Document class novel - documentation.

A. At the top of your *.tex main document, before the document class, place these lines:

% !TeX TS-program = lualatex
% !TeX encoding = UTF-8

Those instructions are read and understood by many TeX editors, and also serve as a reminder to yourself.

B. If you compile by command line, try this:

lualatex your-document.tex

C. If using a service such as ShareLaTeX online, open the Menu, and scroll down to where you can choose the compiler. Set it to lualatex.

A. If you use a plain text editor, or TeXWorks, or export plain text from a word processor, be sure that your text is encoded as utf-8, without byte order mark (BOM).

B. Instead of typing TeX codes such as \`{e} you can simply paste è from a Unicode character map. Other alphabets such as Greek and Cyrillic are directly supported, as long as you choose fonts that support those character sets.

C. If you are on Windows, do not use Notepad! The free Notepad++ (also Portable version) is a suitable plain text editor. Configure it as specified, with utf-8 but without BOM. Does not matter whether UNIX or DOS line endings, as long as you are consistent.

A. Prior to version 2 (February 2024), the polyglossia package was the only method for language support. With version 2, you may use either polyglossia or babel.

B. Do not write \usepackage or \RequirePackage for polyglossia or babel. The correct package will be loaded automatically.

C. To use polyglossia, write \setmainlanguage[options]{language} in preamble. You may also use other polyglossia commands. Do not use the document class options to set language. See the polyglossia package documentation.

D. To use babel, write v2 as a document class option, along with your choice of babel language options. See babel documentation.

E. If you do not choose either method, then the default language will be US English, using polyglossia.

F. Some examples:

• \documentclass{novel} Polyglossia.

• \setmainlanguage{french}. french.

• \documentclass[v2,french]{novel}. Babel, french.

• \documentclass[french]{novel}. Uses polyglossia, because no v2 as class option. The request for french is ignored, and triggers "unknown class option".

A. The built-in fontspec package requires utf-8 encoding. It is able to load Open Type fonts, and access their internal feature sets. Forget Type 1 fonts and special encodings! If you wish to use Greek or Cyrillic, all you need are compatible fonts.

B. If you accept the pre-configured fonts (from package libertinus-fonts), then you do not need to know anything about fontspec. But if you wish to configure your own fonts, Appendix E reviews the most important parts of fontspec syntax.

A. This documentation has an extensive section regarding book design. Read it.

B. In particular, you will learn how to format pages according to their position and purpose in the book; you will learn how to construct a table of contents; you will learn how you must end your document.

A. The method for loading fonts is described in section 4.2. Be sure you read it.

B. Do not load fonts via \usepackage or \RequirePackage, or by \setmainfont.

A. Standard text size commands, such as \small or \LARGE, will be ignored. The text will appear at its normal size, just as if the commands did not exist.

B. Novel provides its own capability to size text, using different commands.

C. The novel-specific size commands maintain text line grid, where possible. This is important for printed fiction.

A. Commands such as \section, \chapter, \abstract, \index, \tableofcontents, \maketitle, and many other structural commands will not work with novel. This is intentional.

B. The float, picture, and table environments are disallowed, unless you are in sandbox mode. This is intentional. In novel there are specific ways to place images or construct a table of contents.

C. Novel has chapter-related commands specifically created for the needs of fictional works.

D. Novel is focused on doing one thing well, rather than many things poorly. That is why so many "academic" commands have been discarded. They are not necessary in popular fiction.

A. Many TeX editors assume that you are using a standard TeX document class. They may attempt to insert code that does not work in novel class. Or, they may not understand the commands specific to novel. Do not use those editors.

B. The TeXWorks editor is satisfactory. Be sure that you do not run scripts that change the content of your document.

A. This is standard TeX behavior. Just a reminder!

B. TeX has a number of special characters. If you type them in a document, they will not appear as an ordinary printed character, but will do something else. These are:

$ % # _ ^ & ~ \ { } and sometimes [ ]

C. In some cases, an incorrect usage will provide an error message that can be easily deciphered.

D. Incorrect use of the dollar sign may either place your text in math mode (not your intent) or produce a baffling error message that points to an innocent package.

E. The percent symbol normally produces no error, since it is a comment character. But then, whatever text follows on that line will be missing from your PDF. Unless you carefully review the PDF, you might not notice that text is missing.

F. Special characters, other than the backslash, are escaped by placing a backslash in front, thus: \$ for the dollar sign, \% for percent. If you must print a backslash, \string\ does it.

G. To avoid unforeseen problems, you should review your document in a text editor, prior to compiling. Search for any instances of special characters, particularly dollar and percent. Backslash them as needed.

A. In novel, inter-line spacing is fixed. There is no padding between paragraphs. No plus/minus "flexible glue." This is standard for printed fiction.

B. When TeX processes a document on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, it chooses the layout that has the least total "penalty." Penalties are assessed based on factors such as word spacing, hyphenation, widows, and orphans (clubs). Novel applies a moderately strong penalty to hyphens; they are allowed, but discouraged. Widows and orphans are penalized very little. Word spacing, and even the spacing and characters within words, are controlled by moderate settings of the built-in microtype package.

C. You are likely to find widows and orphans on many pages. If you wish to remove them, you must edit your text. This choice was made for several reasons: First, attention to widows and orphans would reduce the effectiveness of the other, more important, layout penalties. Second, fiction often has numerous short paragraphs (especially with dialogue), and it is very difficult for software to deal with all of them. Third, a great deal of contemporary fiction allows widows and orphans, when they are not distracting.

A. When you obtain the ISBN for your book, either directly through the issuing agency or via your chosen print service, you will enter ISBN Metadata in an online form.

B. This metadata goes into a database, and identifies your printed book in distribution and sales channels. It neither knows nor cares about PDF. (If you were marketing a PDF ebook, instead of print, that would be a different story.)

C. ISBN Metadata includes title, author(s), subtitle if any, ISBN, and other identifying information. Once the book is released, this information (normally) cannot be changed.

D. You may also enter a description, genre classification, and other information that will help people find your book by browsing, and help to sell your book. This information can usually be changed at a later date.

E. The ISBN refers to your printed book, not to the PDF file. You are not selling copies of the PDF.

A. Printed Metadata refers to the information that can be seen on paper, in expected places: the book cover, the title page, and the copyright page.

B. Whether your book was printed from a PDF file, or by some other method, is not relevant.

C. Your print service will insist that the title, subtitle (if any), author, and ISBN in these places exactly match what appears in the ISBN database. Of course, you can (and usually will) use styling or images to make the Printed Metadata more attractive than the plain-text ISBN Metadata.

D. Some print services may object to artwork that is too fancy, on the grounds that it is difficult to discern the title and author. Although this is very unlikely, it is better to ask before committing resources.

A. Your PDF has internal metadata, which can been seen by PDF reader software.

B. To avoid confusion, this documentation uses the term File Data to mean this internal PDF Metadata.

C. You can see some of the File Data when you open the PDF in any reader, and go to File>Properties. To see all of it, you need professional software (such as Adobe Acrobat Pro).

D. Be sure to read the rules for File Data, below. Some of it is generic, and some is particular to TeX or to the novel class.

A. If PDF/X compliance is required, then you must at least set the title in File Data, using the \SetTitle command. Note that this title is not styled in any way.

B. Some print services require a minimum amount of file data, particularly title and author, which must match the printed metadata and ISBN metadata for these fields.

C. Other services may require that the book's ISBN number, with something like _text added, be used in place of the title. Remember that underscore is a special character in LaTeX, so it must be preceded by a backslash.

D. Many print services do not care about File Data, one way or the other. Your PDF is passed through production according to its file name, not its internals. In such a case, assume that title and author are required.

E. Be sure that any included images are stripped of their own image metadata, such as EXIF. The procedure is described in novel-scripts.

A. At least in the USA, your print service may require that File Data be limited to characters in the Latin-1 set. This is because their production and distribution software uses Latin-1 for the database.

B. Latin-1 does not include curly quotes or em dash. You will still be using utf-8 encoding in your document files, but your choice of characters is restricted.

C. Novel allows the title, and other File Data, to be in alphabets such as Greek or Cyrillic. If you are limited to Latin-1, the limitation has nothing to do with TeX or PDF.

D. If your book has File Data using quotes, then use the special commands \straightquote{} and \straightdblquote{}. Be sure to use the braces, so that you don't have to worry about gobbled space. When you use these commands, you eliminate the risk that your software will automatically convert them to the forbidden curly quotes. Example:

\SetTitle{That\straightquote{}s Amore} % That's Amore

E. If you are limited to Latin-1 in File Data, you can still use curly quotes and em dash on the cover and title page, and in headings.

F. There is no \maketitle command in novel. You may (and should) apply styling to the printed title, even though the File Data title cannot be styled.

A. In File Data, you must obey the same TeX rules that apply everywhere: Certain characters have special meaning, and must be preceded by a backslash, if you wish to use them as ordinary characters.

B. The list of special characters:

# $ % & _     (hash, dollar, percent, ampersand, underscore)

Example: The title Doing 9% & Gone is coded:

\SetTitle{Doing 9\% \& Gone}

C. The above characters are rarely needed in File Data. Sometimes they must be spelled out, in order to agree with your book's ISBN Metadata. For example, you may need to write "and" rather than the ampersand, "dollar" rather than the dollar symbol, and "percent" or "per-cent" rather than the percent symbol.

D. Fun fact: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and The 7% Solution are different books, in entirely different gnres.

A. Do not use the backslash \ except as described above.

B. Do not use the tilde ~ or the circumflex ^.

C. Do not use TeX code, such as \`e for e with grave; instead paste è directly from a character map.

D. Do not use styling, such as {\small text} or \textit{text}.

E. If necessary, use \straightquote{} and \straightdblquote{}. Do not use TeX code for apostrophe or quote.

F. Do not use multiple hyphens to create longer dashes. Do not use em dash or en dash.

A. The novel document class does not have \maketitle. The title is not automatically transferred to a title page, because there is no automatic title page.

B. The title can be retrieved as \theTitle anywhere in your document.

C. In certain page layouts, the title is used as default text in recto page headings. You may over-ride this behavior.

D. You may set the title as empty (or blank space). In very rare cases, that is useful. However, if you do that, then you must follow \SetTitle{} with \SetPDFX{off}, or an error will result. This is because PDF/X standards require a real title.

A. The default author is empty (no author).

B. In certain page layouts, the author is used as default text in verso page headings. You may over-ride this behavior.

C. The author can be retrieved as \theAuthor anywhere in your document.

D. If in doubt, use the name as it is spoken. Correct: Mary Smith. Incorrect: Smith, Mary. Possibly correct, if true: Mary Smith, Ph. D.

E. Your PDF file is not seen by a public database. Instead, the public database contains the information you entered, when you obtained the ISBN. So, if you have multiple authors or minor contributors, that is the place to provide search information.

F. Ask your print service about how to enter multiple authors, and how to display them in print. Do not assume that authorship rules pertaining to academic papers will also apply to your novel.

G. Print-On-Demand services do not like to split royalty payments among multiple authors. Instead, the entire account is the responsibility of one main author or editor.

If anyone else is involved, that is a matter of private contract betwen the one main author/editor, and any other contributors. The print service neither knows nor cares about such agreements, and will do nothing to cooperate.

[DISCLAIMER] Here is my amateur advice: Consider using other contributors on a work-for-hire basis. This involves a written contract, prior payment of a fixed amount that does not depend on sales, and no grant of rights. You also need written assurance that the hired persons have the right to sell you the work they provide. If you need professional advice, then consult a professional.

A. The subtitle can be retrieved as \theSubtitle anywhere in your document.

B. The subtitle does not appear in File Data, and does not appear anywhere in your book, unless you manually write it there (either manually, or via \theSubtitle.

C. If you want the subtitle to appear in File Data, manually include it via \SetTitle. Example:

\SetTitle{Megabarf: The Green Plague of London}

Then, you may need to adjust page headings so that only the main title appears.

D. Usually, there is no benefit to including the subtitle in File Data. The search database does not read your PDF. It reads the information you entered as ISBN Metadata, which does have an entry for subtitle.

A. The Application, also known as CreatorTool, is the program used to create your source document. Text editors, word processors, and page layout programs are the most common Applications (not specific to TeX).

B. The PDF Producer is the program that converts the source document to PDF. In many cases, the Producer is a back-end, directly linked to the Application.

C. These details are automatically created when you compile your document, without any input from you. However, if you have the need to provide a custom text string for the Application or Producer, these commands will do it.

A. The following choices are available:

X-1a:2001 (default)

X-1a:2003

X-3:2002

X-3:2003

off

B. The first of these is the one that is most widely accepted in commercial printing. Anything meeting X-1a:2001 necessarily meets the other standards.

C. If your book involved complicated color artwork, then the correct choice might be crucial. But for a black and white book block, X-1a:2001 is the preferred choice, unless your print service says otherwise.

A. Output Intent informs the printer that you "intend" your PDF to be printed according to certain technical capabilities, particularly regarding color.

B. If your are using color-managed workflow with a calibrated monitor and color profile, and if the actual printer matches your intent, then you can expect accurate printed colors within the technical limits.

C. If the intended printer does not match the actual printer, there are three possible results: (1) The file will still be printed, but colors may be inaccurate. Home and office printers do this routinely. (2) If the printer is very advanced, it will adjust its properties to emulate the intended printer. (3) The printer may reject the print job, because it knows that it cannot produce the intended results.

D. The above considerations are very important for glossy fashion magazines, somewhat important for color book covers, and unimportant for non-color book text. Nevertheless, an Output Intent is required to meet PDF/X compliance, even when it does not matter.

E. The Output Intent is an optional argument to \SetPDFX, because a default will be used when the Intent is not specified.

A. There are three pre-defined choices for Output Intent:

CGATS TR 001 (default) (can also use CGATSTR001)

FOGRA39

JC200103

B. The first of these is known as "US Web Coated SWOP v2" in the USA, and is the most commonly-used American print standard for this kind of book.

C. The second is widely used in Europe, the third in Japan.

A. If you are required to use an Output Intent that is not one of the above three, then you have to code it yourself.

B. In a place where TeX can find it, create a plain text file with its file name in the following format:

File name begins with novel- (note the hyphen).

No spaces or underscores in file name, no matter what the Intent.

File extension is .clo

C. Example valid file name: novel-YourIntent.clo.

The above file is loaded using \SetPDFX[YourIntent]{compliance}.

D. The file contains (up to) five \gdef commands. The \@OIidentifier is called "reference name" by some authorities. Here is the code used for CGATS TR 001:

E. If the data contains any TeX special characters, such as underscore, percent, ampersand, or number sign, they must be escaped using a backslash.

F. The necessary data may be provided by your print service, or perhaps can be found at resources such as the International Color Consortium. Alas, this source (and others) do not make it easy to discern the data.

G. Another place to look for Output Intent data is in your (texmf)/tex/latex/pdfx folder. This will be in your TeX system if package pdfx is installed (but do not load this package into novel class). Files AdobeColorProfiles.tex and AdobeExternalProfiles.tex contain code prepared by the author of the pdfx package. The macro names are not the same, but they are easy to decode: \@OIidentifer is /OutputConditionIdentifier; \@OIcondition is /ProfileName; \@OIinfo is /OutputCondition; \@OIregistry is /RegistryName; and \@OIprofile follows \setCMYKcolorprofile.

A. Each Output Intent has a color profile, in the form of a file with extension *.icc.

B. You usually do not need the color profile, because the printer knows which profile corresponds with which standard Output Intent code.

C. When you use \SetPDFX in its un-starred form, the *.icc color profile will not be embedded in the PDF. This is the normal situation.

D. If your print service demands that you embed the *.icc color profile, then use \SetPDFX* (with the asterisk). You must have the actual *.icc file available where TeX can find it.

E. Do not embed the *.icc color profile unless specifically requested by your print service. If you embed it when you should not, the result may be worse!

F. If your printer requests "US Web Coated SWOP v2" and, as usual, requests that you not embed the corresponding *.icc color profile, then some software will read the Output Intent as "CGATS TR 001" instead of "US Web Coated SWOP v2". They are identical.

A. You do not need an *.icc color profile unless you choose to embed it.

B. Although many *.icc color profiles are freely available, they usually cannot be distributed within an open-source project. You might already have them in your system, wherever such files are stored. Note that TeX uses forward slash in file paths, not backslash, even if the platform is Windows:

Windows: C:/Windows/System32/spool/drivers/color/
Linux: /usr/share/color or hidden ~/.local/share/icc/ or other places
OSX: /Library/Colorsync/Profiles/ or hidden (username)/Library/Colorsync/Profiles/

C. If you do not have a file you need, look on the Internet here and here. These links also have many other profiles, beyond the basic three.

D. In a few cases, your print service may provide the necessary *.icc file.

E. You want printer profiles, usually CMYK. Don't worry about the files being "for Windows," as they are actually cross-platform.

F. If your system has the necessary *.icc file for your Output Intent, but novel cannot find it, then copy the file to the same folder as your TeX document.

G. Again: Do not embed the color profile unless the printer requests embedding.

Trim Size is globally set in Preamble:

\SetTrimSize{width}{height}

The width and height must have dimensions, such as in or cm.

A. Trim Size is the finished size of your book, width and height (but not thickness). In the case of softcover books, it is the exact size.

In the case of hardcover books, where the cover is slightly larger than the pages, your print service will tell you whether they mean the cover size or the page size.

B. PDF/X internally specifies the Trim Size as a rectangular TrimBox. This provides invisible instructions to an automated cutting machine, when the Trim Size is smaller than the actual paper sheet. You do not set the TrimBox yourself.

C. Your print service has a list of standard trim sizes. For fiction, you probably want "creme" (off-white) paper, which eliminates a few of the choices. Choice of size may also be limited by the distribution channels.

D. If you do not specify the Trim Size, the default is 5.5in wide, 8.5in high. This is a widely-used "trade" size for softcover print-on-demand fiction in the U.S.A. If in doubt, leave the default.

E. Do not request a mass-market paperback Trim Size unless you really, truly, know what you are doing. Since you are not a major writer for a major publishing house, you don't know; so, don't do it.

PDF page size is known as Media Size, defined by an invisible MediaBox in PDF internal code. It is known as paperwidth and paperheight in TeX terminology.

A. For cover artwork, the PDF page size must be larger than the artwork Trim Size, so that the image can bleed outside the TrimBox. Use this command in Preamble:

\SetMediaSize{width}{height}

This will center the Trim Size in the larger Media Size.

B. Generally, the American standard is 0.125in bleed on all four sides of the cover image; metric nations may use 3mm. Then, the Media Size would be 0.25in (or 6mm) larger than Trim Size in both dimensions.

C. Example: Suppose that the Trim Size of your book is 5.5in wide x 8.5in high. Based on the number of pages, its spine width is 0.6in.

Then, the Trim Width of the (Perfect Print) cover will be 5.5in + 0.6in + 5.5in = 11.6in. The Trim Height is 8.5in.

If you are required to provide 0.125in bleed on all four sides, the Media Width is 0.125in + 11.6in + 0.125in = 11.85in. The Media Height is 0.125in + 8.5in + 0.125in = 8.75in. The commands:

\SetTrimSize{11.6in}{8.5in}

\SetMediaSize{11.85in}{8.75in}

D. If you fail to use \SetMediaSize with coverart, or choose surprising values, then you will get an error or warning from novel.

E. For the interior book block, almost all P.O.D. services require that the PDF page size be identical to the Trim Size. This is done automatically. You do not use \SetMediaSize.

F. In rare cases, a P.O.D. service will ask you to float the interior book block in a larger, standard paper size. You may use \SetMediaSize for this purpose. The novel class does not support interior bleed, so when you are not using coverart mode, no BleedBox is set.

A. In novel you do not directly set the main font (also known as roman default). Instead, you set a parent font, from which the main font is derived.

B. The default parent font is Libertinus Serif, which is an updated branch of Linux Libertine O. You must install it as package libertinus.

Online services, such as ShareLaTeX, have libertinus.

If you do not have the Libertinus fonts, then Latin Modern Roman will be used as fallback. But LMR is not really suitable for use in printed fiction; it is allowed so that test documents can compile, until you choose a more suitable font.

C. Choose only Open Type or TrueType fonts, not the ancient Type 1 (PostScript) or Metafonts. The font you choose does not have to be part of any TeX package, because you do not need any *.sty file or TeX metrics. All of that is built into the font itself. This is thanks to LuaLaTeX and the built-in fontspec package.

D. You do not write \usepackage{fontname}, or \RequirePackage{fontname}, or \setmainfont{fontname}. If you do that, then a warning or error will result, and in any case the font you get won't be the one you were expecting.

4.2.1.1. \SetParentFont[features]{fontname}

4.2.1.2. \SetFontSize{length}

A. The descendant fonts are automatically set, as variations of the parent font:

For example, the main font uses the parent font family. It has TeX Ligatures and Kerning (inherited from the parent font), and also Common Ligatures and OldStyle numbers.

B. The main font is not configured directly. Instead, configure the parent font, then the main font (and other descendants) will obey. For example, if you don't want OldStyle numbers:

\SetParentFont[Numbers=Lining]{fontname}

Then, Lining numbers will be used for the main font (and other descendants).

C. If you don't like the defaults, you can set the other descendant fonts directly, in Preamble:

\SetChapterFont[features]{fontname}   % see section 5.1.3.1
\SetSubchFont[features]{fontname}   % see section 5.1.3.1
\SetHeadFont[features]{fontname}   % see section 4.3.4.2

D. You may use \parentfontfeatures and/or \parentfontname as arguments, if you wish.

A. Open Type font NovelDeco.otf is packaged with the novel class. It is a special-purpose font that provides characters for the \decoglyph and \midcase commands.

B. Normally, you do not need to configure this font, as it is automatic. The only reason for changng it is if you are an advanced user, who wishes to use a substitute font with different decorations. However, you may not specify just any font! The substitute must be an edited version of NovelDeco.otf, with a different font name. If you don't know what that means, then don't do it.

\SetDecoFont[features]{fontname}   % see section 5.1.3.3

A. There are several pre-defined fonts that do not descend from the parent font. In each case, an appropriate default font is selected. You will probably never need to use them; but TeX being what it is, default fonts are chosen "whether you like it or not."

B. The default sans-serif font will be Libertinus Sans if available. If not, the fallback font is Latin Modern Sans. To choose your own, use this command in Preamble, with fontspec syntax:

\SetSansFont[features]{fontname}

C. The default monospaced font will be Libertinus Mono if available. If not, the fallback font is Latin Modern Mono. To choose your own, use this command in Preamble, with fontspec syntax:

\SetMonoFont[features]{fontname}

D. If you need a math font, then may I gently suggest that maybe novel is not the right document class for you?

Nevertheless, Libertinus Math is loaded if available; otherwise Latin Modern Math.

If neither of those fonts are found, then NovelDeco.otf will be loaded as a fake math font, with no actual math symbols. That allows you to proceed without a real math font. But if you attempt to print math, it will look wrong.

You may choose your own math font using \setmathfont from package unicode-math. See that package documentation for details.

A. You can define new font commands in Preamble. The syntax depends on whether the new font is part of a family (where you might have bold and italic variants), or just a single file (no variants). If part of a family, use \NewFontFamily. If alone, use \NewFontFace.

The \NewFontFamily command (or \NewFontFace) takes three arguments: First, the name you assign to the new font command is required. Second, font features are optional. Third, the font name is required. The fontspec syntax is used in Preamble:

\NewFontFamily\pickaname[features]{fontfamily}
\NewFontFace\pickaname[features]{singlefont}

In the document body, you use the new font command:

{\pickaname Text in the font selected by pickaname command.}

B. If you define a font family when you should have just defined a font face, there will be complaints in the log file, because the font loader cannot find the (nonexistent) other members of the family. But the document will compile.

On the other hand, if you define a font face when you should have defined a font family, then commands for bold or italic will have no effect, since the other family members were not loaded. Again, the document will compile.

C. Example: Suppose your work is science fiction, and one if its characters is a talking robot. You wish to depict its utterances in a robotic-looking font, which will be called using a new \robovoice command. You shop around, and find that the Orbitron font suits your purpose, except that it is too large compared to your main font. So, you scale it.

In the Preamble, you define the new font command:

\NewFontFace\robovoice[Scale=0.8]{Orbitron} % not part of a family

After some experimentation, you realize that the \robovoice letters need to be spread apart a bit. Do not use \textls. Instead, go back and change the font definition like this:

\NewFontFace\robovoice[Scale=0.8,LetterSpace=number]{Orbitron} % pick a number

In the document body:

``Want some oil?'' asked Captain Withens.\par
{\robovoice ``Is it Gamma-42 Special oil?''} asked the robot.\par
``No, I got it on sale at Cosmo-Mart.''\par
{\robovoice ``Forget it. I'm an oil gourmet.''}\par

The result:

D. Caution: If you are using a new font within body text (as above), then it is a bad idea to use Scale greater than 1.0. Reason: An excessively tall font will cause lines to spread apart, and you will lose the line grid.

E. Example: Suppose that you wish to style the title of your book, in a font that is not used for other things such as chapter titles. You purchase a license for the Bernhard Modern Std fonts, in Regular and Italic.

In the Preamble:

\NewFontFamily\booktitlefont{Bernhard Modern Std}

The title page, using \charscale for size:

\thispagestyle{empty}
\vspace*{7\nbs}
\begin{center}
\charscale[3]{\booktitlefont The \textit{Fluffy} Conspiracy}\par
\vspace{6\nbs}
\charscale[2]{Priscilla Milde}\par
\vfill
Nonexistent Publications • Portland, Oregon\par
\end{center}

Margins are globally set in Preamble:

\SetMargins{top}{outer}{bottom}{inner}

Mnemonic for order of margins (Hamlet): "TOBI, or not TOBI, that is the question."

Each of the settings must have dimension, such as in or mm.

A. Margins are required on all four edges of the page (but not cover art). They do not have to be the same width. Generally the margin at the inside edge (spine margin) is wider. The novel class does not provide for marginal notes.

B. In the case of fiction, it is usually the case that the inner margin is the widest. But this is not a rule for all books. All that is required is that each margin be "wide enough" for the printing process.

C. Print services are not used to seeing books with exotic margins (such as bottom margin twice the size of top margin). They may think that there is a mistake in your PDF, or in the print job, if you do that.

D. Normally, your TeX document will be compiled to a PDF that is electronically at the exact Trim Size. And normally, print services want it to be that way. When you view your PDF, the text will shift from side to side as you move through the pages, due to the slightly increased margin at the inside edge.

E. Margins are always relative to the Trim Size. If you are using a larger Media Size, the area outside the TrimBox is not counted among the margins; it is simply wasted area. This is illustrated at right, where a smaller Trim Size is floated in a marger Media Size. The margins are shown in gray.

F. If you do not use \SetMargins, then margins are pre-configured. The minimum pre-configured margins are 0.5in at top, outside, and bottom, and 0.75in at inside. This meets the requirements of nearly any printing technology, unless your book is extremely thick.

If your Trim Size is among the larger ones, then the pre-configured margins are larger than these minimums.

G. If your page layout uses header and/or footer, these elements sit within the rectangle bounded by the four margins. That is, they share the same space as main text.

At right, the top margin is shown in gray, for three situations. Layout #1 has a header. Layout #2 also has a header, but this particular page leaves the header empty. Layout #3 has no header.

4.3.1.1. Gutter? Which Gutter?

4.3.1.2. Unsafe Zone

A. Lines per page refers only to the textblock, and does not include header/footer. Lines are not stretched to fill short pages.

B. By default, a suitable number of lines per page are automatically set, based on other dimensions. You can change the default with this command, in Preamble:

\SetLinesPerPage{integer}

Any non-integer will be rounded. There is no direct command to set the leading, also known as line-to-line spacing or baselineskip. Instead, it is calculated from the textblock height and number of lines.

C. If you change any other dimensions (margins, head/foot, font size, etc.) then the calculated default number of lines per page will probably change. If you like the initial default value, then set it manually.

D. If the calculated leading is less than 1.2x the font size, an error will result. It is difficult for TeX to honor all layout settings with such a small leading, which would normally be unacceptable for fiction in any case.

If the calculated leading is at least 1.2x the normal size, but less than 1.25x the normal size, then the log file will have an Alert message, suggesting that you should consider using fewer lines per page. If the leading exceeds 1.4x the font size, then the log will have an Alert, suggesting more lines per page. The Alert messages are friendly; you do not necessarily have to do anything.

A. Global choice of header/footer style is made in Preamble. Although some individual pages may have no visible header or footer, in reality the header/footer is "still there" in terms of occupying space, but has no content.

B. There are six pre-configured header/footer styles, numbered 1 through 6. These address every style I have seen in fiction. When you choose one of these styles, it reserves space for a header (if any) above the main text, and space for a footer (if any) below the main text. You may not write multi-line headers or footers.

C. The default style is 1, which has header, but no footer. Page numbers appear at the outside. Text (such as author or title) appears centered.

D. Style 0 has no header or footer. This is not used in fiction, but it is available.

E. Throughout the body of your document, you can use local commands to change the content of headers and footers, or blank them. But you may not change the global header/footer style mid-document.

4.3.3.1. List of Header/Footer Style Choices

 

\SetHeadFootStyle{1}
Only Header.
Page number at outside (left verso, right recto).
Optional emblem adjacent to page number.
Text centered. Default author verso, title recto.
This is the default for the novel document class.

\SetHeadFootStyle{2}
Only Footer.
Page number at outside (left verso, right recto).
Optional emblem adjacent to page number.

\SetHeadFootStyle{3}
Only Footer.
Page number centered.
Disregards emblem, if coded.

\SetHeadFootStyle{4}
Only Header.
Page number at outside (left verso, right recto).
Optional emblem adjacent to page number.
Text towards outside, instead of centered.
Text begins or ends 1em from the emblem.
Default author verso, title recto.

\SetHeadFootStyle{5}
Header and Footer.
Page number centered in footer.
Disregards emblem, if coded.
Text centered in header.
Default author verso, title recto.

\SetHeadFootStyle{6}
Only Header.
Page number at outside (left verso, right recto).
Optional emblem adjacent to page number.
Text towards inside, instead of centered.
Default author verso, title recto.

4.3.3.2. Custom Header/Footer Style

You may customize the appearance, and to some extent the content, of the various parts of the header and footer. These are global settings, in Preamble.

4.3.4.1. Gap Between Header/Footer and Main Text

4.3.4.2. \SetHeadFont[features]{font}

4.3.4.3. \SetLooseHead{number}

4.3.4.4. \SetPageNumberStyle{code using \thepage}

4.3.4.5. \SetEmblems{verso}{recto}

4.3.4.6. Setting and Changing Header Text

There are a number of cases where a specific page must have a header/footer style that appears to differ from the global style. The key words are "appears to differ." The global header/footer is always there, in terms of vertical space. But either or both may be blank, or have unusual content, on certain pages.

4.3.5.1. \thispagestyle{choice}

4.3.5.2. \SetChapterStartStyle{choice}

A. Unless your chapters run continuously without page break, begin a new chapter using \clearpage or \cleartorecto. The first of these provides a new page, which will be verso or recto, without skipping a page. The second forces the chapter to begin on a recto page, if necessary inserting a blank verso.

B. The common modern practice in fiction is to allow new chapters to begin either verso or recto, once you get past Chapter One. The only recent book I've read (from a major publisher), where chapters always started recto, had about 20 blank pages throughout the story. I believe the reason was to pad the book, so that it looked bigger. If you are using an American P.O.D. service, such padding might knock about $0.10 (estimated) from your profit, for each copy sold. So it's up to you to think about the tradeoffs between style, profit per book, and expected sales.

C. Prologue (if any), Chapter One, Epilogue (if any), and other special sections always begin recto.

D. Don't worry about using \clearpage or \cleartorecto twice. The compiler is smart enough to understand that you only meant to do it once, as long as there is no other code in between.

A. The ChapterStart environment creates a block of white space, with a fixed height (number of normal lines). If you do not place much inside it, or even if you place nothing inside it, the space is the same.

B. If you place too much inside it, the space does not grow. Instead, the excess material overflows the bottom of the environment. There, the excess will underlie the main text. This is usually undesirable, but can sometimes be used for special effects.

5.1.2.1. \SetChapterStartStyle{choice}

5.1.2.2. \SetChapterStartHeight{lines}

5.1.2.3. \begin{ChapterStart}[lines][style]

You can put anything you like within ChapterStart, including ordinary text and even images. All ChapterStart does is reserve a fixed space. However, there are special commands that make it easy to place a chapter title, chapter subtitle, and decorative element.

5.1.3.1. \SetChapterFont[features]{font}
5.1.3.1   \SetSubchFont[features]{font}

5.1.3.2. \ChapterTitle[alignment]{text}
5.1.3.2.   \ChapterSubtitle[alignment]{text}

5.1.3.3. \ChapterDeco[alignment scale]{text}

5.1.3.4. Chapter Epigraph

A. You can use an image in chapter titles. If you place an image, use one of the image commands defined by novel elsewhere in the documentation.

B. Be sure that you are licensed to use the image. Many clipart catalogs "for personal use only," prohibit usage in commercial books. One possible source is openclipart.org (note the .org).

5.1.4.1. Text Over Inline Image

5.1.4.2. Text Built Into Image

A. Since the ChapterStart environment does not automatically begin a new page, you can use it for continuously running chapters. In Preamble, set a short height, such as \SetChapterStartHeight{4}. Also use \SetChapterStartStyle{fancy} so that headers don't disappear.

B. Throughout the book, you can make local adjustments to the ChapterStart height, so that they don't fall at an inconvenient location (such as at the bottom of a page). Yes, I have seen this done in published works. If a particular chapter is sufficiently important that it deserves a page break, or a lot more space, you can do that easily.

A. The \QuickChapter command inserts two blank lines. In the gap, the chapter title is left-justified using subch font (not chapter font). It is slightly raised from the normal baseline, because this looks better; but the following text is back on-grid. By default, the start of the following text will be un-indented.

B. If the optional linelength is provided, then a dash will be written after the title, at the position and thickness typical of the em dash in subch font. If linelength is specified in units of length, then that will be the length of the line. But if linelength is an asterisk, then the line will fill to the right margin.

C. \QuickChapter is probably too obtrusive, for mere scene changes within a chapter.

D. Example:

Then he looked at me with a sneer, and barked, “You better haul your can over to Vinny's joint, before the Boss finds out.”\par
\QuickChapter[3em]{16. At Vinny’s}
So I took his advice, and hauled my can over to Vinny’s. It was everything I had expected, and worse.\par
The bouncer wasn't the biggest one I’d ever seen, but he was the ugliest. ...

This global command may only be used in the Preamble. Default is false.

Normally, text begins without a paragraph indent, after each scene break. This is standard in fiction. If you prefer that each new scene begins indented, use this command. It works only with \scenebreak, \sceneline, and \scenestars.

A. Use the \charscale command to size the first letter (or more than one letter) so that it stands above the remainder of the line. Remember that you will see a capital letter standing next to lowercase letters, so it will appear taller. You may also use a font command.

B. Example: Where \NewFontFace\alexbrush{AlexBrush-Regular.ttf} appears in Preamble.

\noindent\charscale[1.6]{\alexbrush I}\hspace{0.2em}t was a dark and stormy night. Well, it really wasn't all that dark, seeing as how this story is set in Las Vegas.

A. If you want to place a portion of the first line in small caps, then simply do it using \textsc{text}. This effect can also continue to additional lines. That is, it does not automatically stop at the end of the first line.

B. The magaz package is pre-loaded in novel. It provides the \FirstLine command, which takes the entire first paragraph as its argument. Place \noindent inside. You may also style the first letter (or more than one) as described above; the styled letter appears inside the \FirstLine command.

C. Example:

\FirstLine{\noindent\charscale[1.6]{\alexbrush I}\hspace{0.2em}t was a dark and stormy night. Well, it really wasn't all that dark, seeing as how this story is set in Las Vegas.}

A. The drop cap is an enlarged letter (or image) at the beginning of chapter text, with the first few lines of text wrapped around it:

B. Works of popular fiction rarely use drop caps. Instead, having a special first character (section 5.5.1) is more common, as it presents fewer layout problems, and is less distracting.

C. The \dropcap command is native to novel. You may also load and use lettrine. An extensive discussion of drop caps is in Appendix F.

A. Standard LaTeX font size commands, such as \small and \LARGE, are disabled in novel. If you use them, they will be ignored, and the affected text will be printed without modification. This is by intent, for the purpose of maintaining the baseline grid.

B. The one exception is that footnotes will appear with smaller than normal size and skip. But this is done automatically. You cannot manipulate it with a size command.

C. Use novel's own commands for manipulating font size. The correct command depends on the quantity of text involved.

A. The contents of \charscale{} occupy no vertical space. Thus, scaled text does not push baselines apart. Excessive scale may cause characters to overlap; in some cases this is a desirable special effect.

B. The optional argument has up to three comma-separated components. The first is a number, which scales the text relative to its natural size. If the text was already scaled by some other operation (such as using fontspec to define the font with Scale feature), then the effect is cumulative.

Do not use a scale close to zero, or negative. The result is unpredictable.

C. \charscale may be used for a short amount of text, where there is no line break, and no wrap. The command will throw an error if the included text has \\ or \par or any other method that breaks the line.

Excessive text will not wrap. It will overflow into the right margin.

D. Example: In this example, line 4 is so enarged that its ascenders and descenders overlap other text.

Jack be quick. (1)\par
\charscale[1.2]{Jack be quick.} (2)\par
\charscale[1.5]{Jack be quick.} (3)\par
\charscale[2.5]{Jack be quick.} (4)\par
\charscale[1.2]{Jack be quick, JACK} (5)\par

E. The second optional component, if used, is horizontal offset. The third optional component, if used, is vertical offset. Offsets are lengths, measured in units such as em or \nbs.

F. In its starred form, the contents of \charscale*{} occupy neither vertical nor horizontal space. Example:

Alpha \charscale[1.25]{Beta} Gamma. (1)\par
Alpha \charscale[1.25,8em,1.3\nbs]{Beta} Gamma. (2)\par
Alpha Gamma. (3)\par
Alpha\charscale*[1.25,8em,1.3\nbs]{Beta} Gamma. (4)\par

In line 1, Beta is enlarged, but not offset. It occupies slightly more width than it would have occupied unscaled. In line 2, Beta has been offset. Since the unstarred \charscale was used, the horizontal space is still there.

Line 3 has no Beta. Line 4 uses the starred \charscale* to offset Beta, but no width is left behind. Note that the space between Alpha and Gamma is an ordinary inter-word space, because there is a space following the command.

G. \charscale is very effective on display pages, where you can scale and move text however you wish. The starred version is especially useful, since back-to-back \charscale* will place text from a single vantage point.

H. In main text, the most practical application of \charscale is to enlarge the first character of chapter text. See section 5.5.1. Otherwise, the command is rarely used, mostly for local correction of characters that need some size adjustment.

I. \charscale does not commute with some other TeX commands. That is, the results of \charscale{\othercommand{text}} and \othercommand{\charscale{text}} may differ.

A. The parascale environment is used on a paragraph basis. More than one paragraph may be included. The scale is applied to the font size and to the baselineskip within.

Note that the scale is an optional argument. Default is 1.

B. The parascale environment is allowed to cross page boundaries.

Trick: If you place an ordinary paragraph in parascale at scale 1, then you will know whether or not that paragraph remains on one page.

C. For scale less than or equal to 1, the first line in parascale will be at the normal baseline position. The following lines will progressively depart from the normal grid (unless scale is 1). Thus, you will usually need to add some amount of vertical space following parascale, in order to restore subsequent text to the line grid.

D. You will usually get a Warning message, advising you that parascale caused the subsequent text (after the environment closed) to be off-grid. Fix by adding the requisite \vspace just prior to \end{parascale}.

If parascale is entirely on a single page, you may also split the \vspace: Place part of it prior to \begin{parascale}, and part of it prior to \end{parascale}.

E. If multiple parascale end on a single page, the line deficit is cumulative. For example, if the first deficit is 0.5\nbs and the second defict is 0.8\nbs, you would fix them by adding 0.5\nbs and 0.3\nbs respectively.

E. Example:

Lord Withens sneaked out the door of the veranda, and hastily opened the letter. In it was a message that curled his jodphurs:\par
\begin{parascale}[0.87]
We knows where youse been a-goin all a them dark and stormy nights. We knows what you been doin out there. We got yer number, Jack. So youse better play nice or we gonna rat to the lady.\par
\vspace{0.26\nbs} % Without this, a Warning is issued, adivisng 0.26\nbs.
\end{parascale}
Even after his jodphurs had finally uncurled, Lord Withens could not master his rage. ``My name's not Jack,'' he mumbled.\par

A. If you will be using a font in a way that it will always be at a size different from the normal font size, you may use the Scale feature when you first define the font. This is defined by the fontspec package, which is automatically loaded with novel. Example:

\NewFontFamily\minifont[Scale=0.75,Numbers=Lining]{\parentfont}

B. The scaled font can be used anywhere. It is not limited to a single line, and it will maintain the line grid at scales not exceeding 1.

C. Scaled text may disturb the line grid, if its scale is more than 1.

A. \itshape{text, may cross paragraphs} is a general-purpose command for italics.

B. \textit{text} will not cross paragraphs.

C. \emph{text} changes regular text to italics, and italic text to regular. You may nest \emph commands. Many writers opine that this is the preferred way to specify italics. It cannot cross paragraphs.

D. If the italicized text leans too far into the following space, try adding \/ (back and forward slashes) just before closing the braces.

E. Italics are not faked (such as by slanting). If the font does not have an italic font file, then regular text will appear. You may use fontspec syntax to substitute a different italic font, if necessary. See Appendix E.1.1 file name combinations.

A. \bfshape{text, may cross paragraphs} is a general-purpose command for bold.

B. \textbf{text} will not cross paragraphs.

C. The default main font in novel is Libertinus Serif, which has both bold and semibold weights. In versions prior to 1.80 (2023), The semibold weight is pre-configured to substitute for bold. Version 1.80 does not make this substitution.

D. If you use a different font, and it has an alternative to bold weight, see Appendix E.1.1 file name combinations for how to configure the choice. Bold is not faked by thickening.

E. Bold is rare in fiction. It might be the case that this weight is useful for titles, but you ought to consider a fancy-looking font for that purpose, rather than mere Bold. Or, make the letters big and bold, but balance the effect by using gray.

Underlining is inappropriate for fiction. Don't do it. Besides, there are some issues regarding line grid and appearance, which are not a problem in academic works, but are noticeable in fiction.

If you are using a line for its graphic effect, the \bigemdash command might be helpful.

A. \scshape{text, may cross paragraphs} is a general-purpose command for converting lowercase to small caps.

B. \textsc{text} does not cross paragraphs. Alias: \smcp{text}.

C. \allsmcp{text} places both uppercase and lowercase letters in small caps. It does not cross paragraphs.

D. Small caps are taken from the font's smcp Open Type feature. If the font is not Open Type, or does not have this feature, then small caps will not be faked. Command \allsmcp also uses feature c2sc if it is available; otherwise it converts letters to lowercase, then applies smcp.

E. If you require small caps, but your font does not have them, you can fake them by scaling uppercase. But this is usually unattractive. A better method is described in the fontspec package documentation: You may appoint a different font that will provide small caps.

F. If you insist on using old-fashioned TeX fonts, which do not have the smcp Open Type feature, then you may need to write this code in the Preamble:

\let\smcp\oldscshape\relax
\let\textsc\oldscshape\relax
\let\scshape\oldscshape\relax

The above code sends you in a time machine back to the Twentieth Century.

G. \midcase{text} is special to novel. If the NovelDeco font is installed, uppercase letters in the text will be converted to "mid-size capitals," and lowercase will remain lowercase, but with ascenders slightly reduced. The purpose of this command is so that acronyms such as NASA and NATO blend well with surrounding text. I have found that whereas ordinary uppercase is too conspicuous, small caps also looks wrong. Example:

The NATO alliance...\par
The \midcase{NATO} alliance...\par
The \allsmcp{NATO} alliance...\par

H. Whether or not to use the \midcase command, is up to you. Since its letters are drawn from the NovelDeco font, rather than your main font, there may be some stylistic differences if your parent font is not Libertinus Serif.

A. Tracking refers to how tight or loose is the space between adjacent letters. This is a property of the font itself, and is automatically tweaked by the included microtype package. Do not confuse tracking with inter-word spacing, which is more widely adjusted during paragraph layout calculations.

B. If only two adjacent letters are involved, use the \kern or \hspace command. The following examples have the same effect. Note that there is no added space character, and that the units of length are em:

I\kern-.05emt was a dark and stormy night.
I\hspace{-.05em}t was a dark and stormy night.

C. Loose tracking is often used in page header text. In novel, this is addressed by a special command. See section 4.3.4.3.

D. Do not use the \textls command. It will be ignored, and its contents will be rendered with ordinary tracking.

E. The included fontspec package allows you to globally set the tracking of an Open Type font, or locally change its tracking, using the LetterSpace feature. It is unlikely that you will need this capability. If you do, see fontspec package documentation 6.8.

A. The following font commands are pre-defined in novel: \rmfamily (alias \mainfont) \sffamily \ttfamily \chapterfont \subchfont \headfont \decofont \decodropcapfont.

B. Although most of the pre-defined font commands are automatically applied in specific situations, you may apply any of them yourself, in any location, using this syntax:

{\subchfont This text will be in the subch font.}

C. If you wish, use fontspec syntax to create additional font selection commands. See section 4.2.5 and Appendix E for the essentials. For example, if you have the licensed font, this code would define the font selection command \agarp in Preamble:

\NewFontFamily\agarp[Numbers=OldStyle,Ligatures=Common]{Adobe Garamond Pro}

Then you would apply it to text:

{\agarp Text to appear in that font.}

{\addfontfeature{feature} text} for changing Open Type features.

A. If a font is already defined, you can locally add one or more features. For example, suppose that you defined \mynewfont without using its Open Type feature ss03 (we will assume that the font actually has this feature). In a particular place, you wish to activate ss03. The code looks like this:

{\mynewfont\addfontfeature{RawFeature=+ss03} text} % Note + sign. Braces outside.

That limits the scope of the feature to the included group, in TeX terminology.

B. You can modify features used by any defined font, whether you defined it yourself or it is one of the novel built-in font commands. You can add more than one feature. If the requested feature does not exist in the font, then your request will be ignored.

C. What about removing a feature that is already present in the font definition? Suppose you defined \mynewfont so that Numbers=OldStyle is used. On a local basis, can you change the style of numbers? Usually, yes. You could use Numbers=Lining to over-ride the feature. Sometimes it depends on how you chose the features, as a matter of syntax. See the fontspec documentation.

A. \color{name} or \color[gray]{scale} is used within a group. All text will be in grayscale, from where the command is placed, until the group ends. If the command is not at the beginning of the group, it does not affect prior text. Example:

\begingroup
This text is unaffected by the following command.
\color{lightgray} % Alternative: \color[gray]{number 0 to 1}
This text is in lightgray, until the group ends.
\endgroup

\textcolor{text} or \textcolor[gray]{scale}{text} affects only the included text.

\textcolor{gray7}{This text is in color gray7, a medium-light gray.}
\textcolor[gray]{0.32}{This text is in 32 percent gray.}

Whether you use \color or \textcolor, there are two ways to specify the color: by name, or by scale, using package xcolor syntax.

B. The following color names are accepted, and will be converted to some shade of gray (from dark to light): black, blue, violet, darkgray, purple, red, teal, olive, magenta, gray, brown, green, orange, cyan, lightgray, lime, pink, yellow, white.

C. The above names are often not helpful, so novel also allows you to use these: black, gray1, gray2, gray3, gray4, gray5, gray6, gray7, gray8, gray9, white. The scale is not uniform (gray5 is not 50 percent gray), but the values are usefully spaced.

D. To specify color by scale, follow the color command with [gray]{scale}, where the scale is a number between 0 (black) and 1 (white). Example: \color[gray]{0.63}.

If you use xcolor syntax to request an rgb color, it will be converted to 1-channel grayscale.

E. Absolutely no transparency!

F. Other names "known to dvips," such as Apricot, do not work. An error will result.

A. The \raisebox command does not play well with novel. It can be used on a display page, where line grid is less important. In main text, avoid it. Use \charscale instead.

B. If you must use the \vspace command (or its relative, \vskip) be sure to measure the space in units of \nbs (normal baseline skip).

C. Avoid the minipage and parbox environments. These are likely to disrupt the line grid. When that happens, restoring the grid is your own responsibility. You may find the adjustwidth environment to be useful, as described in the next section.

D. In most cases, do not use the center environment. You may use {\centering ... \par} instead, for a single paragraph. The center environment may cause the text to go off-grid. That's not a problem on some display pages where you don't care about the grid, but it is ugly in the middle of running text.

E. Avoid positioning via the textblock or textblock* environments (package textpos).

Actually, novel uses that code internally. But if not handled with more care than usual, positioned text can disrupt the baseline and position of surrounding text. You may use \charscale to position small amounts of text safely, but not on a paragraph basis.

Images have built-in positioning arguments.

F. Do not use floats (except in sandbox). Use novel's own \FloatImage.

G. Do not use tables (except in sandbox). But novel has its own provision for a Table of Contents, and the code may be used for other purposes as well.

H. Do not use picture environment (except in sandbox). Use only the image commands provided by novel: \InlineImage, \FloatImage, and \WrapImage. There is also a special provision for color cover artwork (deprecated).

This is not a complete list. It merely addresses a few situations that you are likely to encounter, without the need for elaborate code, and without loading additional packages.

\begin{adjustwidth}{left}{right} ... \end{adjustwidth}

This environment, from the included changepage package, is the most useful way to create block indents. The included text may have multiple paragraphs and span pages. The left and right arguments are lengths, being the amount to increase the respective margins from their normal values.

\rotatebox{text}

NOTE: Do not use rotation unless you really need it. Some P.O.D. printers robot-screen files, and a rotated box may be rejected (even though it is good).

This command is from the included graphicx package. It rotates the text, about an axis at the lower left of the text. If you wish to rotate the text about its center, use \rotatebox[origin=c]{text}.

This command plays nicely with \charscale, so you can size, rotate, and displace a string of text (single line). It makes a difference which command goes inside the other. More likely than not, the effect you want is obtained by using \charscale on the outside, with \rotatebox inside.

To avoid disturbing the line grid, \rotatebox is best used with \charscale and a few blank lines.

\phantom{text}

Does not print the text, but leaves a horizontal gap as if the text were there. Caution: In some locations, this command has unexpected results, such as by adding a line.

\mbox{text}

Prevents a specific word from being hyphenated, or to ensure that two consecutive words always appear on the same line. The box will not be broken across lines. However, it may overhang the margin, which is undesirable.

\makebox[width][alignment]{text}

Puts the text in a box of fixed width (usually much larger than the text's own width) and aligns it left, center, or right in the box. If using this across the full textwidth, be sure to precede it with \noindent to prevent offset.

\hspace{length}

Creates a horizontal space.

\strut

Places an invisible box with no width, which has the height and depth of the font. Sometimes used as a placeholder.

\stake

Placeholder like \strut, but does not occupy the height or depth of the font.

\indent, \noindent, \forceindent, \backindent

Commands \indent and \noindent have their ordinary TeX meaning. Sometimes, the action of other macros will remove an indent that should be there, or add an indent that should not be there. If writing \indent and \noindent do not fix the problems, use \forceindent and \backindent as more forceful solutions.

\hfill

Pushes the following text to the right end of the line. Actual effect depends on what precedes and follows. Sometimes a \strut is needed at the beginning of a line.

\vfill, \vfill*

Pushes the following text to the bottom of the page. Actual effect depends on paragraph organization. Use the asterisk if there is nothing printed above this command, on the same page.

\kern

Tweaks the spacing between consecutive letters. A tricky command, as it is always used without braces, and makes the surrounding text illegible in your source code. If you use it, the units of length should always be em, rather than pt. Example:

It wa\kern-.02ems a da\kern.03emrk and stormy ni\kern-.004emght.

The \kern command is not useful for globally changing kern values.

\bigemdash[yoffset,thickness]

Simulates a "big emdash" of variable length. Horizontal width is from command to end of line marked by \par, or limited by a fixed width such as created by \makebox. If placed in other situations, the line may be missing or too long.

The line's normal position is at the typical height of an emdash, which is slightly above half the height of lowercase x. Its normal width is typical of an emdash width. Thus, the line is like an extended emdash.

You can tweak the line using its optional argument. The first value tweaks the vertical position by a scale factor, where 1 equals its normal position (so that 0.9 places it a little lower). The second argument, if used, is separated from the first by a comma. It tweaks the line thickness by a scale factor (so that 0.9 makes it a little thinner).

Since \bigemdash allows an optional argument, but no mandatory argument, you may not immediately follow it with text. If it is boxed, then first close the box; otherwise, end the paragraph.

\straightquote{}, \straightdblquote{}

These insert the single quote (apostrophe), and double quote, as ASCII straight characters. Prevents TeX (or your software) from automatically substituting the curly characters. The empty braces are mandatory.

A. This command may only be used in the Preamble. It globally sets the kind of marker to be used. Default is real and asterisk.

B. The optional argument applies real or fake markers, as described above.

C. The required argument applies only to markers created by the \footnote command. It does not apply to endnotes, or to manually placed superscripts and subscripts.

D. The available choices for marker style:

• asterisk (default) uses symbolic footnote markers. The symbols rotate in order * † ‡ § ** †† ‡‡ §§ until reset.

• dagger uses symbolic footnote markers, but without asterisks. The symbols rotate in order † ‡ § †† ‡‡ §§ until reset.

• number uses numerical footnote markers. Due to possible conflict, the log file will have a "Big Bad Warning" if you use a numerical footnote marker in a document that also has endnotes, since endnotes always have numerical markers.

A. Within the body of the document, you may use \realmarker and \fakemarker to change your preference. The choice remains in effect until you change it again.

B. The option real/fake applies wherever superscripts or subscripts are used, not just for footnotes or endnotes.

A. Interior images may be grayscale, or black/white. There is no provision for color interior.

B. There is no provision for interior bleed. No image may approach the edge of the page. The amount of clearance is specified by your print service, and is often called the unsafe zone.

C. Black/White line art has a single channel, at 1-bit per pixel. This format is only used for material that is inherently black and white, without shading. It is also useful for including black text prepared as an image. Most print services request resolution 600 to 800 pixels per inch.

D. Grayscale images have a single channel, at 8-bits per pixel. This format is used for photos and shaded artwork. It is also useful for including text prepared as an image, where the text is not black. Most print services request resolution 300 pixels per inch.

E. Each image must be flat (no layers, no transparency).

F. Most print services require that images must be stripped of private metadata (such as EXIF), and that the color space be DeviceGray, rather than specified by a transfer profile.

G. Black/White images must be in png file format. Grayscale images may be in either png or jpg file format.

H. In the documentation extras folder, novel-scripts.zip will help you comply with these requirements. Complete usage information is provided there.

I. Now novel detects whether or not an interior image was pre-processed using novel-scripts. If yes, it is "known good". If no, it is "unknown" and may be good or bad.

If your document has any "unknown" images, you will get a Warning. The list of "unknown" images is written near the bottom of the log file.

If you know that an image meets specs (because you are a graphic artists who knows these things), but it wasn't processed by novel-scripts, you can manually add it to the list of "known good" images. In Preamble:

\SetKnownGoodImages{somefile.png anotherfile.jpg}

As of late 2023, most print services no longer have the same requirements as they once did, regarding color cover artwork. Although the method provided by novel still works, it is the hard way to do something that (nowadays) does not have to be hard.

A. The book cover may be (usually is) in color. Bleed is required.

B. If your print service allows you to submit cover artwork as an ordinary RGB image file, that's the easiest way to do it. Then, novel is not used.

C. Complete support for creating a PDF/X-1a:2001 (or other) color cover, with image in CMYK at 240% ink limit, is provided in novel-scripts.zip. This format is required by some American print-on-demand services.

The scripts, and supporting documentation, are in the novel documentation extras folder.

You may scale, rotate, and displace text. This is done using text commands, and the result is still text. When cleverly done, it provides an image-like effect. See section 6 for the possibilities.

A. This command places the image as an inline element, at 100% scale. The use of png or jpg images, with file extension, is required.

B. You may offset the image horizontally or vertically. Positive direction is to the right and up. If you use one offset, then you must use both (if necessary, 0em). Any units of length may be used, but the preferred units are em or \textwidth for horizontal, and em or \nbs for vertical.

C. By default, the top of the image is at the text baseline. If you prefer that the bottom of the image be at the text baseline, use voffset b. Example:

\InlineImage[0em,b]{imageFile.png}

D. Thanks to the included calc package, offsets may use \widthof{text}, \heightof{text}, or \depthof{text} as lengths. The most useful of these is when you wish to align the top of an image at the X-height of surrounding text:

\InlineImage[0em,\heightof{X}]{imageFile.png}

You may also use \heightof{\Aring} for the tallest accented letter normally found in Latin-1.

Another possibility is to align the bottom of an image with the lowercase descender:

\InlineImage[0em,b-\depthof{gjpqy}]{imageFile.png}

E. Lengths \imagewidth and \imageheight may also be used for offsets. These lengths remain set, and can be used for other purposes (such as displacing text) until another image is placed.

F. Offsets may be written as combinations of lengths. If you use the baseline b as above, it must be the first character of voffset. If you use \widthof or \heightof, then its backslash must be the first character unless it is preceded by another length. Thus, an offset of -\heightof{X} is prohibited, but you can use 0pt-\heightof{X}.

Here are some examples of allowable code:

\InlineImage[2.3em, -0.4em]{imageFile.png}
\InlineImage[0pt-\widthof{eee}, b+\heightof{X}-0.2em]{imageFile.jpg}

G. The image occupies zero vertical space. So, it will not push apart baselines. The next line(s) of text may overlie the image. In some cases, this is desirable. If you do not want that effect, then you can either insert a suitable number of \null lines after the image, or use the \FloatImage command instead.

H. With the un-starred \InlineImage command, the image occupies its natural horizontal width. That is, text following the image will (if it fits) continue from the right edge of the image. But with the starred \InlineImage* command, the image occupies zero width. In this case, text following the image will continue from the left of the image, and overlie the image.

I. Having text overlie the image is allowable, and can create some interesting special effects. But when your print service sees what you have done, they may think that it is a mistake. Be sure that you discuss this with them.

If you do allow text to overlie an image, be sure that the image is very light. Repeat: very light. Depending on the printing technology, an image may print darker than you see on your computer screen, and that would make text hard to read. At low print volume, your print service will probably use a technology that can make very sharp text over images. However, if your book goes to volume production, then the technology will be different. Volume printing will use halftoned images, and the text overlay may also become halftoned, which will reduce its sharpness considerably.

J. An image may be placed in a way that prints some of the image in the margin. That's allowable if your margin is wider than the minimum required for printing clearance. But even if it is not allowable, there will be no complaint or warning from TeX. Use the shademargins class option to ascertain position, and consider setting an unsafe zone.

K. Do not place an image so that it approaches or goes beyond the page edge. That requires a "bleed box" which is not part of novel capabilities (except for cover art). If your book needs that kind of image handling, use a page layout program instead.

A. As noted above, an \InlineImage (or its starred version) can be used as the background to any subsequent text. Whatever sits atop an image must be darker. If you need text in gray, it is better to integrate the rasterized text with the image in an external graphics program, instead of using gray text in your document.

B. When text overlies an image, it retains its identity as vector paths, as far as the PDF is concerned. In some printing processes, particularly those for very low volume production, the result will be as sharp and dark as ordinary text. However, if your book sells well (or is being prepared to sell well), the image will be converted to halftone, and the text that lies above it may also be converted to halftone. This will reduce the sharpness of the text. It is not necessarily a problem, unless your text is very small or has fine details.

If the text-over-image is part of a title, then the text is naturally large and dark, and will easily withstand halftoning.

C. Not all print services will accept text over images. It's not that they cannot do it; after all, your home and office printers can easily do it. The reason they object is because the pages of your book will be handled in small volume by persons who are unfamiliar with the book. Text over an image may be flagged as a printing error or a bug in the PDF. In the advertising world, text over image is routine. But in the world of fictional novels, it is unusual.

D. An inline image occupies zero vertical space. If you place its top near the bottom of the textblock, then the image will happily flow into the lower margin and perhaps off the bottom of the page, without an error (but the print service will reject it). The reason that TeX does not provide an error message is quite simple: Technically, it is not an error! It is just not what you meant to do. The software cannot read your mind. This is where the shademargins class option helps, especially when you set an unsafe zone.

Example:

\noindent\InlineImage*[0pt,1.2\nbs]{gavel.png} Lord Withens took a seat at the rear of the courtroom, attempting to be inconspicuous. Yet his effort was in vain, as he was the only person there with a riding crop and spurs.\par
He would have taken the car, had it not been stolen. But that was why he was here, at the arraignment of the person charged with the theft. It was most unfortunate that the accused was his own elderly father; but then, theft ran in the family line.\par

A. \FloatImage places the image in its own block, like a paragraph.

B. The image will always be horizontally centered. If that is not what you wish, then you can widen the image in a graphics program, adding white space as needed. Or, you can use xoffset to move the image.

C. The top of the image will be positioned at the baseline of text, where text would have been without the image. You may adjust that position using yoffset (a positive length is upward). In some cases, \normalXheight (the normal text X height) is a good choice for yoffset.

D. The height of the image is automatically measured, so that the following paragraph will be positioned at an integer number of baseline skips. This maintains the text line grid.

E. The optional argument is comma-separated, with up to three values. The first is float method. The second (if used) is horizontal offset. The third (if used) is vertical offset. In some cases, changing the vertical offset will determine where the image fits.

F. The float method is a code describing how the floated image should be placed. The available choices are t, b, ht, and hb. Default is ht. Any un-listed float method will be substituted with ht.

ht places the float "here" (mid-page, where code appears) if possible. But if the image doesn't fit, it will appear at the top of the following page.

hb places the float "here" (mid-page, where code appears) if possible. But if the image doesn't fit, it will appear at the bottom of the following page. This method is unusual.

t places the float at the top of the following page. It may appear at the top of the page where the code is written, but only if the image happens to be the first content there.

b places the float at the first page bottom where it can fit.

G. No other kind of float is available, not even by loading other packages. The novel class is not intended for books that rely on floats. Other document classes already have that capability. Or, consider using a page layout program instead of TeX.

H. When a floated image is pushed to the following page, it will appear there, even if the image is too large for the page size. Other TeX classes will defer it.

I. The floatpag package does not work in novel. If a floated image occupies a full page, you cannot customize the head/foot style for that page; it will be the same as it was on the calling page.

A. The \WrapImage command is a front-end to the included wrapfig package. Do not use commands from wrapfig directly.

B. \WrapImage is written between paragraphs. The image will appear with the next paragraph (unless moved). You cannot achieve the effect of wrapping an image mid-paragraph.

C. \WrapImage allows text (may be more than one paragraph) to wrap around an image. What you are now reading uses this technique in HTML. The text is wrapped around the image at right. Next to the image, the lines of text are shorter. Past the bottom of the image, the line length is restored to its usual size. In HTML, this is called floating an image; but in TeX, it is called wrapping. Wrapped images are uncommon in fiction, but they might be more useful on display pages, which have many positioned elements but little running text.

D. The optional argument is position, any one of these letters: l r o i L R O I. Default is r. The letters place the image at left, right, outside, or inside (spine).

Lowercase position places the image where you wrote the code. However, if there is not enough space to fit it (too close to bottom of page), then both the image and the wrapped text will be moved to the next page. This leaves a white gap at the bottom of the previous page, which is undesirable. But it guarantees that the image remains attached to the expected text.

Uppercase position places the image where you wrote the code, if possible. However, if the image cannot fit there, then the image is floated to the next page, and accompanies the first new paragraph. This avoids a white gap at page bottom, but the image no longer accompanies the expected text. If you use this kind of position, avoid referring to "the image at right" or anything else that makes no sense if the image is moved.

E. The top of the image will be placed as the X-height of normal text. This provides a good compromise between visual clearance and conserving space. You cannot increase the separation between text and image via command. If you need more white space around the image, then enlarge it in a graphics program, with surrounding white areas.

F. You cannot wrap around a shape other than a rectangle. For that, you need a page layout program. Note: Actually, it can be done in TeX, but the code is mind-boggling and not part of any package. Don't ask.

\tocitem[chapter number]{description}{page number} and starred

A. Use \tocitem for entries in toc. Do not use it for non-Table text on the page.

B. The optional argument is the chapter number, at most two digits. The number will be left-aligned, with a period automatically added. Following the period will be whatever amount of space is needed to keep the following description aligned.

• If the optional argument is omitted (or empty), then the description will align to the left of the table.

• If the optional argument is the tilde character ~ then no number or period is printed, but the space for chapter number is occupied, so that the following description aligns as if you had entered a chapter number.

C. The description is usually the chapter title. If it cannot easily fit on one line, then use an additional \tocitem, because the text cannot be wrapped. The following example shows how this can be done.

D. Without the asterisk, \tocitem fills the area between the description and the page number with empty space. The more popular, starred \tocitem* command fills with a dotted line, and is very attractive.

E. You may use ordinary style commands, such as \textit, in the entries.

\cleartorecto % because ToC must start recto
\thispagestyle{empty}
\vspace*{4\nbs}
\begin{toc}[0.25]{5.5em}
{\centering\charscale[1.25]{Contents}\par}
\null\null
\tocitem*{Prologue}{1}
\tocitem*[1]{The Evil Weeds}{5}
\tocitem*[2]{A Plan of Attack}{18}
\tocitem*[3]{Lady Withens Objects}{35}
\tocitem*[4]{Back-Hoe to the Rescue}{48}
\tocitem*[5]{Invasion of the Dandelions}{63}
\tocitem*[~]{\emph{Interlude}}{90}
\tocitem*[6]{Army of the Gardeners}{94}
\tocitem*[7]{Too Much Rain}{113}
\tocitem*[8]{To Nuke, or Not to Nuke?}{145}
\tocitem*[9]{Revenge of the Zucchini}{162}
\tocitem*[10]{Lady Withens Sneezes}{180}
\tocitem*[11]{The Concrete Lawn}{206}
\tocitem*{Epilogue}{228}
\end{toc}
\clearpage

A. The \endnote command inserts a numerical superscript in the text. A running count of the numbers is automatically updated.

B. Endnote numbers normally run continuously through the text. If you wish to reset the count (perhaps at new chapters), you have to do it manually, using \ResetEndnote at the appropriate location.

C. No argument is needed. But if you write \endnote{some comment}, then the comment will not print. It is merely a note to yourself, reminding you why you put an endnote there. The comment is not stored for later use, so it is not the actual content of the endnote text.

D. You may not immediately follow \endnote with a square bracket [. If you do that, an error results. If you need to follow the command with a printing square bracket, then use \endnote{}[.

E. The novel class does not know, and does not care, whether or not you actually write the endnotes later. The \endnote command merely places a marker. It does not record data for later use.

A. The built-in \endnotetext{}{} takes two mandatory arguments. No optional argument. If you follow \endnotetext with a square bracket [, then an error results.

B. The first argument is usually the endnote number. A period and following space will automatically be added. You may use \emph{number} if you prefer the number to be in italics.

C. The text will be block-indented. It is limited to one paragraph. If the note needs more than one paragraph, then continue like this, with an empty note number:

\endnotetext{}{\indent text}

D. Example of an endnote:

\endnotetext{9}{Yang Sho-Nuff was the twelfth son of the elder god of the ancient Who-Zit Clan, with power over the forces of rust.\par}
\endnotetext{}{\indent However, since this was not yet the Iron Age, the terrible might of Yang Sho-Nuff was largely unrecognized.\par}
\endnotetext{10}{As Professor Withens notes in his treatise, \emph{When Sho-Nuff Was Not Enough}, the ceremony of daily human sacrifice had a devastating effect on the tribal population.\par}

E. If you don't like the built-in \endnotetext style, you can change it to suit your needs, using \renewcommand. Coding is up to you!

A sheet of paper is a single, physical piece of paper, regardless of whether anything is printed on it, or where. Often, paper starts out as a large sheet that will subsequently be cut into smaller sheets. The size doesn't matter. A sheet of paper is, in ordinary understanding, a piece of paper.

In a finished book, a page is one side of a leaf. Thus, there are always exactly twice as many pages are there are leaves. From the manufacturer's point of view, a 240-page (double-sided printing) book has 120 leaves, regardless of whether or not anything is printed on the pages, or how they are numbered.

Imagine a single sheet of US Letter 8.5"Wx11"H paper. It has two pages, since you can print on both sides (even if one is empty).

If you fold that sheet in half across its width, it is still one sheet. But now you have a folio, consisting of two leaves of size 5.5"Wx8.5"H. Each leaf has two pages, so you now have four pages. The fold is at the spine.

Caution: The term "folio" has several different meanings, even in the narrow field of book publishing. It may refer to folded paper, as mentioned above. Or it may refer to a particular sheet size of paper ("foolscap"). Or, it may simply refer to the number printed on a page. This last use of "folio" is discussed in the context of headers and footers.

When a book is commercially manufactured, folios are nested to form signatures. The number of folios in a signature is typically 6 to 16 (that would be 24 to 64 pages). If you were hand-making a single book at home, you might use only one folio per signature.

Now, think about how those pages must be ordered. Suppose a book contains a single signature of 4 folios. The outermost folio is printed with pages 1 and 16 on one side (before folding), and pages 2 and 15 on its other side. The next nested folio has pages 3/14 and 4/13. Nested inside is 5/12 and 6/11. Innermost is 7/10 and 8/9.

Re-arranging the page order is part of the imposition process. The process may involve tweaking the position of each page slightly, to account for offset due to paper thickness when the folios are grouped into signatures. If numerous folios are printed on a larger sheet of paper before cutting, the process may involve rotating folios so that they waste less paper.

Your home printer software can probably do imposition for a single-folio design (four pages). Anything beyond that is left to professional software. You don't need to do it. The print service does it for you, automatically.

Most modern softcover books (and some inexpensive hardcovers) are manufactured using a process named Perfect Binding.

In Perfect Binding, the signatures are clamped together, and the folded area is removed by a cutting machine. Then there are no longer any folios, just individual leaves.

The leaves are glued together at the spine, possibly with reinforcement. Note that the glue is not merely at the edge of the leaves; it penetrates the paper slightly, for better strength. Finally, the cover is attached.

The Perfect Binding method is inexpensive, and is more than adequate for a book that will not receive rough handling. Whether using P.O.D. or a major mass-quantity publisher, most softcover books have been made this way for a long time. Unless you know that your book will be acquired by libraries for addition to their long-term literary collection, there is little reason to have your book manufactured by any other process. The possible exception would be books for small children, which receive rough handling under all circumstances.

Libraries rarely purchase Perfect Binding books (regardless of soft or hard cover) due to lack of durability in a library environment. The exceptions are popular books of no lasting literary value, and how-to books for evolving technologies. These may be obtained by libraries in the cheapest softcover version, because such books will be discarded long before they wear out.

Unless you are sure that your book will be acquired by numerous libraries for long-term addition to their collections, there is little reason to produce a quality hardcover version. Not all P.O.D. services offer hardcover. If you do need a hardcover version, then be sure to carefully inquire regarding its manufacture, and preferably obtain a copy of someone else's book manufactured that way.

The best hardcovers, suitable for library use, are made using the Smyth Sewing process. A Smyth Sewn book has signatures of (typically) 12 or 16 folios. But instead of removing the creases after folding, each signature is sewn through its crease using strong thread, onto a durable spine material. The pages will remain attached, even with hard usage. If the spine material is sufficiently flexible, then the book will lie flat when opened.

Be sure to ask about spine flexibility. The most flexible methods have a soft, curved spine, and are best suited to thick novels. There is also a variety that has a square (flat) spine, which will not quite lie flat when opened. Square-spine Smyth Sewn books seem to be the fashion for documenting intellectual property.

If a major publisher is producing a book that is sure to be ordered by many libraries, due to its author's popularity or maybe a movie tie-in, then it is likely to be released as a Smyth Sewn hardcover. That's because the production method is affordable in quantity. But on a P.O.D. basis, it is a significant expense.

Different bindings must have different ISBNs, because they are different products.

If you are ordering a hardcover edition, and the supplier calls it casebound, be careful. If a hardcover book is Smyth sewn, then it is almost certain to be casebound. But not the other way around! A book can be casebound, without being Smyth sewn.

A Perfect Bound softcover cannot be retroactively converted to Smyh Sewn. However, it is possible to convert it to a glued-on casebound. Sometimes the original paper cover will be glued onto the new hard cover. Books of this type are sometimes used as souvenirs.

If a book has very few copies, intended for permanent archiving (as with patents, and other large legal documents), then in addition to gluing, the pages may be sewn cross-wise at the spine, before attaching a hard cover. This techique is only used when the book must be tamper-resistant. It is not suited to casual reading.

The interior paper may be white or "creme" (off-white). White paper is generally used for nonfiction, and must be used if there are interior color images (novel does not do interior color). Creme paper is generally used for fiction. The idea is that white paper creates an air of authority, whereas creme paper is more comfortable for lengthy reading. I agree. I recently read a novel that was (mis-) printed on white paper, and it was hard to read in a bright area. So, for your novel, choose creme paper.

The cover of a Perfect-Binding softcover book may be produced with a glossy or a matte finish. The fashion is to use glossy for nonfiction, matte for fiction. Again, the idea is authority versus comfort. But you may choose what you wish. "Instant Best-Seller" mass-market paperbacks often have an embossed texture, and maybe even metal foil. In the print-on-demand market, forget it. Don't even think about it.

If you do request a hardcover edition, then it may or may not have a dust jacket (costs extra). The general rule is that books for libraries have a dust jacket, which will be encased in plastic by the library. Books for documentation generally have no dust jacket, with the title and other info embossed in the cover material, for permanance. If the printer offer harcover, but does not even offer you the option of purchasing a dust jacket, then beware: Are you sure that the book is Smyth Sewn?

D.3.1.1. Display Pages

D.3.1.2. Chapter-Like Sections

The \frontmatter command must be written immediately after \begin{document}. This sets page numbering to lowercase roman, and performs some other actions.

A book's front matter is about the book. It is not part of the story. The only mandatory front matter is the Title Page and its verso, the Copyright Page. On a practical basis, six pages of front matter are the minimum, and this minimum is often used, even by major publishers. See Appendix B for how to construct basic six-page front matter.

D.3.2.1. Half-Title, page i

D.3.2.2. Blank, page ii

D.3.2.3. Title Page, iii

D.3.2.4. Copyright Page, iv

D.3.2.5. Dedication

D.3.2.6. Epigraph

D.3.2.7. Table of Contents

D.3.2.8. Foreword, Preface, Introduction

D.3.2.9. Acknowledgements

D.3.2.10. Author's Note

D.2.1.11. Map

D.3.2.12. Second Half-Title

D.3.2.13. Final Page of Front Matter

Main matter begins with the \mainmatter command. It forces its page to recto, changes the page numbering to Arabic, and sets the count to 1.

Main matter is the story itself. In some cases, this also includes a fictional setup (Introduction or Prologue) that leads to the longer story line. It also includes material in the aftermath of the story, such as Epilogue, Conclusion, and end notes.

D.3.3.1. Half-Title in Main Matter ?

D.3.3.2. Part Separator in Main Matter

D.3.3.3. Introduction in Main Matter

D.3.3.4. Prologue in Main Matter

D.3.3.5. Chapters

D.3.3.6. Epilogue, Conclusion

D.3.3.7. End Notes, Appendix, etc.

The final page of your book is necessarily verso. P.O.D. printers (and many others) require that it be completely blank, because they will add some manufacturing information to that page.

So, if the text of your book finishes on a recto page, then one blank page is automatically added. However, if the text of your book finishes on a verso page, then two blank pages are automatically added.

D.3.4.1. Backmatter? Not!

D.3.4.2. About the Author

When you set an existing font, or create a new font command, you can use either the font (family) name, or the specific font file name. However, there may be a big difference in results!

By family name:

When you use the font family name, you configure all of the Regular, Italic, Bold, and BoldItalic variants. The usual TeX commands will be applied:

Preamble:

\NewFontFamily\rway{Raleway}

Document Body:

{\rway I came, \textbf{I saw}, \emph{I conquered}, \textsc{I left}.}

By file name:

However, if you specify a single font file name, then only that font file will be used, regardless of requests for bold or italic. Small caps will be honored, if the specific file has them:

Preamble:

\NewFontFamily\rwayi{Raleway-Regular-Italic.otf}

Document Body:

{\rwayi I came, \textbf{I saw}, \emph{I conquered}, \textsc{I left}.}

File Name Combinations:

What you write is what you get. You can customize a font family by individually selecting its members. Here is the syntax. Case-sensitive, so what you see here may differ from what you have.

Preamble:

\NewFontFamily\frankenfont[% note the % at linebreaks
  ItalicFont=BaskervilleF-Italic.otf,%
  BoldFont=libertinusserif-semibold.otf,%
  BoldItalicFont=texgyrepagella-bolditalic.otf,%
]{Raleway-Medium.otf}

Document Body:

{\frankenfont I came, \textbf{I saw}, \emph{I conquered}, \textsc{I left}.}

Semibold, Light, etc.: The above syntax is especially useful when you wish to specify semibold (if available), rather than bold. It is also a way to select something such as light versions:

\NewFontFamily\rwlight[% note the % at linebreaks
  ItalicFont=Raleway-Light-Italic.otf,%
  BoldFont=Raleway-Medium.otf,%
  BoldItalicFont=Raleway-Medium-Italic.otf,%
]{Raleway-Light.otf}

Note that the font file in braces is the one used as the "regular" font, in this definition.

Although it is not an Open Type feature, Scale=number may be written like a feature. Scale globally adjusts the size of the font, relative to what it would otherwise be. If a local font size command is also applied, then the result is the compounded value.

If the font will be mingled with other fonts in the same place, Scale can tweak a font so that it does not stand out. If Scale does not exceed 1, then the baselineskip will not be affected. Over 1 risks spreading lines to accomodate the extra size; this should not be done for fonts that will appear in the flowing main text. But over 1 is acceptable for display fonts that do not wrap lines and do not mingle with main text.

Example: Orbitron is a special-purpose font with a mechanical or futuristic look. Its characters are much larger and heavier than would be found in book fonts. If I wish to mingle Orbitron with ordinary text, I might load the font like this:

\NewFontFace\orbitron[Scale=0.6]{Orbitron} % Preamble

Then in the document body, I could use it like this:

The message was brief: {\orbitron DIE, EARTHLING.} Captain Withens smiled as he oiled his ray-gun. But ray-guns don't use oil.\par

Scale is more often used for fonts that are pre-defined to have a special meaning and location, such as chapter titles or page headers. There, the font is not mingled with ordinary text, and it is OK to use a larger Scale. Then, it is not necessary to use local font scaling commands each time the font is used.

Even though the fontspec syntax allows you to set Color and Opacity as pseudo-features when you define a font, the novel class blocks these features. If you attempt to set them as features in a font definition, an error will result. The same applies if you attempt to add them, using \addfontfeature. However, you can still make use of grayscale using ordinary, local color commands.

You may write text in grayscale, using commands from the included xcolor package. You should only do this for text that is in special locations. For example, if you begin each chapter with a number that is very large, you might wish to make that number gray, so that it does not overpower the main text.

To avoid possible conflicts, the color specification should be chosen from a limited list of names. In order from dark to light: black, blue, violet, darkgray, purple, red, teal, olive, magenta, gray, brown, green, orange, cyan, lightgray, lime, pink, yellow, white. They will all be rendered in shades of gray (of course, black and white will be themselves). You may also choose from this more convenient list: black, gray1, gray2, gray3, gray4, gray5, gray6, gray7, gray8, gray9, white.

• Placing light text over a dark background may produce unexpected results in print, even if it looks good in PDF. If you need this effect, it is better to build the text into the background, as a single image.

Once in a while, a font has a glyph that you would like to use, but it is not included in any of the font's Open Type feature sets. So, how to you grab that particular glyph? For example: One well-known font has a glyph named emdash.alt, which is not as long as the font's ordinary emdash glyph, and looks better in text. Unfortunately, emdash.alt is not in any of the font's style sets. Without some trickery, only a program such as InDesign can grab that glyph.

Thanks to fontspec, novel has the necessary trickery. Command \CreateFontFeature creates a fake Open Type feature code, and assigns your list of substitutions to that code. Use comma-separated entries if there are multiple substitutions. For the case in question:

\CreateFontFeature{myem}{emdash=emdash.alt}

The code myem was randomly chosen as something that is not already defined among Open Type feature codes. Once specified, the fake feature may be used in any font definition, such as this:

\SetParentFont[RawFeature=+myem]{Adobe Garamond Pro}

Of course, the fake feature has no effect if the font does not have the substitution character.

This technique may be used for more complicated features, but that is beyond the scope of this documentation. See the fontspec manual if you need to do more.