From The Creative Penn:
The word ‘writing’ has become associated with hitting keys on a keyboard to make letters appear on a screen or inscribing by hand onto paper. But the end result is a mode of communication from one brain to another through the medium of words. Those words can be generated by your voice, just as people can ‘read’ by listening to an audiobook.
Famous authors who have written with dictation include diverse creatives John Milton (Paradise Lost), Dan Brown, Henry James, Barbara Cartland and Winston Churchill. When Terry Pratchett, fantasy author of the Discworld series, developed Alzheimer’s Disease, he found he couldn’t write anymore, so he moved to dictation in his final years.
. . . .
So, why dictate?
(1) Health reasons
You can dictate standing up or while walking, or lying in bed with injuries, or if pain stops you typing.
I started using dictation when I had RSI and used it to write the first drafts of Destroyer of Worlds and also Map of Shadows, plus some chapters for this book, which I dictated while walking along the canal towpath.
(2) Writing speed and stamina
Dictation is faster at getting words on the page than typing, especially if you are not self-censoring.
I’ve made it up to around 5000 words per hour with dictation, while I only manage around 1500 words per hour typing.
There is a trade-off with ‘finished’ words as you will have to at least lightly edit to correct transcription issues, but if you want to get that first draft done faster, then dictation can be the most effective way.
(3) Increased creativity
Some writers have a problem with perfectionism and the critical voice in a first draft. They struggle to finish a book because they are constantly editing what they have written.
If you dictate, you can bypass this critical voice, get the first draft done and then edit it later.
. . . .
What’s stopping you dictating?
There are a number of reasons why people resist dictation. I know them all because I’ve been through this journey several times!
The most common are:
• “I’m used to typing. I don’t have the right kind of brain for dictation.”
• “I don’t want to say the punctuation out loud. It will disrupt my flow.”
• “I write in public so I can’t dictate.”
• “I have a difficult accent which will make it impossible.”
• “I write fantasy books with weird names which won’t work.”
• “I don’t know how to set it up technically.”
• “I can’t spare the time to learn how to dictate.”
Here’s what I wrote in my journal on the first day I tried dictation before I’d actually even started.
“I’m very self-conscious. I’m worried that I won’t be able to find the words. I’m so used to typing and creating through my fingers that doing it with my voice feels strange.
But I learned to type with my fingers, so why can’t I learn to type with my words? I just have to practice. Something will shift in my mind at some point, and it will just work. This should make me a healthier author, and also someone who writes faster.
Authors who use dictation are writing incredibly fast. That’s what I want. I want to write stories faster as I have so many in my mind that I want to get into the world.”
Here are thoughts from my journal after the first session:
“It felt like the words were really bad and the story clunky and poor. But actually, when the transcription was done and I edited it, it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. A classic case of critical voice.
I need to ignore this when I’m dictating. I definitely need to plan the scene more before I speak it, which will save time overall in both dictation and editing.
I did think I would find the punctuation difficult, but that has also been easier than I thought. There are only a few commands that you use regularly, and dialog is the worst but you get into a rhythm with that. It also gives you a pause between each speaker to consider what they might say next, so perhaps it is a blessing in disguise. For the Indian character names, I am just using an easy placeholder word that I will go back and fix later.”
Link to the rest at The Creative Penn
It appears that Joanna created this blog post and video about six years ago. PG plans to see if he can find anything about technology updates that may be relevant to authors who may want to experiment with dictation.
Here’s a video in which Joanna describes how she dictates her books.
Speech faster than typing? Maybe for many (most?) – but not all, by any means.
I type as fast as I think. And my thinking is not linear. I’ll be adding notes as I go – e.g. [She can’t know that, rev. chap. 7 to fix] and continue on. Or [This leads to difficulty in chap. 12. Must resolve there.]
The notes flow just as fast as the main stream – but they wouldn’t in a dictation setting. Much faster to hit “[” instead of saying “note” and hit “]” instead of saying “end note” (I love the P. G. Wodehouse snippet currently at the top of the feed!)
Dictation, to me, is a tool that can help those unable (for whatever reason) to type quickly. Or for the fortunate few whose stories “take flight in all their glory and perfection from the forehead of the author!”