All the cool kids are linking the Richard Powers piece from yesterday in which he reveals that he uses voice recognition software exclusively to write stories, so I'll link it too. I find it interesting that he mentions the tablet PC all the time, but (as far as I've seen) he never says what software he uses.
I took an informal typing test while I was on vacation -- okay, it was from a "SpongeBob Squarepants Teaches Typing" CD. I hadn't taken one in at least ten years, I never learned how to type properly, and I figured I was about the same as I was then -- 60 to 70 words per minute. According to the experts in Bikini Bottom, these days I type about 90-95 words per minute. Four fingers on my left hand, two on my right.
Anyway, I can't help thinking that voice recognition software would make it too easy for me to fall back into my own diction. (And, to mention it a third time, but refer to a dog in a way that my character wouldn't.) That said, there is something seductive about the idea of stripping obstacles between mind and story. Very seductive.
I tried using voice recognition software about nine or ten years ago and it was a total nightmare. I had to train the program to recognize my voice by reading pages and pages of stuff, it didn't recognize my voice half the time...nightmare.
But technology's probably advanced a lot since then.
(And I learned how to type properly and get about 90-95 WPM too.)
Posted by: Whitney | January 08, 2007 at 09:22 PM