diff --git a/make-pages/Main.hs b/make-pages/Main.hs
index ede6d58..f85cf16 100644
--- a/make-pages/Main.hs
+++ b/make-pages/Main.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 module Main (main) where
 
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as ByteString
@@ -5,12 +6,16 @@ import Data.ByteString.Lazy (ByteString)
 import qualified Data.YAML as YAML
 import qualified Data.Text.Lazy.IO as Text
 import qualified Options.Applicative as Opt
-import System.IO (hPrint, stderr)
+import System.IO (hPutStrLn, stderr)
 import Text.Printf (printf)
 import Control.Applicative
 import Control.Monad
 import SinglePage
 
+#ifdef PRETTY_VERBOSE
+import Text.Show.Pretty (ppShow)
+#endif
+
 data Options =
     Options {
       verbose :: Bool,
@@ -67,13 +72,13 @@ optionsParser = globalOpts `Opt.info` mainInfo where
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
   opts <- Opt.execParser optionsParser
-  printVerbose opts opts
+  printV opts $ "options" :- opts
   main2 opts
 
 main2 :: Options -> IO ()
 main2 opts@(Options {mode = SinglePage {file, nsfw, output}}) = do
   info <- readYAML file
-  printVerbose opts info
+  printV opts $ "contents" :- info
   let page = make nsfw info
   case output of
     Nothing  -> Text.putStr page
@@ -83,8 +88,15 @@ main2 (Options {mode = GalleryPage {}}) = do
   error "surprise! this doesn't exist yet"
 
 
-printVerbose :: Show a => Options -> a -> IO ()
-printVerbose (Options {verbose}) x = when verbose $ hPrint stderr x
+
+printV :: Show a => Options -> a -> IO ()
+printV (Options {verbose}) x =
+  when verbose $ hPutStrLn stderr $
+#ifdef PRETTY_VERBOSE
+    ppShow x
+#else
+    show x
+#endif
 
 readYAML :: YAML.FromYAML a => FilePath -> IO a
 readYAML file = ByteString.readFile file >>= decode1Must file
@@ -95,3 +107,9 @@ decode1Must file txt =
     Right val -> pure val
     Left (YAML.Pos {posLine, posColumn}, err) ->
       fail $ printf "%s:%i:%i: %s" file posLine posColumn err
+
+writeOutput :: Maybe FilePath -> Text -> IO ()
+writeOutput (Just f) = Text.writeFile f
+writeOutput Nothing  = Text.putStrLn
+
+data Tag a = String :- a deriving Show
diff --git a/make-pages/make-pages.cabal b/make-pages/make-pages.cabal
index 90d14ba..27e6dd6 100644
--- a/make-pages/make-pages.cabal
+++ b/make-pages/make-pages.cabal
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ license: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 author: Rhiannon Morris <rhi@rhiannon.website>
 maintainer: Rhiannon Morris <rhi@rhiannon.website>
 
+flag pretty-verbose
+  description: pretty-print the verbose output
+  default: True
+
 executable make-pages
   hs-source-dirs: .
   main-is: Main.hs
@@ -28,12 +32,17 @@ executable make-pages
     ViewPatterns
   build-depends:
     base                  >= 4.12.0.0 && < 4.15,
-    containers           ^>= 0.6.0.1,
-    time                  >= 1.8.0.2  && < 1.10,
     bytestring           ^>= 0.10.8.2,
-    text                 ^>= 1.2.3.1,
+    containers           ^>= 0.6.0.1,
+    directory            ^>= 1.3.6.0,
     HsYAML               ^>= 0.2.1.0,
     optparse-applicative ^>= 0.15.1.0,
-    template-haskell     ^>= 2.16.0.0
+    template-haskell     ^>= 2.16.0.0,
+    text                 ^>= 1.2.3.1,
+    time                  >= 1.8.0.2  && < 1.10
   ghc-options:
     -Wall -threaded -rtsopts -with-rtsopts=-N
+  if flag(pretty-verbose)
+    build-depends:
+      pretty-show ^>= 1.10
+    cpp-options: -DPRETTY_VERBOSE