Show HN: Software Engineer to Novelist: Writing a Book Like Coding https://ift.tt/oVqXwfn

Show HN: Software Engineer to Novelist: Writing a Book Like Coding I just published my first book, Means and Motive. ( https://ift.tt/4JLRBeH ) As a software engineer, I approached writing like a software project. I used familiar tools (Emacs and HTML) for the primary writing. I built my own tool (EPublish) to transform the HTML manuscript into an .epub file, the source for the ebook version. And I wrote shell scripts to reliably and repeatably transform the .epub version into PDF files for the printed editions. I wrote 'design' and 'architecture' docs, describing the world, key actors, and timelines. I kept a task list of chapters and key scenes that needed to be written, in priority order. Along the way, I kept my files version-controlled so I could see the progress of the novel and edit mercilessly, without worrying about keeping old text around in backup files should I want it back for some reason. If you've thought about writing a book, I highly recommend it. There are many similarities to the software engineering process. You'll also gain a newfound appreciation of the design, layout, and typesetting world, exactly how much work goes into each book you read. https://ift.tt/Xs1gNTp May 3, 2026 at 11:26PM

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