This is partly a logistics problem and partly a coding problem. Although the logistics comes if my proposed plan of attack doesn’t work.

I am creating a personal theme for my writing site where I will publish most of my short stories and fanfics. Some of them will have more than one chapter. My current plan of attack for this is as follows:

• A custom post type which deals with the book information (cover, title, status, foreword, rating, etc.). This CPT will also have a listing for each of the chapters that are in the book.
• A custom post type which deals with the individual chapters, and any additional information for each chapter that I think is necessary (chapter image, notes, etc.)

Currently, the “book” CPT says “These chapters belong to this book and in this order”, which is what I want. Is it possible to get the “chapter” CPT to also say “We belong to this book, this chapter comes before me and this chapter comes after me” without setting the options manually as meta data? If it can use the data from the relevant “books” CPT, that would be my desired solution.

If this can not be done in the way I am setting up, is there a way for me to achieve that effect, again without setting the options manually as meta data? I know that is a fail safe option, but I would rather not do that if possible.