Speaking rather than Writing?

by Lily Dooner
29th March 2012

I once considered getting a headset that would type out words that I was saying onto the computer instead of me typing when I started my book, just to help out however decided that I would hate having to clarify words and think about formulating words while I was in the 'flow'. I just wondered would other people prefer speaking to typing?

Replies

I think typing works better for me but when I'm writing dialogue I always act it out myself ie - I say it aloud the way I want it to be written then I can describe the way my voice changes as I say a word or the way my chest feels etc.

Dear, I sounds a little strange, don't I?

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Afsaneh
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Afsaneh Khetrapal
14/04/2012

In the old days (BC before computers) writers used to get someone to write down their words an amanuensis, is the correct term. I believe Milton used his daughters in this role as unpaid secretaries. Dorothy Wordsworth also copied out her brother's poems for him.

I don't fancy using one of the speech to text programmes myself, I'm too prone to wanting to edit as I go along. Even in a short post like this I find myself altering what I've written.

What suits one writer won't work for another. I know people who prefer to write a first draft in longhand and someone who swears she needs to be in her hideaway, a shed in the garden, to do her best work!

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Mary
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Mary Hodges
08/04/2012

OMG what happened there? So sorry.

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Katie-Ellen
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03/04/2012