I will need six sections per narrative (introduction, Subject 1, Subject 2, Notes related to the subject, a Chart, and endnotes) to maintain a consistent look and feel. I would like to use different headers for each narrative of 5 sections.

I haven’t used libreOffice in years and I am more than a bit rusty on how best to launch this project and how to create and maintain consistent styles throughout.

How would an expert setup the basic templates for this project? What are the mechanics behind the setup?
Rick

#3

Consider to read about master documents first.

Then I can recommend this:

#2
#4

Why the plural form? IMHO a single template file is enough and probably mandatory to guarantee homogeneity and ease of maintenance.

This template contains all styles and a sketch of the volume as cover, introduction and dummy chapter. You’ll probably find advantage to also create an AutoText entry for the dully chapter so that adding another one is a treat.

This the role of the template file. Styles are stored there. Your volumes are based on the template.

But this is defeated if you don’t follow a very strict discipline regarding styling. Prohibit any direct formatting and style definition in your volumes. Use only styles from the template. Modify styles in the template only (document styles will automatically update next time you open a volume).

At writing time, don’t bother with style appearance. At start, give your styles small differences, just sufficient for a visual feedback telling you you applied a style (paragraph or character). As a consequence don’t name your styles for their visual effect but for their semantics (Body Text, Heading n, Definition, Comment, Emphasis, Strong Emphasis, Quotation, Footnote, Endnote, Trade Mark, Foreign Word, …). This gives you full liberty to format them the way ou like while keeping the mark up permanently relevant.

You can do with a single page style, the header of which is “computed” with fields. Fields retrieve information from the “discourse area” to insert it into header. There are fields related to chapter utline which get their value from Heading n paragraph styles. Use them to style subject headings and subheadings.

A book like an encyclopaedia will make heavy use of fields (and cross-references) so that the complete document remains consistent. You can even achieve a higher level of automation by defining custom entries in File>Properties. These entries are also retrieved with fields, just like all other properties. Think of the title itself. Define it in the template and it is available for all your volumes without the risk of a manual typo. Change it in the template and it is changed in all volumes!

#5

As I read through the suggestions posted thus far I have the idea that a master document is the way to start and within the master document, as a first step, I need to create an .ott template. Before I create that template I should have some idea of what each book is composed of. I did try to follow that path in my first attempt but I believe the process I followed was flawed and I ran into difficulties because of ignorance and lack of a coherent process. To restart the .ott template process production what are the first steps - defining the page styles? Are separate page styles required for the cover, title pages, left and right pages, endnote pages. Perhaps if we walk through the process step-by-step I can develop an appropriate methodology for this multi-year project. Thanks to everyone for their guidance thus far. I am reading up on your suggestions as I wait for some guidance.

#6

A master document is a binder for several independently written parts composing a single volume. It is quite complex to implement and exhibits many pitfalls for newbies. Avoid if you can.

As I understand your goal, the volumes are independent from each other; consequently they can be stored as separate files.

Going for master+sub-documents is legitimate in two situations:

  • parts are shared without modification among several documents (thus you write them only once and incorporate them in the final books)
  • your final document is so huge that it stresses considerably Writer, leading to poor performance and reactivity; this is the case for several thousands of pages
    Consider Writer can manage “easily” documents up to 1000+ pages provided you don’t direct format and don’t include too many tables and pictures (“too many” depending on the power of your computer).

Page styles are only part of the job. You must first have an idea about the structure of the book. You already outlined it: cover, introduction, TOC (you forgot about it), chapter(s), Index?. Each part gives birth to one or a collection of related page styles. This takes care of the physical aspect.


The most important is “contents semantics”. You’ll have “neutral” paragraphs, i.e. those directly relatic to the topic, then Body Text. Others will be comments or explanations about this topic => other paragraph styles. You also need character styles to denote “deviations” of significance with regard to the topic. They can be mere emphasis or something more divergent => character styles.

#7

I have used master documents to write books in the past and I am familiar with the concept, just not the implementation in LO. I have one setup already with all of the necessary documents included for the first volume. My questions are more mundane and related to specific parts. For example, the styles that I have already employed in the master document have been saved as an .ott. When I edit one of the included documents within the master document, should I be editing it from within the master document to maintain the styles across all included documents? My goal initially is to assemble all the parts edit the text and narratives and then apply the styles (paragraph, headings, headers and footers, etc). Your comments?

#8

Because some of the documentation in the master document were written earlier, the documents that make up the master document have different styles. I don’t know the process for synchronizing the styles between the master document and the individual documents to have them all the same in the master document. Is there a solution that will solve that problem?e

#9

Trying to answer all your questions here.

Style consistency

The simplest way is to base all documents (master + subs) on the same template. It wasn’t done from the start but you can fix it.

To make your life easier and more comfortable, register one of your directories as a template directory. Open Tools>Options (you didn’t mention your OS; this is Preferences under MacOS), LibreOffice>Paths. Select the “Templates” line and press Edit to Add your directory. For example, under most Linux distros, there is a ~/Templates in the home directory.

Now make your custom .ott known to Writer. Open it as a template and File>Templates>Save as Templates in your user template directory. Copying directly into the directory is not enough because Writer needs to update its internal dictionary.

Install the Template Changer and use it (from within Writer) to associate your template to your documents.

Style application is based on style name. Thus if you create a style with the same name in a document, this “local” style will hide the one in the template. The same goes for direct formatting. Direct formatting always takes precedence over styling.

Conclusion: define your styles in the template and do nothing else in the documents.

Document editing

When you double-click on a sub-document, you open a new window and you then “forget” the master environment. You’re inside your sub-document.

This allows some smart tricks (but don’t follow them if you aren’t fully aware of the consequences). You can have different definition for the same style in a master and a sub. Example: some paragraphs are hidden in the master because they define a value for fields, like setting a variable or creating a sentence or heading for future cross-reference. Editing hidden is not easy. Consequently the style with the same name in the sub erases the hidden attribute.

Binding subs inside a master

When you build the master,styles defined in the master are used. They come either from the master template or from master definitions. These styles mask possible definition in the subs (hence the trick mentioned above). If a style used in a sub is not defined in the master, then the style with this name is retained from the first occurrence in the first referencing sub (consequently if 2 subs define the same style in a diverging way, only the first definition is used, this is why I recommend to base everything on the same template to avoid discrepancies).

Style "synchronisation"

You won’t get the “perfect” style definition on first try. Modify and adjust your styles in the template. Then open a document to see how it looks. If your document is “correctly” based on the template (thanks to Template Changer), you’ll be asked if you want to update to the latest style version when you open the document.

But, remember, this works only if you didn’t override the styles nor used direct formatting. This workflow is very stringent but it the key for quick and “comfortable” success.

#10

Thanks for those tips and procedures. One other thing, the endnotes from one of my documents wound up at the end of the Volume. I have associated all the other endnotes with their specific chapters. How can I cut the endnotes at the end of the volume and paste them into a section at the end of a chapter? Can this even be done?

#11

Make the chapter a section. Easy way on existing text: select chapter text, including its heading and Insert>Section. Then play with section options to send endnotes to end of section instead of end of document.

#12

Because I brought other documents into the master, I have a number of Section1, Section 2 defined. If I understand the concept, all sections should be uniquely identified within the master. How do I modify the section names to have them associated with each document. For example Section1-Introduction, Section 2-Introduction Endnotes, and so on. Is this even the correct way to do it?

#13

Giving significant names to all objects instead of the sequential numbering is always a good idea. This helps to navigate quickly in the Navigator.

Regarding your problem of section range, it depends on your organisation. If every chapter is a single document, create the section in the sub-document. It is easy and you see immedaitely the result when you edit the sub-document (without the need to work in the master).

If your chapter is itself made of several documents referenced from the master, you have no other choice than creating the section in the master to encompass the sub-documents. You won’t see the merged endnotes in the subs. But this is one case where you have different results in the subs (every sub has an Endnotes part containing only its endnotes) and in the master (the master displays a single merged Endnotes part).

#14

Ok, Thanks for that. I have fixed the endnotes problem. However, when looking at the endnotes, they are not aligning properly. Some are indented further than others and applying the style does nothing to change the indentation. Other than that they look ok.

#15

You may have direct formatting or you have applied another style than Endnote. Check both cases.

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