Saffron ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
I'm using the AT&T natural voice 'Audrey'.
It definitely helps to find a program where you don't find the voice too distracting. I have software called Read&Write which is fairly customizable, in terms of speed, pitch etc. That's helpful.
Also, getting used to the voice helps. Being dyslexic, I read a lot of my books, journals etc via computer programs. Familiarity makes the computerized voices sound a bit more natural.
One problem I have is that I'm trying to compare how my stuff stacks up to audiobooks I download from my library, just in terms of flow and dialogue. It's not easy to compensate for text-to-speech vs. an actual person.
I have learned that attributions and physical beats are sometimes awkward. I reuse words in the same paragraph too often. A lot of my sentences have more words than needed. I have a lot of work to do. On the plus side, I think the story is good and my feedback seems to support that so far. I think I have something that can be good, but I need to work on my craft.
I think a computer program would drive me insane, but I always find it helpful when we have critique at our writers group and read aloud. You hear so much more than you see.
It's not ideal, but I have to work with the time I have.
Here is a link to the AT&T natural voices demo.
Familiarity makes the computerized voices sound a bit more natural.
Very true.
I talked to my lovely agent! I have a really nice two-book deal with HarperTeen! For my book about a girl with a zombie boyfriend!
I have to go pass out now.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Awesome! Congratulations!
Hooray, Amy!
Amy, whoohoo and yay and awesomecakes, all in one!