pandoc-templates VS pandoc-markdown-latex-pdf

Also anyone can write a story in markdown then run it through a Pandoc template: https://github.com/prosegrinder/pandoc-templates

What inspired the question was this script that helps you format your manuscript: https://github.com/prosegrinder/pandoc-templates

Automation if you're computer savvy: https://github.com/prosegrinder/pandoc-templates

Rich text/WYSIWYG editing will only get in your way when you're writing standard fiction without multimedia elements or weird typesetting, and even in those cases it's arguably not the right way to go while you're still working on your manuscript. Tools like Pandoc make it easy enough to compile sets of Markdown files into any kind of .docx-based manuscript format you like (e.g. using scripts like these) or reasonably attractive epubs using some simple CSS.

I tend to use Google Drive to host things I share with people who are not tech savvy enough to use git (or things I just want to be accessible via a hyperlink). I actually have a Google Colab notebook that syncs a Google drive folder with a git repo (& vice versa) that I can share with you if you're interested. I find that keeping it synced between both makes it much easier for me to access my writing (with the bonus that it's backed up in a minimum of 3 places, 2 of which are offsite). I'm also in the process of setting up a repo that uses GitHub actions & pandoc/LaTeX to automatically typeset my Markdown files into a PDF. Basically I'm trying to automate as much of the fiddly technical bullshit so I can focus on the creativity side of things.