The secret Sidney Sheldon used to become a great writer . . .

[Dien Rice]

Last week someone I've had a lot of respect for passed away... the novelist Sidney Sheldon.

In recent years, Sidney Sheldon has mostly been known as a novelist. He wrote a long string of best-selling novels, dating from the early 1970s until recent years. However, before that Sidney Sheldon actually had four successful "careers"! (Although all those "careers" involved writing.)

For example, his first career was in the movie industry, where he wrote the scripts for many movies. His script for "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer" (with Cary Grant and Shirley Temple) won him an Academy Award. He also became a playwright (he wrote plays), and he even won a Tony (which is like winning an Academy Award, except it's for plays instead of movies). After that he became a TV producer and writer, and one of his best known shows is probably "I Dream of Jeannie", where he created it, produced it, and also wrote a lot of the episodes. After the end of "I Dream of Jeannie", he decided to turn his hand to writing novels.

He had an unusual technique for most novelists - and this is something those of us who have to do any kind of writing can learn from. Instead of toiling away over a keyboard, Sidney Sheldon dictated his novels instead. He'd dictate 50 pages a day to a secretary or to a tape machine, and then the next day he would make corrections to those 50 pages, and then he'd continue on in this way until he had around 1,500 pages of work. He would then edit it down and revise, revise, and revise, for about a year, until it was "boiled down" into a very good novel.

By the way, this is also the technique that was used by the romance novelist Barbara Cartland. She would actually dictate her novels at the rate of one novel every 2 weeks! She was very prolific. (She eventually wrote 657 novels - that's not a typo!) This is a technique that any of us who do any kind of writing could apply, to dictate our writings and then write that way, instead of toiling over a keyboard.

I think the whole psychology of this type of writing is quite different. When you talk, you talk a lot faster than you can write, so you don't lose your train of thought, while if you're writing quite slowly you could lose your train of thought. Also, with typing there's a tendency to constantly correct yourself, whereas with talking, of course, you can't - because once you've said something, you can't take it back. This technique could be especially valuable to people who think they can't write - because if you can talk, really, you can write!

There are a few ways you can apply this technique. One way is to use software, the best well-known one and probably the most accurate one is one called "Dragon Naturally Speaking". I tried that about 4 years ago. When I tried it at that time, I found that it "misheard" my words every now and then, and it sometimes wrote down different words from the ones I spoke. However, because the words were actually dictionary words that it wrote down, I couldn't detect them with a simple spell-checker. I had to actually proofread it, and unfortunately sometimes I missed the mistakes. So I actually sent out some articles which had some of these misspellings in them, and when I discovered them later I wasn't happy. However, the software might be better now.

Another approach you can take which might be better is to record your words, then get a person to transcribe it. One approach now is to just record directly on to your computer - you may need an external microphone. (Some free software you can use to record audio on your computer is Sound Capture.) Alternatively you could use a little voice recorder, or even an MP3 Player / iPod which you can record with. (Some MP3 Players have an in-built record function, and there are accessories you can buy for your iPod so you can record with it.) This approach might be even easier because it's portable, so you can go around and can talk/write wherever you are. You can then transfer the file on to your computer, and send it to a transcriptionist, who can then transcribe your writings. There's a former thread here at Sowpub which lists a number of transcriptionists you can use if you want to use this technique. The great thing about this is you might be able to really increase your productivity.

There's also a third approach you can use. That is if you're actually a good typist yourself. You can record your words, and then play the audio recording back and transcribe it yourself. For example, Windows Media Player (which comes with Windows) actually has an adjustable playback speed, so you can slow down the playback speed. If you're a decent typist, you should then be able to type in the words when they're played back at the slower speed. There's also other software you can get too which can slow it down even further.

Anyhow, this post was really a way to commemorate the life of Sidney Sheldon, and also learn from him... I hope you liked it, and found it useful too!

- Dien Rice

[MMacGillivray]

Hi, Dien - sorry to hear about Sidney Sheldon; I have watched a couple of episodes of Jeannie - but didn't get the connection.

Barbara Cartland's novel-writing production line was quite amazing. Strangely, though, I couldn't read her novels. Something about them irked me (or maybe it was because I always got the mental picture of her, pretty in pink!). I suspect that she did her homework just as well as other authors whose work I do enjoy.

In the last couple of weeks, I have also discovered the Windows Movie Maker software - it's quite a powerful piece of software. I published a trial video at YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfupzXp5Nys - it's fairly basic in that I stitched together some free to use pictures of cars and added a sound track (I'm not quite sure where I got the music from) and put on titles and credits. I think the internet is moving towards something more sophisticated - the same sort of development as happened with television - just the pace of change is much faster, so I decided to see what I could do.

Margaret

[GordonJ]

Thanks Dien,

AMAZING how much people can get done with a good system that works for them...

A good product for under 50 bux is the RCA RP5030 Digital Voice Recorder that records in MP3 and serves as a 64MB portable device too.

Here is ONE place that offers it...but do a search for best deal...I got mine at Wal-Mart.

http://www.thetwistergroup.com/store...2514&source=fr

What I like about this one is the external mic, and I use either a very good Audio Technica hand held, or a decent Lapel Mic (Radio Shack for about 25 bux),,

With the external MIC, I'm able to be mobile, maybe capture the spirits of Mary Campbell's cave or the rushing water of the Cuyahoga River as it spills over the Lake Edison dam...

This model comes with USB cord. Use a program like Audacity or Sonic and you can clean it up pretty nice. OR, just upload your guerrilla audio to a site and VIOLA, you're good to go.

IF anyone has any other recording devices, let us know what you use...OK?

Gordon

PS. Some people think the 7 Dollars secret is a FAD. So what? Cash in on it today and tomorrow.
http://www.7DollarSecrets.com/[email protected]

That RCA recorder looks like one handy piece of equipment!

For those interested, here are the Specs. on the RCA RP-5030

64MB Built-in Flash Memory – This Digital Voice Recorder allows the user up to 18 hours of worry free recording with 64MB built-in flash memory
USB Interface – Unit has a USB port for file download to PC for storage. Comes with USB connection cable
mp3 Encoding/Playback – Records files in mp3 format. Also can play audio mp3 files downloaded from your computer
Automatic Voice-Activated Record (AVR) – When in Automatic Voice-Activated Record (AVR) mode, recorder will sense the sound & start recording automatically. Recording stops when sound stops
Variable Speed Playback – Select from multiple playback speeds so you can listen to your recorded files at your own pace
Date/Time Stamp – With this handy function, you can easily identify what date and time a recording was made
4 Folders with Maximum of 396 Messages – 4 folders allow the user to categorize each recorded message. Each folder holds up to 99 messages with a total maximum memory of 396 messages
Display – Multi-functional LCD
Additional Features – Editing functions, built-in speaker, built-in microphone, recording quality selector, low battery indicator, headphone jack and batteries


Pete

[Dien Rice]

Hi Margaret,

Originally Posted by MMacGillivray

Barbara Cartland's novel-writing production line was quite amazing. Strangely, though, I couldn't read her novels. Something about them irked me (or maybe it was because I always got the mental picture of her, pretty in pink!).

Yes, I read that in the later part of her life, pink was the only color she wore. Supposed to be good for the psyche, or something like that... (Maybe she always wanted to feel "in the pink"!)

I haven't read any of Barbara Cartland's novels either (I don't fit the "demographic" for the average romance novel reader!) - but her novel-writing is impressive if only for how prolific she was!

Though, she sold a lot of books, too... I think she had a lot of fans...

In the last couple of weeks, I have also discovered the Windows Movie Maker software - it's quite a powerful piece of software. I published a trial video at YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfupzXp5Nys - it's fairly basic in that I stitched together some free to use pictures of cars and added a sound track (I'm not quite sure where I got the music from) and put on titles and credits. I think the internet is moving towards something more sophisticated - the same sort of development as happened with television - just the pace of change is much faster, so I decided to see what I could do.

Margaret, I watched your video - looks like it's a good start!

I really need to get myself a cheap camcorder and do some filming... They say online video is great for sales too...

I think you're right - I think video will be a big part of the future of the web. A lot of people think the future web will look something like television, with lots of videos everywhere... It's already starting to look a little bit that way!

Thanks, Margaret, for that "window" into the future...

Cheers, Dien

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

A good product for under 50 bux is the RCA RP5030 Digital Voice Recorder that records in MP3 and serves as a 64MB portable device too.

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the "heads up" on that!

I'm currently testing out a super-el-cheapo MP3 player that came free with a recent cell phone I bought... (My last cell phone was lousy, so I upgraded...)

The MP3 player I got is an Onix HY-107 MP3 player. It has a record function, with 512 MB of memory...

However, my early testing seems to be okay. I recorded a short "test" file, and played it back alright (on the MP3 Player). I still have to test uploading it to the computer and playing it there...

If any other "Sowpubbers" have experience with this topic, please share it... (I'm learning too!)

- Dien

Hey Dien,

If you happen to have an iPod, Griffin makes a really nice recorder adapter....

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italkpro/

I've got their older version and use it all the time and it works great.

Once your recording is on the iPod, you can plug it into your computer and it will go into your iTunes library (if you are using iTunes)

From there, you can open up "Garage Band" (on your Mac) to edit it if you need too.

Jim

Dien,

I use the technique you mention quite a bit. Since I am on a Mac, I use Sound Studio to record my thoughts via a Plantronics mic plugged into the USB port.

I can then save as an MP3 file or aiff file or quicktime file. If I want to I can convert to a wave file using another program. In any case, I have a file I can then upload to a service to transcribe, but more often than not, I keep the audio files and burn them to disc. (I haven't written a novel yet)

Just a note for Mac users.

Millard

[Glenn]

Hi,

Thanks for mentioning an important copywriting figure.

I especially Admire Sidney Sheldon for:

His Gall and Gumption - on the front of his Biography photo - he flips you off. Notice which finger in next to his nose.

And

His method of coming up with new ideas for his projects. I've NEVER seen that written Anywhere else. But in his bio book.

Get the book.

I'd ruin it - by giving it to you - out of context.

Glenn
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