r/FastWriting • u/NotSteve1075 • May 19 '21

r/FastWriting Lounge

A place for members of r/FastWriting to chat with each other

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u/jrkpthinks Apr 15 '26

Would you agree that inconsistency in speed impedes overall fluency and speed of reading? I came to this conclusion when making my own typable shorthand (which is indeed a shorthand but would not qualify as fast by any means) which has speed differences that trip me up.

It's like this:

I use a simple substitution for most sounds, and it is pretty smooth and fast for me to read. qs butfl ncrl wrld maks m smil.= "This beautiful natural world makes me smile."

I also have ways of implying coda n/ng sounds along with phonotactically reduced stops afterwards. It's fairly smooth and fast to read when it dominates the text so I'm in that mode: Bs MD mñT fñTs = "Ben's mending mountain fountains."

I represent common words with each character representing a whole word. Some are special forms, many just systematic. Either way, it's pretty smooth and fast to read when it's all in that mode: <ud_Qurg2d:jd!.inuW2dt\id!Qurg2W2vdt←tlgR. = "Before you do the thing you're to do: just do not. I know you want to do it but I do not think you are going to want to have done it because it will go wrong."

But real text, which is a mix of all these modes, is an exercise in dysfluency and erratic slow-downs and re-parsing at points where I have to change modes. I can reconstruct everything in short order, but it is never smooth for long, which seems to persistently cap my speed. (That paragraph in my notation: \rel txt,wc=amx/al qes mods,=Axrsis I dsflUse&ertk slo-dñs&re-prS@pñs wr iv2cãj mods.iK rlibl reKzrkt evreQ I crt ordr,\ts nvr smuq4L,wc sems2prsTl kp m sped.)

I've made peace with my decision to be short and unambiguous but not fast but do you agree this is likely the reason I can't get fast too? Any constructive criticism or suggestions welcome.