Creating Stories and Chapters in Ghost

How the Story Theme Works

The Story theme organizes content into Story Series (like books) and Chapters (individual posts):

• Story Series = Ghost Tags that start with story- (e.g., story-ai-companion)
• Chapters = Ghost Posts tagged with a story series tag
• Homepage = Shows all story series (tags starting with story-)

Step-by-Step: Creating Your First Story

Step 1: Create a Story Series (Tag)

1. Go to Tags in Ghost admin (left sidebar)
2. Click New tag
3. Set the tag details:
   • Name: AI Companion (or your story name)
   • Slug: story-ai-companion (must start with story-)
   • Description: Brief description of your story
   • Feature Image: Optional cover image for the story
4. Click Save

Important: The slug must start with story- for the theme to recognize it as a story series.

Step 2: Create Story Chapters (Posts)

1. Go to Posts in Ghost admin
2. Click New post
3. Write your chapter content
4. In the Settings panel (gear icon on the right):
   • Tags: Add your story tag (e.g., story-ai-companion)
   • Feature Image: Optional chapter image
   • Excerpt: Optional subtitle (shown as “Start Here 👉” or similar)
5. Click Publish

Step 3: Order Your Chapters

Chapters are automatically ordered by publish date (oldest first). To control the order:

1. Edit each chapter’s publish date
2. Set earlier dates for earlier chapters
3. Or use the Schedule feature to set specific dates

Why Your Homepage Might Be Blank

The homepage only shows tags that start with story-. If you don’t have any story tags yet, the page will be empty.

To fix:

1. Create at least one tag with slug starting with story-
2. Create at least one post tagged with that story tag
3. Refresh the homepage

Example: Creating “AI Companion” Story

1. Create the Story Tag:

• Name: AI Companion
• Slug: story-ai-companion
• Description: A series exploring AI companions and their impact
• Feature Image: Upload a cover image

2. Create Chapter 1:

• Title: Introduction
• Content: Your chapter content
• Tags: story-ai-companion
• Excerpt: Start Here 👉
• Publish Date: 2025-01-01

3. Create Chapter 2:

• Title: The History of AI
• Content: Your chapter content
• Tags: story-ai-companion
• Publish Date: 2025-01-02 (later than Chapter 1)

Viewing Your Stories

• Homepage (/): Shows all story series as tiles
• Story Series Page (/tag/story-ai-companion/): Shows story overview and all chapters
• Chapter Page (/introduction/): Shows individual chapter with navigation

Troubleshooting

Homepage is blank

• ✅ Check that you have tags starting with story-
• ✅ Check that those tags have at least one published post
• ✅ Make sure posts are published (not drafts)

Chapters not showing in order

• ✅ Check publish dates (earlier = earlier in series)
• ✅ Make sure all chapters have the same story tag

Story series not appearing

• ✅ Verify tag slug starts with story-
• ✅ Check that the tag has published posts
• ✅ Refresh the page after creating content

Quick Reference

What You Want	How to Create It
Story Series	Create a Tag with slug story-*
Chapter	Create a Post tagged with story tag
Homepage Content	Create story tags with published posts
Chapter Order	Set publish dates (oldest first)

Migrating from Jekyll

If you’re migrating content from Jekyll:

1. Each story series becomes a Ghost tag (slug: story-*)
2. Each markdown file becomes a Ghost post
3. Tag posts with the story series tag
4. Set publish dates to match original order

See MIGRATION.md for detailed migration instructions.