Alternatives to typing your manuscript

[Leif Notae]

All right, it's this time of year when some of us are under the gun to get that 50,000 word masterpiece out before November 30th.

The traditional method is typing, using the furious flurry of fingers to crack through that barrier and get where you want. However, there are other methods.

Many other industries use dictation software, others use ghost writers, and a few write their stuff by hand. The last one is iron will, I'll tell you that much. I wrote one by hand way back in the day... Never again.

My writing question today is: Do you believe dictation software/ghost writing is still considered "writing", or do you see it as a method on achieving something faster so you can turn it over in a shorter window? Would you look at a writer differently if they used an implement like this? Would you consider using it yourself?

 

[Leif Notae]

My stance on it is this: If you are serious about the industry you are in, you know turnover is critical to keep people interested in this day and age. How many traditional publishing houses demand novellas from their authors to keep their fans hooked and coming back for more?

I read an article six months ago where two years is too long for projects to turn over. Even a year is too long. Bridging the gap helps, but there is something changing in the writing world, and you should be ready to change with it.

Using these methods do not make you a bad writer. You are still expressing yourself through words. Granted, they may not make sense in the first draft, but how often is a first draft perfect? This is what editing is for.

 

[Graylorne]

Why wouldn't it be writing? The point is producing stories in books, e-books etc. How you do that is irrelevant.

I wouldn't use it myself, unless I were unable to type, but I haven't got anything against it.

 

[Guru Coyote]

I am actually not sure that dictation software will make you faster in putting your ideas down. It takes a lot of practice to dictate to software that will leave you with a text that won't need more editing than if you had written it on a keyboard. Also many people can actually type faster than they can talk. (Same as you can probably read faster than you speak.)
One thing that dictation software does give is the ergonomic benefit of not using your hands and thus avoiding the posture related issues of long typing.

My problem never was how fast I could enter words... composing and phrasing things right takes far more time than typing anyway.

 

[PaulineMRoss]

My daughter is a huge Terry Pratchett fan, and she'd noticed that the last few books were different somehow, not quite the same snappy affairs that the earlier ones were. Then she discovered that he'd switched to using dictation software for his writing, and that was creating the difference. His writing was different because it was spoken, not actually written. So that's something to bear in mind about dictation, that it creates a different style.

 

[Penpilot]

David Webber uses dictation software to write all the time now. He broke his wrist in 57 places and has issues with how long he can type. Now he dictates and has an assistant go through and fix obvious mistakes by the software and then he edits. He says dictating to software as upped his output.

 

[Weaver]

My writing question today is: Do you believe dictation software/ghost writing is still considered "writing", or do you see it as a method on achieving something faster so you can turn it over in a shorter window? Would you look at a writer differently if they used an implement like this? Would you consider using it yourself?

Writing a novel is not a performance art; it doesn't matter HOW you get the words strung together to make your story, only that you DO make it. If using dictation software isn't "real"writing, neither is typing... or writing it longhand with a modern pen instead of a quill and ink on parchment ('cause that paper stuff is just a fad that will go away in a few years, y'know). According to my clone (who is even more sarcastic than I am, if you can believe such a thing), we should really be going back to clay tablets - that's REAL writing.

Okay, enough sarcasm... I don't like dictation software as it now exists, but I'd use it - flaws and all - if I had to. And I may have to eventually. (Technophobe that I am, I'm hoping that medical nanotech gets developed before then that can just FIX what's wrong with my hands so I can keep writing the old-fashioned way: at a keyboard using Microsoft Word. )

 

[A. E. Lowan]

My mother, who writes satire and contemporary romance, LOVES her dictation program and uses it all the time. I've toyed with the thought of trying, but as I am one of those who types just a little faster than I can talk (thank you, World of Warcraft!), it makes sense to me to just keep pounding away at the keyboard. Plus, I think that typing and speaking involve different parts of the brain, so I'm not sure how that would effect my prose.

Then again, it would be interesting to see what the sounds my slinky makes when I am thinking would do to a dictation program.

 

[thewordman]

I started creating websites back in late '92 early '93, yes that was before the web really began, there were quite a few jumping on, but for businesses and the like the real "If your business isn't on the web you're not in business" attitude was not even a sparkle...at any rate, when we all first started writing/creating web pages back then we opened a text editor, used little tricks to create spacing and layout, and usually it was a one man show, one guy did all of the layout, writing and so on.

The point to my ramblings here, there has been a very long debate between those that develop websites of what using what are called WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get type authoring programs) and those that code by hand. The old school class often views using something that codes for you as cheating, or not being a real web creator. Others say it is fine as long as you know how things work.

This conversation really reminded me of that age old point of contention so thanks for bearing with my rantings. My opinion is that for those that use dictation machines or ghost writers, if they are creating the material, if the thoughts, dreams, ideas, and world is coming from their imagination then why does the sitting at the keyboard typing, or hand writing a story or manuscript any different ideologically? On the other hand if using these methods is inhibiting their creative process then that is a completely different kettle of fish.

As long as the thoughts and ideas are original, how they make it to the reader doesn't really matter, it is the story that the reader is going to be immersed in, not the method that was used to get it to them.

 

[MadMadys]

I'd like to give dictation software a shot to see how it worked out for me. I mean, my typical process is to sort of talk the story out to myself anyway before writing it down so it may feed right into my method. For now, though, I'll just keep on pecking away.

 

[Clarence Matthews]

I am a night owl and I keep seeing an infomercial for Dragon Software. Apparently you can type not just in word documents but can do things like surf facebook with it. I would love to give something like that a try but what I can't comprehend is how does the dication software handle paragraph indents, or qoutetation marks, and things. Can anybody with some experence with these things give me some insight?

 

[WyrdMystic]

I've got great respect for all writer's no matter what method they use - however, I would have more respect for a writer who uses alphabetti spaghetti

 

[CupofJoe]

I am a night owl and I keep seeing an infomercial for Dragon Software. Apparently you can type not just in word documents but can do things like surf facebook with it. I would love to give something like that a try but what I can't comprehend is how does the dication software handle paragraph indents, or qoutetation marks, and things. Can anybody with some experence with these things give me some insight?

If it is like the stuff we have for students then you create verbal short-cut/macros so you say "speech marks open" pause a moment and then say what you want and then "speech marks close". you can set up dozens of them like names and address in one word, formatting commands. so if you have the time and can remember the short-cuts. we have a Palestinian student that use her native language for the short-cuts and English for the text. it is almost fun and somewhat humbling to watch her speak-write far faster than I can type...

 

[thewordman]

From what I understand, and something I used to do, as ideas come to mind it I used to carry a small recorder with me and would state the idea. That of course isn't a dictation machine. To be honest I don't think that I could actually sit down and speak what I write. They are two unique ways of communicating and editors do not like when stories are written in the same manner of typical speech from my experience.

I am sure though given enough practice and quiet that perhaps a habit could be formed of talking into a machine in that way, but I still hold that for me the typing option is the better option.

 

[Leif Notae]

I'll give an update here.

I am using the dictation software and a voice recorder to capture what I am speaking. Obviously, the software doesn't pick up on anything that makes sense, and wading through without the voice recorder seemed silly.

My output over the last hour was about 7000+ words. I got to act out the scenes and use props to see what I spoke about in my head. I put some emotion in my dialogue for a reminder to portray actions in a proper manner, and I am having a blast.

The wading through Alpha edits will be a pain, but this is what the voice recorder helps with.

 

[Zero Angel]

I am actually not sure that dictation software will make you faster in putting your ideas down. It takes a lot of practice to dictate to software that will leave you with a text that won't need more editing than if you had written it on a keyboard. Also many people can actually type faster than they can talk. (Same as you can probably read faster than you speak.)
One thing that dictation software does give is the ergonomic benefit of not using your hands and thus avoiding the posture related issues of long typing.

My problem never was how fast I could enter words... composing and phrasing things right takes far more time than typing anyway.

PEOPLE CAN TYPE FASTER THAN THEY CAN TALK??? How fast can yins type?! Or do you talk verrrrry slow?

In regards to the OP--I don't think speech is the route that I want to go. But once they have a machine that I can control with my thoughts and get it the way I want it, then I will be set.

If someone else uses diction software or whatever, then I probably wouldn't mind, unless they were bragging about how awesome they are for getting so many words or winning NaNo with the unedited diction notes.

 

[WyrdMystic]

Personally, I have to type. Its strange but there is something about the sound of typing that calms me and keeps me focussed. I also find that the sound spurs me on and I manage to get the words out without thinking too much.

 

[Guru Coyote]

PEOPLE CAN TYPE FASTER THAN THEY CAN TALK??? How fast can yins type?! Or do you talk verrrrry slow?

I definetly can NOT type anywhere as fast as I can talk. But my point was taht even if I could, it wouldn't matter. Finding the right words and phrasing (i.e. thinking before writing = crafting) takes much longer than plain entering words anyway.

 

[Leif Notae]

I definetly can NOT type anywhere as fast as I can talk. But my point was taht even if I could, it wouldn't matter. Finding the right words and phrasing (i.e. thinking before writing = crafting) takes much longer than plain entering words anyway.

This is why transcription helps as well. If you have a good outline, know the characters, and can record what you are saying with one of those little pocket recorders, you can catch things like inflection and put a little more life into your dialogue.

It just takes some time to get everything together for it.

 

[BeigePalladin]

question? does using dictation software/ghost writers* somehow change the contents? if the answer is no, then of course not.

it's the same tale, it's just as good no matter how it was written.

* Though I do believe in crediting ghost writers as the nly differnece