Writer's Corner

The Emperor's Lounge
#1

As several members are aspiring writers maybe it’s a good idea to collect and discuss ideas, techniques and common problems. This entry will be updated.

SUBLIMINALS: Renaissance Man: Ultimate Writer X, Renaissance Man, A Stark Reality Black

For more information on writer customs see here: Hypnotic / Writing Subs

AUDIO RECORDER:

H5

APPS:

Code Editor: Visual Studio Code, Slick Edit

Text Editor: Sublime Text, JotterPad

Writing Software: MS Word, Word Perfect

Comprehensive Author Software: Scrivener, Patchwork (weird fee structure, great program)

Transcribing online: sonix.ai, sindresorhus.com/aiko

Voice to Text Software: Nuance Dragon (great program, learning, expensive, Dragon Anywhere for mobile)

buzzcaptions.com Transcribing app based on OpenAI’s Whisper.

Notes: OneNote (w/dictate function, organizing, offline), Notion (organizing, folder system, flexible, online)

E-INK: Freewrite Traveler

reMarkable Type Folio (big display)

BOOKS:

The Synchronicity Key by David Wilcock (contains bibliography: How to structure screen plays, fiction, etc.)

Books by Lisa Cron.

On Being a Dictator: Using Dictation to Be a Better Writer - Kevin J. Anderson (not much meat, out of date)

“Daily Rituals” by Mason Curry (Writers writing and walking)

Quotes, Thoughts, Approaches

The secret for really good writing is not writing at all. First hone your craft, do your research and then just let it intuitively flow. You are not the writer, „all writers are channellers“ (Robert Anton Wilson).

6 Likes
#2

Is anyone writing while walking? If yes, what is your set-up?

One of the often overlooked problems of a writer is, that you are, well, mostly sitting down while working and often have no fixed working hours. Lots of (mostly copy-)writers I follow walk their 10000 steps a day and write via phone.

While I very much like the idea, I am still very unclear how you ideally structure your writing, which apps to use, and not just have an endless list of notes to later sort through. (Which would beat the purpose of writing while walking a bit.)

4 Likes
#3

Subliminal Club inspired me to write.

I have a Sony audio recorder, so if I do multi-tasking I can make sure nothing is left behind.

I have Visual Studio Code, Slick Edit, Sublime Text, I use it for coding but also writing something.

Since the motivation of this ‘write a journal’ I begin to love MS Word and Word Perfect a lot.

I also have the Scrivener which make you put all your ideas at once.

So whenever I’m walking I record my voice through a recorder or use my pen and notebook or mobile notes.

I had a tactical backpack for CCW (carrying a concealed weapon) but I changed a lot, now I use it to carry books, laptop, foods, etc.

I am also using a bare bone PC for my system design, it’s modular where I can plug anything. I used the speech to text to record what’s on my mind.

5 Likes
#4

That’s quite a set-up! A backpack makes a lot of sense.

What phone do you use? Is Scrivener good for filing and sorting away notes?

My two key problems I am looking to solve:

  • Finding a small headset which can handle wind noises. (I don’t need clean sound, just clean enough to get transcribed. It’s often relatively windy where I live.)

  • Getting the recordings transcribed and filed into specific folders on my phone. (Especially important for projects I am not working on, so I can get the ideas out of the way and put them, where I will find them later.)

2 Likes
#5
  • For ideas / lyrics, I write in a notebook
  • Stories I write on the phone or on my Freewrite Traveler (Mobile device with e-ink Display, cloud syncing and no distractions)
  • For recording the stories, I use a zoom H5

Bildschirmfoto Freewrite Traveler

I have never written while walking, but I can imagine using Bluetooth headphones and a mobile phone to dictate it. I am truly interested in the sorting solutions, as I am working on the memoir/audiography of my dad - I can think of some solutions I could code myself. Maybe I will do that.

For transcribing, I would use an ai-powered service like https://sonix.ai/ or Aiko — Sindre Sorhus …

4 Likes
#6

They are IMO crucial for bigger, clearly structured projects. Can’t count how often I find some four letter notes that look kinda important and I’ve no clue what they relate to.

1 Like
#7

@AnswerGroup Would it be okay if collect and mention tech, apps and webservices for writing in this thread?

3 Likes
#8

Am sure that is perfectly okay. As long as other subliminal creators and audio mind programming tools aren’t mentioned, anything else is cool.

3 Likes
#9

Really like the idea of this thread.

My current writing setup is my phone (a Samsung Note 20 Ultra) and I use the JotterPad app for writing).

4 Likes
#10

There is a book that mentions other books that discuss how to write really good:

The Synchronicity Key by David Wilcock

In that book by Wilcock, there is a chapter or two where he mentions books that describe how to structure screen plays, fiction, etc.

4 Likes
#11

OneNote by Microsoft seems to be a good notes app with a several layers to organize, a dictate function with all important functions in the free version. (even for iPhone)

I’ll edit the first post, listing all mentioned tech and apps.

1 Like
#12

I think every aspiring fiction writer SHOULD read books by Lisa Cron if you have no idea how to do it.

3 Likes
#13

I used to use OneNote.
You can have multiple notebooks with chapters and individual pages.
So three levels of organisation.

Nowadays I switched to Notion.
It’s I bit more complex, but indefinitely more
Endless levels of organisation because you can use it like the folder system in MS Office.
You can create databases, integrate Websites.
You know thus feeling when you discover a treasure on a Website? But you fear if you bookmark it its lost forever in the abyss of the bookmark folder?
In notion, you can easily create a chart where you can add the Page, a short description, a topic and a Ranking of importance.

Only negative I see, is , that you need Internet access because it’s a Web application.
So adding thoughts on the go without Rezeption will not work.
But at home or everywhere with sufficient mobile data it’s a dream.

3 Likes
#14

At home I use Nuance Dragon and Patchwork (autorenprogramm.com) which is a very well organized authors program. Everything else about it (upgrading, strange pay as much as you can afford per quarter, layout from the 90s) is a bit weird tough. It works well with Dragon.

Notion looks interesting! I will probably use OneNote though. I don’t have much cellphone reception in my kitchen, let alone in the woods nearby.

2 Likes
#15

Does anyone else use Dragon for Speech to Text at home? Any better alternatives?

When I started using it, it was pretty much the best, but that was like aeons ago (5-6 years).

3 Likes
#16

Thanks for the Dragon for Speech info. I have now installed “Dragon Anywhere” on my mobile phone and will test it for free for 7 days and then decide if it is a useful tool.

On a first look, it seems to work pretty well.

2 Likes
#17

Sometimes it takes Dragon a bit to calibrate for your voice, but the accuracy then is quite impressive.

1 Like
#18

I have tried it by dictating my diary. I got the hang of it. You can correct things if the wrong words appear by voice. For simple language it appears to be good, but with technical terms, I still have to write them myself because they get transcribed wrong.

2 Likes
#19

Never worked with the mobile version. In the Windows PC edition you got an editable dictionary and can train Dragon to recognize specific new words.

2 Likes
#20

I like to point out an alternative to Dragon. There are free versions for Windows and Mac, the iOS app is 9.99 USD. It’s using OpenAI’s whisper to transcribe. You don’t need to dictate punctuation.

https://buzzcaptions.com/

4 Likes