adrian@mti.mti.com (Adrian McCarthy) (12/05/89)
I'm finishing up a set of macros to let you typeset screenplays, teleplays, and
stageplays from within LaTeX (i.e., I'm using \newcommand and \newenvironment).
When a page break occurs in the middle of dialog, the page should end with
(CONTINUED), and the next page should start with a recapitulation of the
character speaking. For example:
...
ADRIAN
So I was typing along when all of
the sudden there was this page break
(CONTINUED)
----------[bottom margin, page break, and top margin of next page]-------------
ADRIAN (CONT'D)
right in the middle of my dialog.
...
I need something equivalent to ``perform these commands if you do a page break
withing the scope of this stuff.'' Any suggestions? I've used LaTeX to bang
out papers and screenplays for a few years, but I've never gotten too deep into
the world of macros. For various reasons, I'd like to stay with LaTeX rather
than back off and try to do all this on top of Plain TeX. E-mail please.
I will also make my *play macros available when they are finished along with
documentation (just to be different :-).
Aid. (adrian@gonzo.mti.com)
Standard disclaimers.dhosek@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (D.A. Hosek) (12/07/89)
In article <851@mti.mti.com> adrian@mti.UUCP (Adrian McCarthy) writes: >When a page break occurs in the middle of dialog, the page should end with >(CONTINUED), and the next page should start with a recapitulation of the >character speaking. For example: > > ... > ADRIAN > So I was typing along when all of > the sudden there was this page break > (CONTINUED) >----------[bottom margin, page break, and top margin of next page]------------- > ADRIAN (CONT'D) > right in the middle of my dialog. > ... > >I need something equivalent to ``perform these commands if you do a page break >withing the scope of this stuff.'' Well, Aid, I hate to say this, but this is a rather difficult proposition. Fortunately, since these are screenplays, it should be possible to simplify somewhat LaTeX's output routine: You'll need to abandon the ability to do most "float" type operations in LaTeX. (e.g., figures and tables--I think we can still keep footnotes and marginpars, although they could cause difficulty). The "(CONTINUED)" and "ADRIAN (CONT'D)" texts will have to be treated as floating insertions. At the beginning of a speaker's comments, they would be added to the bottom of page and top of page insertion lists respectively, then removed at the end of the speaker's dialogue. However, if you read Chapter 24 of the TeXbook carefully you will discover that TeX is sometimes a bit into the next page when it decides to break the page. I haven't looked closely at the LaTeX output routine, but you may need to scrap the bulk of it to get this to work. Essentially, you'll want to make sure that the output routine gets called at the end of each speaker and that the extra text is inserted if that speaker's dialogue is split. Furthermore, you'll need to guard against a situation where the following occurs: ADRIAN (CONTINUED) ----------------------------------------------------------------- ADRIAN (CNT'D) Hey? What Happened? I was minding my business and that crud appeared in my speech. In short, you do not have a happy task before you. However, it _is_ possible (I'd tackle it myself if I had the time). -dh -- "Odi et amo, quare id faciam, fortasse requiris? nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior" -Catullus D.A. Hosek. UUCP: uunet!jarthur!dhosek Internet: dhosek@hmcvax.claremont.edu