Richard Powers Uses Tablet PC Voice Recognition To Write Novel

Posted by | 11/15/2006 | 0 Comments

EchomakerWired Magazine talks with author Richard Powers about his latest book, The Echo Maker. What’s intriguing about this is that Powers uses voice recognition on a Tablet PC to do some of his writing.

I’ve always wanted the freedom to be completely disembodied when I’m writing, to feel as if I’m in a pure compositional state. Typing is a highly unnatural activity, and your writing style ends up reflecting the cognitive shackles. When I started to use the tablet, things that are extremely difficult to do on a word processor opened up to me. I could also make drawings to see what a character looked like, and these sketches would be integrated into my research. Part of the mystery ofThe Echo Maker hinges upon what happened on a certain stretch of road on the night of the accident. I figured that out visually by drawing the scene over and over and seeing how all the elements moved in relationship to one another.

What I love about his approach is the combination of voice recognition and using the Tablet PC to make sketches along the way. Tablet PCs and the creative process. A natural in my opinion.

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