Writing using Dragon Dictation
by Ann Bell Feinstein
A few months ago, I decided to invest in dictation software. A brief search led me, of course, to Dragon Dictation. After agonizing over the cost of the purchase, I finally added Dragon to my list of writing tools.
Whether it’s due to my accent or style of speaking, Dragon worked for me right out of the box. I did have a few issues that with audio settings; however, that was mostly due to the complicated audio set up I have on my computer.
I decided to share with you some things I’ve learned about using Dragon. And yes, I’m actually using Dragon to dictate this blog post.
The Good Things About Dragon
Here are a few things I love about Dragon in no particular order.
- I can sit back away from my monitor and just talk my story out. This works well for me, as I’m very much audio oriented. I often talk out my stories well before I can write all the words. The connection between my brain and my mouth comes into being long before the brain to hands. Because of Dragon, I’m able to get my first draft and concepts down much more easily.
- I can “write” while doing other tasks. I’ve brought my laptop into the kitchen and dictated scenes while doing the dishes or cooking. Sometimes, this helps me with writer’s block, because I’m not totally focused on the blank page staring back at me.
- Dragon writes what I say—most of the time.
- I will say while working with Scrivener, I strongly encourage people to use what is called the Dictation Box, because this gives you full access to Dragon’s capabilities, such as italicizing words or correcting a word without resorting to your keyboard.
- Since my genre deals with our present world, I didn’t have to teach Dragon a bunch of magical realism terms that spring to mind for that genre. But I did need to teach it how to swear.
The Drawbacks of Dragon
There are a few drawbacks from using Dragon. This is what I’ve noticed, in no particular order.
- You have to teach Dragon curse words. While four-letter words have become a part of most Americans’ lexicon, this software package just refuses to swear without being taught. I write political military thrillers. My characters aren’t saints and they do occasionally spout off four-letter words. These had to be trained.
- If you have character names that sound similar, Dragon may confuse them. In my mind, this means that the reader may also confuse them.
- There have been occasions where I’ve told Dragon to go to sleep and some random piece of audio from YouTube or some other source woke it up. Then my computer starts doing strange things. If you’re not going to be using Dragon for an extended period, either close the program or turn off the microphone. Don’t just put it to sleep.
- Large amounts of background noise can and will affect what Dragon hears. If you’re writing and you turn to yell at your cats, dogs or kids, you may very well find that text in the middle of your manuscript. I highly recommend reading over each day’s dictated passage and making the big corrections. I’m talking about things like removing the diatribe you yelled at your cat, or removing commands that snuck in.
- If you’re doing a first draft, now is not the time to fuss over word choices. Just make sure the big concepts are there and readable.
- There is no version for the Mac. They gave that up a number of years ago.
- Mac has a built-in “dictation” feature. I’ve tried it, it’s lousy. Once you activate the microphone, it will only stay on for a matter of minutes before it turns itself off. If you are lucky, you may dictate an entire paragraph in this time.
No, I’ve not been paid by Dragon for my opinion. I just love using it.
My word count is much greater when I’m dictating then typing, because to be honest, I’m not that fast of a typist. I can get the concepts and scenes that I can see well enough to talk about, but not necessarily well enough to write out of my head into my manuscript.
Dragon may not be the best software when it comes to editing, but for fast drafts, or even just random notes and ideas, it’s fantastic. I’m very pleased with my purchase and I wouldn’t turn back.
Note from the Black Wolf Editor:
If you would like to get more information about what it's like using Dragon Dictation to write those first drafts, please contact Ann using her contact details below.
