Voice recognition software.

I wrote half a novel years ago with Dragon, but wouldn't try it again. My mind just works better through my fingers. It was fun playing with the software, though.

Beth

I played around with an early, free version of Dragon. the constant errors were just too distracting.
I'm curious to learn how you do with it. It would be a nice break, to be able to sit back in my recliner and dictate a WIP.

Gugh.

Writing and speech are two entirely different things. Ask Jacques Lacan.

These programs mess me up big time.

I am glad you posted this. I received the Dragon program last year as a gift and I have never tried it out. Yes, I lied and told them I just loved it. Report me. I suppose I was so turned off by the T9 text feature on my phone that I just didn't want to go through it on my computer as well. While it might be nice to "sit back in my recliner and dictate a WIP" I think I might wander a lot more than if I had to process out the words as I typed. Do you notice a difference in your work between the two styles?

Lynn Viehl uses the Dragon program to write her novels. She has arthritis which affects her typing ability. Here is her blog post about her experience with it.

LuckyH said:

Has anyone succeeded in writing a full length novel using a voice recognition programme?

Click to expand...

Ford Madox Ford wrote several of his novels--possibly all of them--by dictating them to a typist. So it certainly can be done. I know his novel The Good Soldier was written that way, and it's great.

RJK said:

an early ... version of Dragon.

Click to expand...

That was the problem.
My dad's been using Dragon on-and-off for over a decade, and my observation has been that the early versions were incredibly tedious and prone to constant errors, but in the last six years or so they've actually become quite amazing.

I still wouldn't consider writing a novel through dictation unless I had no other choice - like Beth, my mind just seems more in tune with what's going on when I type it. If I'm speaking the words, I invariably end up muttering to myself about something that's only tangentially relevant.

It's a great tool for other types of writing (letters, memos, speeches and what have you), but personally I wouldn't advise using dictation to write a novel. It's a slightly different part of the brain choosing the words, so while you may not see the difference, someone else may well be able to.

Although... that gives me an interesting idea: What if you typed the prose, but dictated the dialogue? If you know your characters well and are good at getting into their heads (and at least decent at improv), it could result in more natural dialogue. It's not something I can try, since I lack both dictation software and improv ability, but what do you guys think? At the very least it'd be an interesting experiment.

I have arthritis in my hands and backbone. I control it with pain meds for now, but time will eventually take its toll and will force me to spend less and less time sitting at a keyboard. Hopefully Dragon will have advanced by that time, to a transparent means of getting words from my head to the screen.