writing by speaking...

johnzakour · Dec 14, 2007

Hi, has anybody else tried writing by talking using voice recognition software?

I have an attack of gout so the docs told me to stay off my right hand for a week or two. Thing is I have 4 books coming in 08 and I can't afford the time off. So, I bought voice recognition software and decided to "talk" my next novel into the computer.

So far I've had very little success. (Like 0%) I found not only is the software not up to par for novel writing (at least with my voice), but dictating the story totally messed up my thought process.

I am now just typing with one finger.

Has anybody else tried writing by talking and had better results?

miles · Dec 14, 2007

If you're referring to "Dragon Naturally Speaking", it works quite well for me. I don't write novels this way because I write very slowly and analyze everything as I go, but I use it for work tasks. It gets more than ninety-percent correct, but of course what was written needs edited. So, if it's not working at all for you, perhaps your voice isn't compatible. Or it hasn't had enough time to "learn" your voice. I know there have been a couple times when I first start the program when it's not recognizing correctly. In this case I run through the recognition program again and it usually works. I can talk super fast and it catches everything.

Are you from Southern US or another country? Perhaps that's the problem.

johnzakour · Dec 14, 2007

miles said:
If you're referring to "Dragon Naturally Speaking", it works quite well for me. I don't write novels this way because I write very slowly and analyze everything as I go, but I use it for work tasks. It gets more than ninety-percent correct, but of course what was written needs edited. So, if it's not working at all for you, perhaps your voice isn't compatible. Or it hasn't had enough time to "learn" your voice. I know there have been a couple times when I first start the program when it's not recognizing correctly. In this case I run through the recognition program again and it usually works. I can talk super fast and it catches everything.

Are you from Southern US or another country? Perhaps that's the problem.

Nah, I just mumble a lot.

Plus I'm on a Mac so I'm using Ilisten.

I used it to take notes for anatomy class and it worked okay. Just can't get it to flow well for novels. For one thing my main character is Zach and it keeps typing Exact. I try teaching it but it doesn't seem to want to learn. Plus the words don't flow as well when I'm talking. It's like my novel writing is linked to my typing...

miles · Dec 14, 2007

Then let it write "Exact" and use "find and replace" later.

God, now you got me thinking about that stupid PC/Mac commercial.

David I · Dec 15, 2007

Dragons and Chickens

johnzakour said:
I found not only is the software not up to par for novel writing (at least with my voice), but dictating the story totally messed up my thought process.

Plenty of people can make voice-recognition software work well enough, but the dictation problem is another matter. And not a recent one, I might add.

Henry James dictated his later novels to a secretary, and--in my opinion--his style went downstream into rambling, intojective, discursive, muddling.

Ahem. My point is, speaking is totally different from writing. Doesn't mean it's impossible.

As to gout--well, have you tried celery seed extract? Seems to work for some people...even scientists like James Duke. The only time I had inexplicable pain in an extremity, I tried it; pain vanished in four days.

Or, as Grandma said about chicken soup, "At the least it won't hurt you."

writing by speaking...

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

miles

agent at The Knight Agency

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

miles

agent at The Knight Agency

David I