Still building this, so I apologize if use is a little sploinky ( let me know what I can do to improve it!)
I work in retail management. It pays the bills and I'm genuinely grateful for it, but it's not exactly where my brain wants to be. I've always had stories running in the background; at the register, on the bench press, driving home, laying on the couch at 11pm.
The problem was never the ideas. It was finding a way to actually get them out without a two-hour editing session waiting on the other side.
So I built ORAT. It lets you just talk. And it turns what you said into something that actually reads like you wrote it — no robotic AI voice, no rewriting your story. Just your words, cleaned up and formatted.
It's live at orat.dev. Still a work in progress, but it's real and it works. I use it myself.
If this resonates with you at all, check it out. Free to try.
— Skyler / SwanSkyCreative
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#BuildingInPublic #ORAT #WritingTools #IndieDev #SoloFounder CreativityEveryday VoiceFirst WriterLife WritingCommunity SideHustle oratdev SwanSkyCreative
Still building this, so I apologize if use is a little sploinky ( let me know what I can do to improve it!)
I work in retail management. It pays the bills and I'm genuinely grateful for it, but it's not exactly where my brain wants to be. I've always had stories running in the background; at the register, on the bench press, driving home, laying on the couch at 11pm.
The problem was never the ideas. It was finding a way to actually get them out without a two-hour editing session waiting on the other side.
So I built ORAT. It lets you just talk. And it turns what you said into something that actually reads like you wrote it — no robotic AI voice, no rewriting your story. Just your words, cleaned up and formatted.
It's live at orat.dev. Still a work in progress, but it's real and it works. I use it myself.
If this resonates with you at all, check it out. Free to try.
— Skyler / SwanSkyCreative
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#BuildingInPublic #ORAT #WritingTools #IndieDev #SoloFounder CreativityEveryday VoiceFirst WriterLife WritingCommunity SideHustle oratdev SwanSkyCreative @lovable.dev
I've been building something for a while and I'm finally ready to show it.
I work full time at a job that has nothing to do with writing. I have a commute. I have a novel I've been trying to finish. And I kept running into the same problem — ideas show up when you're driving, walking, or about to fall asleep. Not when you're sitting at a desk.
So I built ORAT. You speak. It listens. And when you're done, it turns your rambling into actual formatted prose — in your voice, not some generic AI voice. Think of it like having a really patient editor in your passenger seat.
There's also a character named Reginald. He's a rat in a tuxedo. He reads your writing and leaves one dry, specific comment per session. He's rooting for you. Quietly. In his own way.
It's live at orat.dev. Free to try. No download needed — just open it and start talking.
Still building. Still figuring it out. But it works, and honestly I'm proud of it.
— Skyler / SwanSkyCreative
#buildinginpublic #ORAT #indiedev #writing #lovable writingtools solofounder
So some backstory, I went to school for both English and web programming and have always had a love for writing and in my current position, which has nothing to do with either—miserably, I find that I have limited time to write.
As such, I used a combination of some of my tech skills, as well as some readily available tools to make something which would ideally help myself but which may also serve as helpful to some people.
Orat.dev
If I sit and think about the words which I would like to use next, they can come out in near perfect prosaic form, and so I thought, maybe I could capitalize on using my daily commute of thirty minutes or so to effectively write polished written content, and so I needed a means of formatting it in a way which would more closely resemble that of a finished work.
So, this project is a web app with the ability to take verbally relayed voice transcription and convert it to multiple finished written styles.
***That said, please be kind-***-does anybody have advice for what would be useful in a tool like this? ***
I basically wanted a means to reclaim some amount of human creative expression in a world where most of what I see online appears to be artificially written content; using this intelligence only for formatting of our creativity in place of outsourcing our creativity.
I got super motivated ( stupidly ) and thought maybe it could usher in a movement of encouraged creative expression, with a figure like the Duolingo bird negging users to get in their daily writing.
There ended up being some requirement pricing for extended use, as calling certain APIs ends up costing a bit. I am working on seeing how I can revise the tool to at least cost far less, but I figured I would share where it is at now in development.
Writers and creators—fellow writers and creators— what would be helpful for this as a tool. Again, it is intended to open up one's ability to write and express themselves when the reality of a crap job or schedule restrict one's ability to coordinate a proper seated and focused session of writing.
#writing #appdevelopment #lovable #manuscript
