Dragon speech recognition software is strongly associated with the legal and medical industry, where documentation and transcription is a major component of reporting. What’s surprising is that authors, journalists and screenwriters aren’t using it to get through their work quicker.
1. Speed Up Your Typing
The dictation software has a number of benefits beyond the speed of transcription, getting thoughts onto the page and being able to type at speeds of up to 160 words per minute without breaking a sweat. While this is the software’s main sail when it comes to reputation, it’s actually able to integrate quite beautifully into any work you’re doing.
2. Custom Formatting Commands
It makes sense to use screenwriting software, which autoformats. However, you can actually get much of this formatting done with a few custom macros. Pre-saving a character’s name, you can issue their name and have everything set to the right formatting. The same goes for parenthetical lines and even action.
3. Live In Your Character’s World
The ability to tell the story instead of typing it is also an underrepresented feature. Using Dragon means you can literally type with your eyes closed. Put the cursor at the start of the paragraph, close your eyes and just dream. Focusing your imagination means you can actually see your story playing out. This must help you immerse yourself in the world you’re creating more readily.
4. Just Get On With It
Another feature is just being able to speak it out freely and easily. First drafts of novels and screenplays are often referred to as vomit drafts for a reason. This process is more concerned with getting the story’s structure together, spilling ideas on the page and not as concerened with ironing out problems. Being able to get your thoughts out onto the page is motivating. It’s easy to breeze through speaking out a few paragraphs and replacing them instantly as opposed to mechanically typing them out and feeling precious about canning them.
5. Tell Your Story Out Loud
Storytelling has been long-associated with oral tradition, so what better way to tell a story than actually saying it out loud. This helps you get into storytelling mode and it also sounds much more organic on the page. Saying the words out loud has a similar effect to reading your dialogue out loud and means the language will come across as more natural than clunky.
6. Avoid Strain and Typing-related Injury
When you type as much as you do as a writer, your wrists, hands and fingers will start to take strain. Repetitive stress injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome create major backlogs in terms of productitivy and deadlines. Often people start to use Dragon because they’ve loss the use of a hand due to this kind of temporary injury. It can be avoided or mitigated with Dragon, which leans on your voice rather than the clickety-clack of typing on a keyboard.
7. Dictate Your Notes on the Go
If you find being in a different environment helps you with your writing, no problem. Dragon enables you to transcribe audio files, which means you can use you smartphone to record your notes or writing away from your computer and have them automatically transcribed back at your PC. You can get work done while driving, waiting in your car, reclining in a comfy chair (if you like to live dangerously) or wherever you can find a quiet place to dictate your notes. It’s great for investigative in the field reporting too.
Get your writing done quicker, make it sound more natural, give yourself the time to dream, tell your story rather than type it and give everything a more natural flow and rhythm.