Experimenting With Writing Via Dictation

I’ve toyed with the idea of writing via dictation for a long time, but I finally gave it a shot recently.

Why didn’t I try writing via dictation until now?

The main reason? It was really cost-prohibitive for me. (Which isn’t going to be the case for everyone! And I found a couple of methods that fit my budget. More on the different methods of writing via dictation down below.)

Secondly, I couldn’t imagine writing without physically putting words down on paper or screen. I imagine people felt the same way when shifting from pen and paper to typewriter to computer!

So why try writing via dictation now?

So many reasons!

The first being that my writing progress on Through Fathoms Dark and Deep (Lady Pirates #2) was stalling. Traditionally, what has helped me break out of a writing rut has been to change things up! Well… this was definitely a big change!

And I’ve heard many authors over the years swear by writing via dictation. They’ve said that it majorly upped their writing productivity. And that’s one of my major goals for 2018.

Finally, I’ve been listening to The Creative Penn a great deal. She’s spoken on there and another podcast that I listen to about the research involved in her book, The Healthy Writer. Writing via dictation allows for more movement and less stress on the wrists. Writers are at a huge risk for carpal tunnel–and sedentary lifestyles to boot!

How can I try writing via dictation?

Siri

I wanted to give writing via dictation a shot and wanted to do so in a way that wouldn’t come at a huge shock to my bank account. First, I tried the completely free way. I hooked my headphones into my iPhone, opened an Evernote document, and used Siri’s dictation function to begin speaking.

• The first learning curve here: You have to speak your punctuation! And tell it when to start a new line! Before I figured that out, I wasted a lot of extra editing time just making it something other than a big block of text.
• But then, I was motoring. In my first go-around, I wrote 2,045 words in about 75 minutes. This is basically unheard of for me.
• The major cons of this method:
  • I write fantasy. Which means I make up words. And my iPhone could not figure out what a Mordgris was. And even if I figured out how to add it to its “dictionary,” it may not figure out how I was pronouncing it. (More-gree)
  • Siri dictation times out fairly often. And if I didn’t remember to check in to see if it was still recording, I sometimes had to dictate entire sections twice
  • You know how often you laugh because Siri misunderstands a verbal instruction or text dictation? Yeah… that.
• Major pros:
  • It’s completely free!
  • I was still more productive than I had been, if not as productive as I could have been.

Dragon Anywhere

Having tried writing via dictation enough to be excited about the productivity possibilities, I next moved on to trying the iPhone (and Android!) app, Dragon Anywhere. Dragon Anywhere is a subscription-based app– currently, it runs about $15 per month.

• I LOVE DRAGON ANYWHERE.
• Having already gotten the hang of speaking my punctuation, I got past my major issues with writing via dictation in Siri:
  • Dragon Anywhere let me add words to my dictionary while also allowing me to tell it how I pronounced them by writing them out phonetically.
  • Dragon Anywhere did not time out.
• Major pros:
  • $15 a month is a price that I can swing. And with the ability to cancel at any time, I can switch it on and off when I move to a revision stage.
  • I told the app “Send to Evernote” when I was done and my dictation was sent seamlessly.
  • Even more productive without all of the stopping and stalling in Siri!
• Cons:
  • Some commands–for instance the command “scratch that” glitched often for me. That command is meant to erase what I’d just said. Often, Dragon Anywhere transcribed the words instead.
  • This wasn’t an issue for me, but Dragon Anywhere does require either wifi or cellular data to work. If you’re planning on dictating while on long walks in an area with a spotty cellular connection, you may want to go another way.

Nuance Dragon

This is the writing via dictation solution that I see mentioned the most often and the one that scared me off of attempting dictation for so long. Disclaimer: I haven’t used Nuance Dragon yet. It continues to be cost-prohibitive for me, but as I understand it:

• Pros:
  • It’s the most powerful dictation software on the market.
  • With Nuance Dragon, you have the ability to record yourself (regardless of data connection), and later, have Dragon transcribe it for you.
  • You can directly dictate into Nuance Dragon as well.
• Cons:
  • The current version of Dragon that is available for a Mac starts at about $200–that’s if your Mac has a CD drive. My laptop does not. If you need the download for Mac, you’re looking at about $300. If you use PCs, you have a bit more flexibility on price (under $100) as there are other versions that are available to you.
  • As I understand it, it takes time to “train your Dragon” to your way of speaking. This book with a method for doing so comes highly recommended.

My experience with writing via dictation

At first, I felt undeniably awkward. I mean– I was basically talking to myself! While trying to speak decent prose into existence! And capture the essence of my lady pirates! What if someone were to hear me?!

But once I got past that, the results were undeniable. It broke me from my writer’s block was extremely productive. I wrote 10,000 words in a week. That’s really good for me. I completed the draft of Through Fathoms Dark and Deep faster than I’ve ever drafted a book before.

And I did it while being upright! I paced around the house and got some steps in. I multitasked, by dictating while I did some laundry and some cleaning. I actually think the multi-tasking helped because I didn’t focus as much with my “internal editor.”

I’ve currently paused my subscription to Dragon Anywhere as I’ve moved into the revision stages with Through Fathoms Dark and Deep. But I fully expect to renew it when I have something new to draft!

You may want to try writing via dictation if:

• You’re trying to increase your writing speed/productivity.
• You want to up your healthy habits. Dictation can help with being sedentary, the harmful effects of your computer screen, your posture and repetitive stress injuries that you incur from mouse and keyboard use.
• You have writer’s block and think that changing it up may help you get past this hurdle.

Do you have questions about writing via dictation? I’ll do my best to answer them! Have you tried it? What did you think?