Editing a story? Listen!
I'm a commuter, and so I listen to a lot of podcasts, audio books, etc. Recently, I finished revising two of my earlier stories, and that's when I had a brainstorm about my new MacBook.
I saved one of my stories as an .rtf file, and opened it in TextEdit, the Mac's built-in editor. I then accessed the menu: TextEdit:Services:Speech:Start Speaking Text.
Voilia, the computer was reading my story to me. However, it was choppy as the computer tried to convert text to speech on the fly.
Remembering an earlier experiment, I opened the story in Stanza, the free ebook reader. Inside Stanza, I selected the menu: File:Export Book As: MP3 Audio Book. After a few minutes, my story had been converted to an MP3. Double-click the MP3, and now the Mac is reading my story without the stutters!
Listening to "Alex," the default voice takes some adjustment. However, it is interesting how many things jump out at you even with the computerized voice. Alex pauses at unusual times, particularly before italics, but that's actually helps me ask if I really needed the emphasis in the first place.
Hearing your story versus reading your story makes you use a different part of your brain. You "hear" associations that even reading it aloud likely will miss. The process has helped me tighten up the story as I've been free to listen to my story on the commute. Repeated symbolism jumps out, etc.
I'll share more as I learn. There may be better ways to do this. Also, for my Windows-based friends, I don't know what options there are...yet.
EDIT: And now I do! See part 2 below....
Part 2 (Windows Instructions)
http://gsemones.livejournal.com/24184.html
Part 3 (Windows and Mac Add-ons)
http://gsemones.livejournal.com/24498.html
I saved one of my stories as an .rtf file, and opened it in TextEdit, the Mac's built-in editor. I then accessed the menu: TextEdit:Services:Speech:Start Speaking Text.
Voilia, the computer was reading my story to me. However, it was choppy as the computer tried to convert text to speech on the fly.
Remembering an earlier experiment, I opened the story in Stanza, the free ebook reader. Inside Stanza, I selected the menu: File:Export Book As: MP3 Audio Book. After a few minutes, my story had been converted to an MP3. Double-click the MP3, and now the Mac is reading my story without the stutters!
Listening to "Alex," the default voice takes some adjustment. However, it is interesting how many things jump out at you even with the computerized voice. Alex pauses at unusual times, particularly before italics, but that's actually helps me ask if I really needed the emphasis in the first place.
Hearing your story versus reading your story makes you use a different part of your brain. You "hear" associations that even reading it aloud likely will miss. The process has helped me tighten up the story as I've been free to listen to my story on the commute. Repeated symbolism jumps out, etc.
I'll share more as I learn. There may be better ways to do this. Also, for my Windows-based friends, I don't know what options there are...yet.
EDIT: And now I do! See part 2 below....
Part 2 (Windows Instructions)
http://gsemones.livejournal.com/24184.html
Part 3 (Windows and Mac Add-ons)
http://gsemones.livejournal.com/24498.html