> Formal writing style - especially in long essays -
is quite different than spoken word cadences.
i think many observers say that reader preferences are
trending to a more conversational style these days anyway.
and, if you have an iphone, you can use the dictate command on
the keyboard to input into the notes app. you need to do a fair bit
of editing, it's true, but many first drafts require that anyway.
so all in all, i think that dictating your first draft is a pretty smart idea,
especially if these conversational flashes happen to you during a walk,
and also if you are prone to forgetting them before you get them down.
for instance, i dictated the first draft of this comment on my walk just now,
and then emailed it to myself to post it here. i cleaned it up, of course, but
if you want to see the original, as is, i posted it here:
> i think many observers say that reader preferences are trending to a more conversational style these days anyway.
Even if that is true, actual conversation is full of digressions, half-completed thoughts, repetition, incorrectly chosen words, etc. It's remarkable how incoherent a transcript of speech can look compared to how coherent it sounds listening to it (Donald Trump is a prime example of the phenomenon, as an untrained public speaker).
nobody talked about dictating "true, actual conversation".
here's what prompted that:
> when I'm out for a walk or a long drive, I'll start thinking about fiction ideas. Before too long, my wandering mind drills down to what I think is an actual internal monologue of prose. In my head, it flows smoothly and sounds compelling. I always mean to start writing it down when I get home but never seem to find the time or discipline or whatever to do so.
i think many observers say that reader preferences are trending to a more conversational style these days anyway.
and, if you have an iphone, you can use the dictate command on the keyboard to input into the notes app. you need to do a fair bit of editing, it's true, but many first drafts require that anyway.
so all in all, i think that dictating your first draft is a pretty smart idea, especially if these conversational flashes happen to you during a walk, and also if you are prone to forgetting them before you get them down.
for instance, i dictated the first draft of this comment on my walk just now, and then emailed it to myself to post it here. i cleaned it up, of course, but if you want to see the original, as is, i posted it here:
> http://zenmagiclove.com/simple/comment.txt