From the Fiction Desk

Years ago, I saw an interview with American novelist and screen writer, Sydney Sheldon. It was a sheer accident—or an act of fate with a very long term plan—that I was actually home to watch the interview. During the course of the interview, he demonstrated his writing method and started a novel on the set. What did he do? He dictated to a secretary. I watched in fascination and yet with that wrinkled nose sense of “I can’t do that.” Lately, necessity has taught me that I can do exactly that.

While I do not have enough money to hire a secretary, I could scrape (literally) enough money for a digital recorder. This was very early august. My muse and I were not desperate yet. I actually bought the recorder with another reason in mind. Shortly thereafter my laptop broke again. As I write this blog entry, I am still without it—a month later. I started to go nuts after one week—until a friend loaned me hers. During that week I decided to try dictating. It was not an easy decision. If there is anything I hate more than trying to read my handwriting is my recorded voice. Unlike my handwriting, I can understand my recordings a week after I have made them.

I used my recorder to experiment with a short story and a few poems, just to see how it worked. The experiment proved I could write that way. My dialogue is better than when I try to write it. I actually start changing my voice with the character, and that change does translate as I transcribe the manuscript. This writing method also lets me get in exercise, as I have to walk or pace when I dictate—so I have been going on long walks. Further, as you the reader know, you can cover more words in a shorter time speaking than you can writing. Finally, because I hate my voice on recording, I cannot fall in love with my first draft. Since this experiment, I am using it exclusively.
The negative side to this is that I have to spend hours transcribing my stories or poems. Some may ask why I don’t try to use a voice dictation program. I had tried one of those and found it artificial. With those I had to speak the punctuation and catch the times the program went haywire with what I was dictating. A second reason is that transcribing the poem or the story myself, I am seeing where it needs to be improved.

This method in writing is still new and an experiment to me. Only time will tell if it truly pans out. In the meantime, I am stretching my abilities and covering a lot more than I thought I would.
Thank you for reading. Please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for information about the stories, articles, poems, and blogs that I write. The website will be updated as soon as I get my laptop back.