Has your muse struck you with inspiration at the most inopportune times and nary a scrap of paper, working pen, or broken crayon is in sight? Has she waved her magic wand of wisdom while you were driving down the road? Or stuck in traffic? How about while shopping? Tired of writing down precious dialogue or descriptive gems on narrow store receipts, greasy fast food wrappers or tiny bar napkins?\u00a0 After finally making it to your desk, have you banged your head against the keyboard in an attempt to rattle the vindictively elusive cue into unlocking the best plot ever devised?<\/p>\n
To capture such otherwise missed opportunities of inspiration, I have found invaluable my Sony Digital Voice Recorder. I\u2019ve had it for years; it\u2019s my third recorder if you count the old \u2018barely-portable\u2018 desktop recorder.\u00a0 My current buddy is a tried but true Sony P320.<\/p>\n
With a much easier to use record button than most cell phones possess, this recorder is the best weapon against torturous forgetfulness. When a bright idea blinds me, I can just grab this recorder, hit the bright red button and I am good to go. Thought recorded. Transcribed later. Nothing lost to middle-age brain leakage or Droid interface befuddlement.<\/p>\n
The advantages of having a recorder handy are numerous. One thing I can actually do pretty well is talk while driving–an activity that often wakes the muse. I can speak a bit of dialogue, a plot line, or a character insight as she fills me in on the details from her spot in the backseat with her grass-stained feet perched up by my neck rest. A bit stinky, really, but that\u2019s another story.\u00a0 Back to the recorder stuff\u2026<\/p>\n
An added expense you might find worth the cost is a transcription software, like Nuance\u2019s Dragon Naturally Speaking.\u00a0 Software like this will transcribe the recordings for you after you go through a setup process that analyzes your voice.<\/p>\n
No tool of the trade is perfect out-of-the-box and, if you do decide to invest in a recorder, here are some words of advice I\u2019ll offer from my experience:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0 At first it might be difficult to express what is IN your mind. Just go with it. Allow yourself to mumble ah\u2019\u2019s and uhm\u2019s until the thought flows. Repeat it several times until it is smooth.\u00a0 Yes, there will be some cringe-worthy moments when you listen to it later, but the idea will be there, at its best, maybe 40 seconds to a minute into it. At least it is there!\u00a0 This goes for dialogue, as well. Don\u2019t worry about High Voice for woman or Low Voice for man unless you want to chortle over the playback. If you do, I suggest listening after two glasses of Riesling.\u00a0 In any case, you will remember who is saying what.\u00a0 No need for voice acting unless it helps you feel the characters.<\/p>\n
2) If you cannot stand to hear your own voice played back to you, invest in a transcription software. If done right, this can actually save some time. The software writes your voice like it is taking dictation, if you are lucky, which leads to the next note…<\/p>\n
3) If you decide to get a transcribing software invest in a good microphone. I haven\u2019t yet–lazy me–and Dragon pretty much has no idea what I am saying.
\nI\u2019ve grown a thick skin with years of hearing my dumb der\u2019s and duh\u2019s so I opt for taking my own dictations. I\u2019m sort of an emotive writer with an acting background so I\u2019ve found that listening to the playback helps me grasp the emotional current running under the dialogue or description through hearing my voice. This sometimes brings me to the mood of the scene and it is easier to continue on with it in the same emotional state.<\/p>\n
4) If you do get a digital recorder, guard it well. There is nothing quite as unnerving as entering the kitchen to hear giggles from beloved family members as they hit playback again and again. This is especially embarrassing if you like to record lyrics to imagined songs. Think I\u2018m joking? They will do it, if they find it. Seriously.\u00a0 Don\u2019t even let them know you bought it!<\/p>\n
If you decide to get a voice recorder–your little trap to capture the best sparks of inspiration, you will not regret it, even with the cringing and blushing that sometimes comes with getting used to it. I haven\u2019t!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Has your muse struck you with inspiration at the most inopportune times and nary a scrap of paper, working pen, or broken crayon is in sight? Has she waved her magic wand of wisdom while you were driving down the road? Or stuck in traffic? How about while shopping? Tired of writing down precious dialogue … Continue reading “Must Have for Writers on the Go”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}