Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Look Mom, No hands!

This is topic Look Mom, No hands! in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by puppysnot (Member # 5217) on :

This question addresses the physical act of writing.

I am wondering if anyone here uses, or has used, voice/speech recognition software.

When typing, I find myself editing a sentence on the screen before I even finish the it. By the time I get a few paragraphs written, it has often taken a great deal of time and I have sometimes lost my train of thought. (I hate it when I misplace a train)
I also have a bit of carpal tunnel, which sometimes limits my typing time and comfort.

My thought here is that by dictating rather than typing, I won't feel the overpowering need to look at the screen. This may allow me to avoid my being in ‘constant edit’ mode and I’ll be able to get more down in print. Then I can go back afterward and clean things up with a good editing frenzy.

If you have used, or are using any software of this sort, I would very much appreciate your insights.

(Do you have any idea how many times I rewrote and edited this post before actually posting it? It took me about 35 minutes. Wow! Sometimes I even boggle me.)

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

What you need is self-discipline, not software. Try writing without looking back and see what happens.

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

I knew a guy who was legally blind, and he did his writing with voice recognition software. It has it's own annoying quirks, from what I understand... for example, that elipsis I just used would be read by the software as "dot dot dot". I don't think I would care to rely on the software if I didn't have to.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

VR technology can be great. My understanding, from having done some VR ages ago, is that you generally have to "train" the sw to understand *you* and your unique nuances of speech. The software learns how you talk and gets better as time goes on.

There are a wide range of applications for VR technology, beyond just what you're thinking of. They increase accessibility for people with disabilities. Children with certain types of learning disabilities, for example, can often benefit from VR software.

Anyway, it's an interesting idea, that's for sure. I don't have any specific experience w/packages on the market today, though. One thought for you - what about increasing your typing speed? This might be a low-cost way to try to accomplish something similar. I type fast (80+ wpm) and I find that if I'm on a roll w/a story, I can pretty much keep up. I try to let the blemishes lie and let the word processor clean up the misspellings as I go. The less I backspace the better I can keep up with my train of thought. There are some free online typing programs (try googling "typing tutor") that may be useful.

Another thought for you would be to try to set some time aside for straight brainstorming, where you're typing just the partial thoughts, not trying to have well-formed or completed ideas, sentences, grammatically correct dialog placed in quotes just so, etc. Brainstorm documents can be long lists of fragments, ideas, etc. It can be an easy way to follow a train of thought down a path to see where it's going to lead you, and then go back later and decide what to do with it.

FWIW, I do generally habitually re-read things I write, posts, stories, emails, etc. I also often edit while I go, but then at some point I do have to accept things as they are. I've done some reading about perfectionism recently, and ...well, I'm not saying you're a perfectionist, but if you haven't read anything about it - you might consider looking up a few articles. It was very enlightening to me, particularly because I was reading them to understand my son better. I was surprised to find so much that seemed to relate to *me* in there. Who knew?? LOL

Good luck!

Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :

I dabbled in earlier versions of Dragon Naturally Speeking. http://nuance.com/ for dragon naturally speeking or http://www-306.ibm.com/software/voice/viavoice/ for IBM Via Voice.
The real key to using such software is to learn the editing commands. The editing commands will teach the program to understand you better when you get real serious in your dictation. They also have a readback feature that is kind of nice. the readback ignores punctuation, but can help show were some problems are.

Personally, I type faster than I talk and my typing is more intellegent. My job does not involve talking so I don't have the talking habits developed.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I tried dictation but it didn't work out. I'm not orally articulate---only on the printed page (or, lately, computer screen) can I properly express my thoughts.

Besides, with dictation, I'd have to get somebody to transcribe what I write. Voice recognition software would eliminate that stage, but I'm still stuck with my main problem.

(I hate to think of what'd happen if I went blind or lost my hands or something that prevented me from working a keyboard.)

Posted by MrsBrown (Member # 5195) on :

I write things down and type them later, when an idea hits. That forces me to keep moving, get down the guts of the idea. Its good practice for me in focusing on teh story, plot, characters, etc. and not getting caught up in teh words. When I type it up, mostly I type shorthand notes about the idea and trust that I can come back later and turn it into proper prose.

Now when I do prose, that's a differnt matter. The perfectionism comes out, but I can take my time without fear of losing anything. Perfectionsim is tough; I am making the decsion to send this without fixing typos

Posted by RMatthewWare (Member # 4831) on :

I wouldn't use VR unless I had no other choice. I'm not patient enough to have to go back and fix everything the software got wrong. If you type fast enough, you're not going much slower than actual speech anyway. And besides, if you're like me, I don't write the way I talk. And I don't really like listening to my own voice for too long.

When it comes to carpal tunnel syndrome, try a new keyboard. I have an iMac, and those keyboards suck. So, I bought a keyboard (same kind of keys as a laptop) that is much easier on my hands, wrists, and elbows. You have to find the system that works for you.

If VR works for you, great. But if it took you 35 minutes to write a short post, how long will it take you to write a short story or a novel?

Matt

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

Current VR technology is pretty good; with a few days of practice, you'll be familiar with the commands and the software will be "trained" (and it will continue to increase in accuracy as you correct its errors).

For me, the difficulty is learning to think out loud; I'm much more used to thinking by typing. It's a mental shift that takes some time to master.

One approach I've had good luck with is using VR for casual stuff like web browsing and posting, and save my hands and typing for "real" work. But no doubt all this does is continue my reliance on typing; probably it would be best if I just used the VR alone for a few weeks and rewired my brain to work out loud instead of via my hands.

Anyway it's worth experimenting with, I think.