WTWN #70 - Writing Vs. Dictation
However you get words on the page, it's alright.
All writing is an experiment.
This piece is an experiment of a specific kind. It is an experiment in dictation.
Or at least the first draft was.
I’ve written before about the different modes of writing I employ—longhand, on a computer, and using a typewriter—and how each has its place. Each offers a different tactile, psychological, and emotional experience, producing slightly different results.
Since I’m explicitly exploring dictation and transcription, what better than to draft my entire Substack by talking into my AirPods and letting Otter.ai turn my words into text?
Instead of sitting at home on a laptop or the bus using my Freewrite, I'm outside walking my son in his pram at twenty minutes past eight on a Friday morning. I'm walking down the street, looking at the moon, and listening to the birds.
Which brings me to point one: When dictating, the environment can impact a transcription, especially if you're moving. You'll be affected by the environment, and depending on the speed at which you're moving, your environment may change.
If you dictate from your desk, you'll look at the same stuff you look at when writing. But when you're writing or typing, you see the words appear before you, and maybe you look at your fingers if you're not a touch typist.
When dictating, you're free to look wherever you want—at the cars going past, for example. If you’re outside, you may be breathing fresh air and thinking what a quiet morning it is, as I’m doing now.
One thing about writing, whatever mode you choose, is how it makes you feel. As I've gotten a minute or two into this piece, I've relaxed like I do when writing by hand in my journal. I think the same as I would when I’ve gotten a few things down on the page. Those things have been expurgated, allowing me to be more creative and looser with what comes next.
Having experience with dictation has enabled me to slow down, use my thoughts properly, and see if I can have nearly as coherent a discussion as I would if writing by hand.
(I wonder if the motorcycle that just passed me on the left or the plane passing overhead on the right can be heard in the recorded version of this transcript.)
I'd write my journal longhand if I had my choice.
I prefer to write my Substacks by typing on one of my Freewrite devices while riding the bus. (I’ve become that particular.)
If I could have my way, I’d write my poetry on a typewriter, probably manual, not electric.
Those would be my wishes in a perfect world, especially with my poetry, which has many revisions. In the old days, when I typed on paper, my old poems went through as many as 10 to 15 drafts, wasting trees.
I remember sitting by a window in my bedroom in my parent's house in the summer of 1984, writing, looking out over the driveway, and listening to the rustle of the maple leaves. There was nothing like having a printed page that I could mark with a pen or pencil and make changes for the next draft.
Even if I prefer longhand for journaling, I’ve recently found that transcription works well and is more expedient when on the go. I'm often able to get the essential thoughts out of my head—details, facts, feelings—as if I'm talking to somebody.
This, however, feels different because I know it's an essay. It feels disjointed, so it’s maybe not the best method.
Try speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences, including leaving pauses for commas and paragraph breaks.
But I could see myself doing an audio journal daily, working with transcriptions. The resulting writing might have a different feeling. Theoretically, it would be more conversational.
Depending on how you talk, that may be different.
I’m reading American Prometheus, the biography of Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, on which the movie Oppenheimer was based. It notes that “Oppie” tended to speak in perfect, long, grammatically correct sentences. I’ve known a few people in my life who did that. When I was younger and more pretentious (i.e.,19), I strived to do it myself.
I recalled that version of myself while doing this experiment.
Try it. If tasked with audio transcribing your voice and knowing it’s meant to become writing, try speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences, including leaving pauses for commas and paragraph breaks.
I've almost arrived at the store, so it's time to wrap this up.
No single method of writing wins. They all have their place.
When you get down to it, it doesn't matter how you write. The important thing is that you do.