Sony ICD-BP150VTP - Manual (Page 157)

C H A P T E R 1 2 Speaking and Dictating
Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide 149
■ Using speech recognition can be a good way to get over writer’s
block. Imagine you’re telling a friend what’s next, then tell the
computer.
Summary: learning to dictate
1 Read to the computer to get used to talking to it. Review the tips on how
to speak to Dragon NaturallySpeaking
® to get the best possible accuracy
while reading.
2 Compose simple sentences about the weather, then move on to dictating
notes to friends.
3 Outline a letter or memo several paragraphs long. Dictate the letter from
start to finish based on the outline.
Henry James also dictated
Author Henry James wrote his novels longhand—until 1896. Pain in
his right wrist, probably from writer’s cramp, led him to hire a
stenographer so that he could write aloud. The switch to dictation
changed his style. Wrote a biographer, “the spoken voice was to be
heard henceforth in James’s prose, not only in the rhythm and
ultimate perfection of his verbal music, but in his use of
colloquialisms, and in a greater indulgence in metaphor.” Friends
claimed they could pinpoint the exact chapter in What Maisie Knew
when handwriting ended and dictation began (from Henry James: A
Life, by Leon Edel).