I’ve been experimenting with dictation again, and this time it’s working—mostly because I finally stopped asking it to do something it never could.
The first time I used dictation, it worked beautifully for blog posts like this one. Factual writing. Logical sequences. Structured arguments. I could talk through an idea and watch it appear on the page, mostly intact. That’s where dictation shines for me: when I already know what I want to say and just need to get it out efficiently.
When I tried to apply the same approach to fiction, it failed hard. The prose felt slack. The rhythms were off. Emotional beats blurred together. I abandoned the experiment convinced that dictation “just didn’t work” for creative writing.
What changed wasn’t the technology—it was my expectations.
I now think of dictated fiction not as draft 0, but as draft –1. It’s not the real draft. It’s the scaffolding. The clay. The ugly underpainting you’re never meant to show anyone.
Seen this way, dictation suddenly makes sense. It helps me get words on the page. It lets me play with structure. It exposes plot holes early. It captures momentum and instinct without asking my inner editor for permission. Yes, it adds an extra layer of drafting—my dictated –1 still has to be reshaped into my normal draft 0—but that extra step is worth it if it keeps me moving forward.
The danger comes when we expect dictation to produce polished prose. It won’t. Spoken language is not written language. It meanders. It repeats. It relies on tone and timing that don’t survive transcription. But that doesn’t make it useless—it just means it has a specific role.
For me, dictation is now a tool for discovery, not refinement. It’s a way to outrun hesitation and get something—anything—down. Once the bones exist, I can do what I enjoy most: sculpt, tighten, listen to the sentences again.
The mistake isn’t using dictation for fiction. The mistake is asking it to be something it’s not. Used with the right framework, it becomes one more lever to help propel the work forward—and sometimes that’s all you need.
Have you used dictation? What were your experiences? Any other tools that you think others might benefit from exploring? As always, let me know in the comments below!
Gideon P. Smith 