The it's a loooooong story thread: Support group for epic fan fic writers - poll 6/14 (red)

Woohoo, i'm first up. Thanks, spiritgurl!

 

You're welcome.

FYI, yes a series does count for this. However, I do not want to have to post links to all the different Books/Episodes/Parts of the series, just the first one (and hopefully people will find their way from there). It's a good idea to put a link to other "books" in your series, in your story threads to help make it easier for readers to find the other parts. For an example, take a look at the first link in my sig and see how I've set up the first post.

sg

 

Results of the first day using the digital recorder on the way to school:

Picture you prevailed on a making grew to drive over to the Warriors Farm on his speeder. Now that whom he can be on health, see what she can you for the young man who had seen for life on the bridge over the Carl I. river.

Ummmm, okay. I feel like adding, "And my time is a piece of wax, that's fallen on a termite . . . that's chokin' on the splinters . . ."

I've found that it works a lot better if I take it out of voice-activation mode, and better yet if I turn the heater/air-conditioner off. Also, it's best if I watch the road, so I don't accidentally almost run into anyone, or take the wrong exit off the freeway, like I did yesterday.

Today went much better--I got where I was going on the first try, and I can actually identify what I "wrote," even if the accuracy isn't spectacular.

There are still some bugs in the system, but hey, I've got 814 more words written than I otherwise would have. Most of them are the *wrong* words, but still . . .

An unrelated question--are other people experiencing a dry spell in reviews now that school has started, or is it just me?

I still post about the time I get up, but that's now 5:45 a.m. EST instead of "whenever," but probably after noon. I realize that this is the dead of night in much of the western hemisphere . . . do people think I should I wait to post until I get home, or should I just be patient and let people deal with Darth Real Life?

(Or is neither likely to be a problem, in which case I should seriously consider whether this section sucks?)

 

Does the index include the story plus sub-stories if they are in the same thread? My main story comes in at 94000 words so far but there are a number of other substories in the thread that would probably make it over 100000

 

Oh, yes, definitely a dry spell in reviews. And my readers are experiencing a dry spell now that I'm having a hard semester.

That voice-recorder thing is hilarious!

 

I post so infrequently that dry review spells go unnoticed....

 

I think that's a good idea on how to index, sg. I'm at 77,000 right now so it might be a while before I get there. Hopefully not too long, though.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

An unrelated question--are other people experiencing a dry spell in reviews now that school has started, or is it just me?

Dryspell of writing-time for me.

 

I almost want to cry right now. I just had to erase two whole chapters to my fic... that was a bloody 8,644 words!! down the drain!! I had totally messed up on the most prominant character in it so she had to go, and the other parts played off of it so they didn't make any sense and now I just want to run off... I did pass the 75,000 word mark though.


*sigh*

 

Ouch. Hopefully the corrected version will have made it worthwhile.

 

dianethx yes, as long as the stories are all related/part of the same story. (such as, taking a minor oc in a story and creating a story around that character, I would still consider that part of the story as a whole)

sg

 

Delurking for a minute

I've got several that qualify Our Fire and Ice series is who knows how long. There are six total stories in the series. I think I've lost count by now my Repercussions fic is 85,525 and it too a year to complete. *sigh* Too bad it doesn't quite meet the length requirement. That's the longest non-series fic I have ever worked on.

 

The new most amazing thing my digital recorder has transcribed: "Only authorized units were supposed to be able to access the data in my lawn."

WTH?!

 

so let me get this straight, you can have a digital recorder tape your "writing" in audio, then plug it into the computer somehow and have another program type it up for you? Hmmm... not a bad idea. Even if it isn't always accurate. It's easy enough to go over and fix. What's the cost on one of those things? Does it come with computer software to transcribe or do you have to buy separately?

sg

 

The new most amazing thing my digital recorder has transcribed

You should try running Ishy's spanish H/L vig through the Babelfish translator... It comes out really funny.

 

spiritgurl wrote:

so let me get this straight, you can have a digital recorder tape your "writing" in audio, then plug it into the computer somehow and have another program type it up for you? Hmmm... not a bad idea. Even if it isn't always accurate. It's easy enough to go over and fix.

Yeah, I think the original audio files are on my computer somewhere, and I can play them back to get corrections. The accuracy would also be a lot better if I spent more time training my voice recognition program, but I haven't had much time lately. That's why I got the recorder in the first place.

What's the cost on one of those things? Does it come with computer software to transcribe or do you have to buy separately?

The transcription software is separate. I got Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7.0 on eBay for $70, which is about half the retail price, or was back in January. The recorder was $150--the cheapest one I could find that did what I need it to do. The price of the things has come down over the past couple of years--even last year I couldn't find one for under $200, and that included scrounging for used ones on eBay. The recorder is a Sony ICD-ST25. It says it's compatible with Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the package--if a recorder doesn't say that, then the transcription won't work.

The recorder says it also works with NaturallySpeaking 5.0 and 6.0, which would be cheaper if you can find them, but I wouldn't recommend trying it with 5.0. That manages 90% accuracy under ideal conditions, and I've found transcription from the recorder to be less accurate than transcribing at the computer with a microphone.

Oh--if you do buy NaturallySpeaking 7.0, you have to download service pack 2, or the recorder transcription thing won't work. The service pack is free--it's just an added hassle.

As I said, the system's not perfect, but I like the fact that I'm not "wasting" the hour a day I'm in my car. I just hope I don't get into an accident because of it . . .

 

Oh, my spanish fic. Is that the one where you got hamsters and drunk purple radios?

 

The burning paper monkeys and hamster were from that fic, yes. The drunk t-shirt and purple radio were from another.

 

That's right...

 

Well, i hope to have an epic-ish fic by the time i'm done. Right now i'm on the verge of finishing the first of the series that revolve aroud a character who shares my SN. I have the second one started, and an idea for the third, but if i go by the time it took me to get around to continuing the first one, i'll be here for the rest of my unholy life. yikes.

I think what i need is motivation. Quick, someone break into my room in a biohazard suit and a voice changer, claiming to be Darth Vader, Lord of Mars, and tell me to get my life back in order.

Eh, it worked in Back to the Future..

 

Ophelia, you actually use a transcriber? And it works? I had a free 30 day trial of one of those once. I did all the things to customize it to my voice, too. It still managed to come up with some of the most hillarious transcriptions, though. I was practicing with Star Wars lines... I'll have to dig those out of chat lots somewhere. They're great

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I think what i need is motivation. Quick, someone break into my room in a biohazard suit and a voice changer, claiming to be Darth Vader, Lord of Mars, and tell me to get my life back in order.

Eh, it worked in Back to the Future..

Yeah I could use some motivation my self.

By the way, the line from Back to the Future is "My name is Darth Vader. I am an extraterrestrial being from the planet Vulcan."

 

I LOVE BTTF!!!


okay.... now that that's out of my system...

I started writing chapter 20 on Vessel! Now, if only I would get over the fact that I gave Tahiri a nice OC to romance and get on with the plot.....

*cries*

 

solojones :

I wrote this using the transcription program, and it turned out like this. I had to train it to understand the way I say, "wrote." I don't know why. I guess I half-pronounce the W in that word, which the program didn't expect. I'd claim it was some crazy Michigan thing, but last time I talked about dialects people complained to the mods.

I had to make three edits in the above paragraph. Two were word ending problems, and one was a period where it shouldn't have been. Not bad, really.

By the way, this is just in regular mode, I'm not using the recorder. When I do, the accuracy goes way down. We'll see how accurate I can get it was more training.

Also, I'm getting close to finishing chapter 9 again. For about the 20th time.

 

BothanJ- Ah, right. How could i have forgotten Michael J. Fox's scrambling of Star Wars and Star Trek. Man, i need to see those movies again.