I know about the seeing or not in your head it just never occurred to me that people could turn words into pictures. I barely understand descriptive paragraphs.
It's pretty cool, I can recall places I have been to with pretty good detail and choreograph movements in my head. My short term memory is fucked though 😆
I honestly don't remember when I couldn't read, so......yeah. Happened to me too (so MUCH reading to me when I was a kid/seamless transition, I guess!) About the Aphantasia - did you just recently learn about it? (I know LOTS of people assume visualization is a metaphor for years)
That's one reason I often prefer books to movies.
The pictures are better.
(Also, usually the story has to have a whole lot left out to fit into a movie.)
Oh damn, I never thought about this. I always wondered about people who are super into movies and shows and maybe this is one of the reasons why (I know there are several reasons, just never thought of this one.)
When reading or listening to someone speak? I have a _very_ hard time translating spoken words into (anything) but written words work for me.
and I'm also curious: if you see an image or animation of something, can you see that in your head? What if you're holding it (with your eyes closed)?
100% see words as pictures in my mind. I construct a movie as I read. Even nonfiction. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to not do that. Until recently I didn’t know that not all people did that.
Also while I have your attention BLUESKY TRUST AND SAFETY IS TRANSPHOBIC DEMAND THEY ANSWER FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF PEOPLE WHO WANT MY FRIENDS NOT TO EXIST
I can tell you what shuts me down instantly. Full or multiple paragraphs of how a saddle or spaceship looks. Overdone sense descriptions.
I read a book once that spent like a whole page describing the looks of one ship. To hell with that, no, never, go away lol, but I’m guessing NT folks like that?
I really like almost everything I’ve read by Mike Carey. He knows how to focus on what I’m interested in: people. Motives. Plot is great too, but I feel a big advantage is how it makes the People react or change.
The Steel Seraglio is probably the one I’d recommend, and he wrote it with his family!
I’ve also enjoyed what I’ve read of Octavia E Butler and I’ve been meaning to read more and remembering feeling like she got it too (I really liked what I read!)
I also really enjoy Claire North, especially The Sudden Appearance Of Hope
I feel like a lot of “classic” authors are a chore
My wife really enjoys him. I did the Dark Tower series only because of the audiobook format, never would have made it through the actual book (great acting!)
I told myself I would read IT. Pretty sure I only managed because I was on ADHD meds
Gave up after 3 or so attempts at staring The Shining
The gag is: whole languages' writing works this way. See: Chinese and everything that branched from it incl Japanese and Korean Hanja, Mayan pictograms, heiroglyphs, Andean quipu knots
Yes! Almost like a movie ... or with really great writing, like looking through the eyes of the characters. Smells, sounds, touch ... not exactly the same as the realy thing but the sensation/ rememberance of it. And I feel the feelings, too!
I have to call it a night, but I would love to hear more about how this impacted your reading at a young age. This is really giving me a lot to think about with the children I work with. Thank you!
Yeah. I remember being confused, almost irritated, at the fact that there wasn’t a scene showing Emmett Cullens backstory in the films, bc I remembered it clearly. Turns out it was the official illustrated guide I had read as a teen.
If the book is well written it goes beyond merely seeing things. It's like a movie in my mind only better. With the book you are the producer, the director and the actors. With a movie you are simply viewing an abbreviation someone else's imagination. Imagination is like a muscle; use it or lose it.
I not only see things, my brain turns it into a movie where I am actually at the place and time. Like a 1st person point of view. It fills in all the colors, the sounds, the temperature....
It's why I read the Unabridged copy of "The Stand" 17 times in a row over the summer.
Yes! Like a movie or a dream. If it is a great story, I can be so immersed that a distraction brings me "to" and then I will have to find where I was on the page and at first I'll notice I am reading words but eventually go back into a zoned-out state.
I think it has something to do with emotional intelligence and being almost OVERLY empathetic. It’s not always a great ability. Think of children crying when a dog they see on TV or a movie gets lost.
Given that what you see isn't there I think it's reasonable to suppose that the brain is giving you a lot of info that isn't there and that the visualization is a part of it but doesn't cause any of it. So you can still get the same immersion and empathy without actually seeing what you imagine
It's not that bad. I've never been able to picture anything, so I just grew up thinking that's how it is for everyone. But books aren't ruined or less fun. I've been obsessed with them my whole life.
That's a shame. I wouldn't say I am 1 on the scale, but 2 looks about right.
I feel bad for those on 4 or 5 because they miss out on so much when reading.
And I didn't realize people couldn't. I thought everyone saw something in their minds while reading. Not necessarily the same thing I see, but something.
Guess you really do learn something new everyday.
How? Just like words in a book are interpreted by the reader, it's YOUR interpretation as the reader, and it may or may not align with what the author intended those words to mean.
So, to make it absolutely clear, I, me, the person who wrote the passage, am heartbroken to learn of this fact.
I *can,* but I don't default to it. Only bother for complex scenes where I'm trying to work out angles or something, or really beautiful descriptions. Doesn't dim my enjoyment in the slightest if I don't, though.
To me it's kinda of crazy everytime I remember there's so many people that can't picture things in their mind. Like, you're telling me I'm different because I can imagine anything in my head?? Always thought that was standard
Yes. I’ve learned that some folks can’t, and I feel for them.Thank goodness they live in the time of TV and film and can see such a variety of stories.
Personally I found it shocking and confusing to suddenly learn that most other people had this aspect of their experience I'd never considered, but I certainly didn't feel bad about not having it myself.
This episode of RadioLab is how I learned that "visualize" is not a metaphor and that I'm aphantasic. Blew my mind that most people can see in their mind. Totally changed my concept of thinking and learning, and I'm a teacher.
I'm going to have to check this one out. I guess I see things when I dream but I'm not sure I "see" what others see when I'm "visualizing". But I have heard of the similar thing about people who claim to have no inner dialog and hear their thoughts.
Maybe in the middle. I “see” the conceptual makeup of it all, and can provide details to any degree necessary if asked. But only asked-for or provided-in-the-text details are clear. But if a character is described once as “blonde” or “fickle” or “fat” you can be sure that is in there.
I can barely get flashes of images in my head for any given thing, let alone books. It's called aphantasia, and funnily enough doesn't interfere with spatial reasoning
Most of the time, but sometimes it can get in the way sometimes if a descriptive paragraph doesn’t make it easy to understand where everything in a room is.
yes, there is a whole ass world going on, like a movie, with sounds, colours and feelings. When I read a book, I come up with an image of the characters. Hate watching movies based on books I've read, because they NEVER match what I imagine, even their voices and dialects are different....
For books I have read that are also movies, multiple times I have remembered something visually in my head that I thought I had seen that was only in the book and not the movie
It's probably a spectrum. I see bits and pieces as they are described, but rarely whole a full-screen consistent image in my mind while reading. But like: "He held the gold-hilted dagger gingerly." I see a hand, its pose, and a specifically shaped knife complete with light glinting off the gold.
Yes I have an image of what the characters and places look like in my mind so casting is sometimes a letdown. I also have an image of what singers look like when I hear a song.
It can be a little slower for me because I tend to relish the pictures painted there. 🤷♂️ and I’ve trained myself to disassociate books from their movie adaptations so I can enjoy both. That took a long time to learn.
It depends. Sometimes the movie visuals are better than what I imagined and then it’s magical. Other times, I get irrationally angry like “are you fucking kidding me? Not even close!”
I cannot comprehend this; if there was a movie playing at the same rate that I, personally, read, it would just be a motion blur to me, lol. but we are having very different internal experiences, I guess! other people's minds are a mystery!
But because our brain is firing at a particular rate, we will perceive the cerebral reality at our reading rate. When you read, do you read 'too fast'? Reading uses different areas of the brain, as does visual, etc. It is less of a mystery than we may suspect. Neurology has come a LONG way.
I would think of it like speaking a language fluently. the translation is fast. the images appear fast, in real time as you're reading. the processing disappears and you forget you're reading words, it's more like there's a quiet voice in the bg narrating what you see.
and then sometimes your mind just starts wandering and you have to reread a paragraph 3 times because your mind wandered over it XD then you have to process more pointedly.
This. If I’m not interested in what I’m reading, sometimes I have to go back pages. I’m ADHD, so that’s probably why. I can read and daydream at the same time, but don’t retain what I read.
I am so fascinated by how you experience like games and stuff, I am super into the inner world I create (its not slow, I just experience it in such a way its like just there in my head and the story continues whether I am there or not) but how do you experience stories, characters etc?
Yeah I knew it about thoughts I just hadn't put together it would happen from reading. To me descriptive passages are like adults talking in Charlie Brown
Um I thought that's how everyone reads a book. I read the descriptive phrases and then I picture the scene in my mind. Stephen King's descriptions are so good that the movies look exactly the way I pictured them while I was reading the books.
Yes. I can visualize anything I read, like when you have a dream - the down-side is that it slows down my reading speed. I got high spelling marks and low reading comp marks, because the tests were timed and I was daydreaming the read.
Vivid, visual dreamscapes. Horrific darkness and macabre terrors. Realistic recreations of of described people and places. Great written words sculpt and paint worlds in my mind, complete with sounds, scents, and feelings, too. I wish I could share the experience.
dude it's a full on movie like if it's a battlefield I hear bombs and rifles and I can see background characters taking cover. movies derived from books can be disappointing a lot of times.
Yup! My husband has aphantasia & it used to be so confusing to me when he didn’t understand what I was talking about. Like what do you mean you can’t visualize? I started making him digital design pics. Like here’s our living room exactly as is w/added shelving.
It didn’t come up for years w/us I think maybe b/c I’m the other extreme, highly creative, & would decorate our rental on the cheap. When we bought a house he wanted to be involved & I started putting things together when I realized he couldn’t visualize. My Mom & brother are also like this.
I had to think for a while about this and yeah, Kurt Vonnegut's chilling in the bar, he's manifesting shit, and walking around is like, a Kmart version of him, and that's Kilgore...
some of those passages in the same book come across as lil Wes Anderson montages. Like a storyboard in my head.
Yes! They're like mini series/movies in your head. You get to watch your book before Hollywood ever touches it. I have a very vivid imagination, always have 😄
I think being “mad” about casting is weird regardless, especially if it’s largely based on the appearance of the actor rather than their performance, but it can definitely be a little disappointing if the “vibe” isn’t right.
I wouldn't say I get mad, but if q character in a book is written plain or big, marks on face etc, and it's written bc its apart of their personal story, I expect that. But if Hollywood tries to glamor the character for more appeal, it annoys me. I don't need all that for a movie/story to be good.
Definitely agree with this. And I get that the balance is tough because what a certain actor brings to the character holistically may outweigh the loss of some of the more nuanced aspects of the character arc, but sometimes they don’t prioritize things that ARE a big deal in the book and it sucks 😔
On the flip side, reading the book after seeing the movie first is like re-watching the movie, but with much more detail and context, which is fun to me.
I feel the same way about this. Some people I have talked about the issue with, were against reading the book after watching the movie. Because they 'already knew the story'; but reading the book usually enhances the experience.
I agree with both statements! The best part of the book, is the extra detail you get bc they didn't have time to film it all. Mostly, characters internal thoughts.
I’ve never understood how “knowing the story” ruins it for people lol knowing how something ends just frees me to pay more attention to the details that get me to the ending. There’s some fun in not knowing what will happen, but exploring the nuts and bolts of the story is that much more fun to me 🤷🏽♀️
I also have a vivid imagination. But I don’t have it through site. I cant "see" anything when I close my eyes, but I can imagine the most fantastic things, ideas, cultures, worlds, creatures, relationships, progressions,… I just don’t see them
I understand that, and its still a good quality! I honestly thought everyone just saw things as they read them like I do. I guess I've never actually talked to other people about it 😊
Honestly I thought I had a vivid imagination bc I cannot handle reading words that produce terrible imagery. But it's not bc I can see it vividly. It's just bc the concepts I read are intrusive somehow
Ah, yes that can be a problem. Too much imagery can be scary. But yeah, I am a person who reads words and has a picture in my head. Even this convo has a picture to it.
It's like reliving a memory. I'm there. I'm completely immersed.
That's why it's very jarring to interrupt me, when I'm reading. I'm being ripped out of an entirely different reality.
Yes. One thing I hate is a writer waiting until 10 pages after introducing a character to tell me what the character looks like. Sorry, but she was a blond for 10 pages, and NOW you choose to tell me she's s brunette?
If it didn't matter for 10 pages, why tell me at all?
It’s such a bizarre choice. Though I’m always impressed by the brain’s capacity to adjust to the new information. It’s like the skinny man in my head re-shapes to accommodate your new description of him as “squat.”
My brain will adjust the image, but resentfully. It pulls me out of the story and reminds me that I'm just reading words, not immersing myself in an experience.
Agreed. It’s an annoying choice. I think it happens a lot these days because writers don’t want to add heavy exposition and slow readers down. But there’s gotta be a way to keep the flow without delaying an integral part of the reading experience.
I heard prize-winning storyteller Matthew Dicks say that he likes to keep physical descriptions to a minimum (except where needed for the plot) to free listeners and readers to fill in what they want to imagine. Goes against what I thought I had learned, but makes sense.
I strongly disagree. That’s the writer’s job. For readers who do visualize things in their heads, having blurry silhouettes for characters makes them seem less real and convincing.
I think the accepted wisdom is to keep descriptions brief but evocative. Instead of “blond hair, blue eyes, narrow face, bad dresser” etc. Something like “he looked as if he’d gambled away all his fortunes but kept the clothes” or whatnot.
This relates a common criticism I got as a writer, which is, I *never* described the physical appearance of my characters unless it came into play in some mechanical way (eg long hair getting caught in something). Idk why, maybe it's an autism thing, but I never pictured characters' appearances so 🤷
I'm autistic and I always envision characters when I read. I know it's a spectrum and all, but I don't think that's why. Reading your comment from earlier, I think you have aphantasia to some degree.
One of the reasons I've been terrified to try to write fiction is I can't describe things. I do think part is autistic thinking where I see all the details or I see no details I have no sense of which things to say. I don't understand descriptive words and I don't know why I would use adjectives..
That's so interesting. I'm not A Writer but I do write reports etc for work and I have to stop myself putting too many adjs and adverbs in. So eg. I'm writing about a potential site for building on and I have to describe the area. Would you not naturally say, eg, rolling hills or wooded slopes etc?
This is an interesting point, but one that I haven’t dealt with. If the author hasn’t given me a description, I focus more on the rough shape of the character. What are they doing? How would their body be posed? What is the posture like? Even without a physical description, I’ve got a lot to work w
It actually doesn't happen to just reading books. When I’m listening to a conversation, I have a vivid imagination of whatever you’re telling me playing out in my head.
Sometimes? Depends on how engaged I am with the book and individual scenes. Visualizing a scene takes a little effort, and not all scenes are worth the effort.
For visual people, yes. Not everyone is visual. I, for example, am practically blind where internal vision is concerned. I'm more likely to feel, not see. I also tend to hear, not see.
If I'm really into a book I can sort of picture things. It was a lot easier when I was a kid. I read the book version of Alan Wake recently. Having already played the game it was very easy to picture everything that was going on. My current book, The Archimedes Engine, is a lot harder.
Yes, my entire life I've had this ability--I see what I read--which is why I spent most of my childhood with my nose buried in books because the worlds they depicted were so much better than the one I lived in.
I don’t picture the people, but remember the scene and action, if that makes sense. Sometimes I can’t remember if I saw something on TV or read it in a book, because it comes back as visual recall.
I do really see them, but I usually picture people or things I’m already familiar with. For example, when I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I pictured Big Nurse as my mother in law.
Yes, and it’s called hyperphantasia. When I read, the words transform into images in my head, much like a film. I used to think everyone “saw” words, but my husband says he does not.
My partner has the opposite, aphantasia. Has no mind’s eye at all at anytime. She can describe things in detail but has no mental image. Can’t even recall her children. Has to look at photos to “see” them.
As someone with aphantasia it's so weird to hear people without it talking about it. "She has to look at photos to see them" feels like someone saying "She has to touch a pen to pick it up". Until a few years ago I'd never conceived that this wasn't the same for everyone!
Right but my point was that it feels like something that would obviously be true of everyone (though I now know it isn't). Your examples don't share that quality.
Here are small examples of hyperphantasia: When I read “an eagle flew high in the sky,” I see it in my mind’s eye. When I read about a location, I “see” it. It makes planning vacations more fun and exciting.
The best books essentially become a limited series that is screening in my brain. I frequently back up a bit to reread/replay scenes, with improvements to set/acting/camera work after learning or remembering certain details.
When my daughter was small, she asked why I read so much. I told her that because in a book I can go anywhere I want to go and be anyone I want to be. The adventures are endless.
okay I'm assuming you don't dream and you have aphantasia but you know how dreams or ideas are portrayed in cartoons with little cloud-like bubbles of thought? it's kinda like that for me, like a floating world that moves like a movie while I read
Some people just don't really dream or forget them immediately, but I get you would have that assumption if you don't know anyone else with aphantasia. Brains are weird.
Nothing to do with imagination. It’s aphantasia, which is simply the lack of a mind’s eye. (And, for some of us, mind’s ear, nose, etc) our imaginations are just fine, just a little different than yours.
It makes me sad that not everyone has movies in their head when they read :( I never knew until a few years ago that people did not all have pictures in their heads!
Yes. I'm so visual that when I talk, I write in my mind then read it back. I had immense difficulty saying that I'd bought refills for a mechanical pencil, as I kept saying LEED (like dog leads) instead of LEDD (as in lead pencil) as I was talking too fast and misreading my head-script.
Yes, of course. And if it's a really well written story, we see a movie in our heads. Which is inevitably why we get upset when directors change plot lines and characters and dialog too much when making a movie or tv show from a book. He had green eyes for a reason, and the kitchen was yellow!
I know. It’s very sad and I wish I could. I’ve researched it because I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, but there is a small percentage of people who cannot form mental pictures.
I no longer feel like I'm missing out given the things I've heard from people who can do it. Just absolute incredulity that one can be creative without visualizing.
This is interesting! I hadn't heard of Aphantasia, but I teach reading to Autistic children, some of whom I believe cannot form visuals when they read. They can read the words, but I don't think they have a mental picture. I actually have them draw pictures as we read to aid with comprehension.
I’m an SLP, and mostly diagnose kids on the autism spectrum. I have had a few tell me during assessment that they aren’t able to visualize as they read or listen to stories.
😊. I worked in the public schools for 31 years before I retired, but still work part time. Reading is such an amazing skill to watch develop…and I am in awe of how you all make it happen! Brains are wired for speech, but not reading so you have such a challenge!
Do you know if those students struggled with reading comprehension? I just read that Autism and Aphantasia may be linked, although you can have one without the other.
If memory serves, yes. But I don’t often remember details about each student I test so I’d have to go back and read their psycho-educational evaluation results.
whut??? there is a constant technicolor movie going on in my head all the time. Pictures, words, letters, numbers. Sometimes it drowns out reality. If I see a shape on paper, I can feel it 3 dimensionally in my mouth!!!! lmao, hysterical. or, uh oh, something terribly wrong here🤣
It's pretty much just using the same regions of your brain and then just doing that when your eyes are closed. It takes mental exercise to do. You dont see it in your eyes, but you can see it in your head, the same way you can talk in your head or think about parts of a song and "hear" it.
Yes, absolutely. In fact, if I can't see it, I have trouble understanding it. Some science subjects are like that to me. I have no way to conjure an image so my brain doesn't get it.
Sort of? It doesn't go in front of my actual eyeballs and cover up reality but I can imagine a picture of the thing. I used to be able to see more clearly in my imagination but it's gotten kinda blurry in my old age
Yes. If I focus, I can make them very clear, but sometimes they're sort of vague. I think it depends on how descriptive the writer is. If you tell me to picture an apple, I can imagine the patterning on the skin, the way the light reflects, I can hear the sound of someone biting into it, etc.
Yeah, it's like a mini theater in my head. Sometimes when I imagine myself as one of the mc, i can literally see everything from their described pov. It's neat. 😊
Yep, it's wild! Sounds like you have what's called aphantasia. Like you, until recently I never even considered that things like "picture this" were anything other than metaphors. It's so weird to think about.
In my case, it's less that I feel like I "own imagination" and that I'm flabbergasted and... Just kind of sad that you can't. That sucks. Although, I suppose you don't feel the lack of it. I'm like that with loneliness. I'd be fine in isolation.
I guess I didn’t realize how lucky I am! I also love listening to old radio dramas (from the 40s and 50s). I have a full moving picture in my head of everything that’s happening. Even when I watch a movie, I’m picturing what’s happening off screen all around.
Yup! It (for me) is the same as “seeing” a memory. The same way I can “visualize” a place I’ve been to, or “picture” a loved one’s face in my mind. Same thing.
I can picture things!! Usually if I'm reading and really in a rythm I get 'lost' in the pictures my mind makes up as I read. Kind of like watching a movie made from words, except its in my brain. Its like... Watching your imagination almost? That's my best explanation.
Yes. My mother used the term “in my mind’s eye”, when speaking about what she pictured in her mind from books. She wrote wonderful family histories for future generations. Frequently wrote editors of papers & left 2 unfinished manuscripts that I would like to finish on her behalf.
And why does it have the label to begin with? Because NTs like to think they're uniformly the same (they're not...but...) and it's something they are terrified by. It's easy to find them making comments about how they can't imagine[*] having aphantasia.
Wait is there only a~ and hyper~ I thought those were on opposite ends not like encompassing everyone. But I should just look it up or not talk about it lol. I care about what is true not just my vibes
Full film, sound, color, and always way better than the movie because all the connections are from my own life and experiences. I thought this was how everyone reads. No?
I vividly visualise things, and I also have an inner voice. It was weird to me to find out people usually have either or, and that there are a few other ways of thinking.
Yeah, that can be jarring. For example, Hagrid STILL doesn’t conjure Robbie Coltrane for me when reading HP. BUT, I was seeing Alan Rickman as Snape before he was ever cast. It was inevitable.
I never knew till about a month ago that there were people out there who did not see the story like a movie in their heads. I just thought everyone did lol.
Yup! Often I'll imagine a scene or characters and sort of slot them in my memory, then pull them back out whenever they're used in the story again. When I see that thing mentioned, my brain instantly recalls them. Sometimes my memory is a bit hazy though, and then the finer details shift.
Depending on how focused I am, the imagery can either be crystal clear like I'm watching a movie, or foggy like watching that same movie through a glass block window. Sometimes the imagery is so vivid it's like I actually lived it, like I was standing in the room it took place.
So like because I can't see my thoughts I can't see my memories either so I think I can get the same confusion when I'm like really into a series. But I haven't read so intensely in awhile. Too much real life.
Totally! And I am bugged when a celebrity who doesn’t match a character’s description populates my mental image of that character because I feel I’m doing a bad job reading the story
so I don’t see images in my mind, but I still “know" what somebody looks like from reading a book and it bothers me when it’s portrayed by someone who doesn’t match my idea of them for sure
I have an example of what I’m referring to: in A Memory Called Empire, Three Seagrass is short, brown skinned, and has long black hair in a braid, but I struggle to not see her as the actress who played Kira in Deep Space 9
I mean.... how can you enjoy reading a book when your brain is busy distracting you from the actual story and abstract ideas with all of those pictures? (Joking but honestly this type of question can be a little annoying for us aphants. It's just how we are; it's not worse than how you are.)
Remember that most of us aphants had NO IDEA that other people are actually "seeing pictures" in their minds until we learned about aphantasia. It still boggles my mind and sometimes I don't quite believe it -- I thought "the mind's eye" was just a metaphor until I was in my 40s.
Same with tastes, smells, and sounds (yet interestingly, I often have near-constant earworms that I experience but can't "hear," and man is that hard to explain to other people).
Thank you for helping me understand my colleagues who cannot imagine complex processes while reading about them without drawing them. You helped me tremendously. Thank You!
I believe you, but it's hard for me to imagine. I fall into the world of the book from the first page. Same for audio books. I literally can't imagine not having that. I would love to know what brings pleasure in reading to you
Here's a thought question for you: How does a blind person enjoy reading a book, or enjoy anything? Just extrapolate a bit from there. (Hint: We fall into the world of books too, but it's into the story and the behaviors and the ideas, not the visuals.)
I seldom read regular books (as in the kinds without any illustrations), but when I do, my mental image of whatever is going on is, well, that, images, VERY visual...
But I prefer to actually have images... And sound... But that's just me...
That isn't the purpose of books. Take any description and create the image. Now describe the image. There are many many choices you can make which change the reading experience even while fulfilling the same descriptive function.
I would describe the image , as the author had just done, as until it had been described to me , I didn’t have that image in my head . I’ve only just become aware that everyone doesn’t have mental pictures, I’m totally the other way, I can’t function unless I can visualise likely outcomes.
Yes. After reading Mark Twain's multiple times as a kid, I visited Hannibal Missouri. It was different from what I had in mind. BTW I had the opposite experience, i.e. I grew up in a location where a famous historic fiction took place. Books are trips.
Because of aphantasia. But just because someone might have aphantasia, doesn't mean that they don't like books. We just don't see images, or not very clearly.
Yes, and this is why I often really dislike movie adaptations of books I read: they are never even close to as good a movie as the one I make in my head.
No. However he internet is a fine place where people suddenly lose all those boundaries in a blink. Do pardon me; It is just before six in this stressful morning of mine and my choice of words may indeed have been questionable.
Helpful tip, I’ve been doing this lately: do quick online searches of things mentioned in the book such as specific locations, plants, animals, buildings, food, etc. while you read. It’s helped me visualize the story as well as learn more about locations and items in the book.
Read Ulysses finally, well, listened to it while referring to the map of Dublin and chapter guides, but understanding the layout and history of the city was critical to so much of the novel
I found out people can do this a few years ago. I can't but it doesn't ruin my reading experience. I struggle if someone says picture an apple...its like my brain needs further instructions, it just doesn't happen for me. My learning style was never visual, always better in writing for me
Not necessarily, it's a spectrum. Some people can't picture things in their mind at all, some only see outlines of shapes, some see colors, others have very vivid pictures etc.
I just learned this year that some people can’t do this. My kids taught me.
But yes, if Clara is driving down a country road and comes to a covered bridge we can see her and the bridge and all the background.
Yes, vividly! I also like audio books because I can clean or do other mundane low attention rote tasks and “see” the fascinating world I’m listening to
I already know about that but I hadn't realized it happened while reading. For instance I hear my thoughts and I hear words I read but I stop hearing the words I'm reading if I'm actually getting into the story. I can read faster than talking if I'm enjoying it.
oh cool! about the hearing thing tho, i think that's more got to do with internal vocalization (if that even is the term), i've heard tv anchors and ppl who read from prompters have to shut that internal sound off to be able to read as quickly like you do
Oh yeah I know it's different I just mean that bc of that experience I didn't assume that how people experience thinking translated to how they experience reading
oh i see. it would be an interesting thing to investigate, like visual imagery of memories vs those of written material that don't correspond to any memory, thanks for putting that idea in my head!
yeah!! but it’s not always like watching a movie, sometimes it’s like watching a cartoon or even still paintings. it kind of depends on the book and how it’s written
If you’ve ever seen the Harry Potter movies, it feels like when Harry looks in the pensieve… as I read the words, I build the world, if that makes sense…
Understand that it's just as difficult for me to comprehend that someone else CAN'T do that. It's like someone saying they have no sense of smell. I can't imagine it.
I lost my sense of taste/smell when I had COVID. It was AWFUL. Taking a shower and not smelling shampoo or soap. Not smelling coffee brewing. Not tasting toothpaste. Is the litterbox clean?? Etc., etc. It mostly all came back in about a month; quite a relief.
Peaches still taste weird, though.
Wow. I wonder how that works. Tasting but not smelling. When I took the Paxlovid for COVID I could "taste" it. It was horrid. But it wasn't like the normal way of tasting. It was like I was feeling the taste of it.
Since COVID, peaches taste like grass to me. Like... green. But not like peaches.
People always say they "picture"/envision things but I can't really bring myself to believe they're being literal. Or maybe I have the "can't picture things"ism and that's why I always have to pause mid-conversation to diagram things out on a whiteboard.
It is super literal for me. Like, I see very concrete objects in space when reading a description of them. Funny…I was just writing a piece about this tonight. It’s wild how differently wired we all are. That said…I also have to diagram things out when they’re super abstract, like systems.
Hmm. I can sort of "remember" static images but only in brief glimpses, like trying to focus on them with the a super fiddly lens. Can't hold onto them, can't conjure up new stuff, can't picture anything like spatial relationships or scenery. Guessing I'm somewhere on the aphantasia spectrum haha
Comments
The pictures are better.
(Also, usually the story has to have a whole lot left out to fit into a movie.)
and I'm also curious: if you see an image or animation of something, can you see that in your head? What if you're holding it (with your eyes closed)?
The way I See things is probably closer to an dream
It’s vague and conceptual and amorphous
And the more descriptive it is, the less I can imagine it lol, I do not know why
This is why I like (mostly non-super hero) comics
His art and details are amorphous like mine, an understanding that the details (even plot details) can obscure the focal point
I’m guessing maybe AuDHD etc authors might work that mental image better for AuDHD ppl
I read a book once that spent like a whole page describing the looks of one ship. To hell with that, no, never, go away lol, but I’m guessing NT folks like that?
The Steel Seraglio is probably the one I’d recommend, and he wrote it with his family!
I also really enjoy Claire North, especially The Sudden Appearance Of Hope
I feel like a lot of “classic” authors are a chore
But also I might just think it is because his behind the scenes work style seem not too far off from my own brand of madness
Also I’m AuDHD af
The words are garbled stuff you might get from constantly clicking the suggested next word auto complete
The colors are selective, sometimes vibrant, almost like neon
I told myself I would read IT. Pretty sure I only managed because I was on ADHD meds
Gave up after 3 or so attempts at staring The Shining
One of the best selling authors, I’m not knocking him, just not for me
I enjoy some of the film / series adaptations though
They're literally pictures as a writing system.
it's as scary as it souunds
If I dream of my wife, she’ll still make me do the dishes in my dream!
It's why I read the Unabridged copy of "The Stand" 17 times in a row over the summer.
it just means fanart is *really* helpful 😌
I can't see images, I can 'see' words and descriptions of stuff. My brain functions more like a cmd from a computer, you could say.
It's fascinating!
I feel bad for those on 4 or 5 because they miss out on so much when reading.
Guess you really do learn something new everyday.
So, to make it absolutely clear, I, me, the person who wrote the passage, am heartbroken to learn of this fact.
do you need medical attention?
It is heartbreaking. For me.
Written better in here: https://www.wdhn.com/news/cant-picture-things-in-your-mind-you-may-have-aphantasia-and-not-even-know-it/
https://radiolab.org/podcast/aphantasia/transcript
Sometimes the movie runs quicker than i can read
not me, I've got aphantasia, but, you know, some people
and I definitely don't retain the words of what I've read. I remember scenes, or the overarching story, or a general gist.
But it's not all awesome - I also have PTSD, and flashing back can be pretty horrific.
I did once gave a dream where Indiana Jones was killed by kamikaze teacups, and I was left to fight them with Susan Sarandon...
some of those passages in the same book come across as lil Wes Anderson montages. Like a storyboard in my head.
They are more like concepts in my mind, so the actual actor or actress can perfectly fit in there if they have the main characteristics covered.
That's why it's very jarring to interrupt me, when I'm reading. I'm being ripped out of an entirely different reality.
If it didn't matter for 10 pages, why tell me at all?
The only time it gets weird is when they suddenly start insisting on a specific description much later on.
Or a hear a song to know what it sounds like (even though she heard it before).
Or taste ice cream to know what it tastes like (even though she's had it before).
like. if I'm thinking about an apple all I see is "apple" spelled out
that's a lie I do sometimes, and usually they're pretty vivid
though I'm not entirely convinced I dream in my own head
Sometimes it's shocking when you see how wrong you were.
In many ways a good book can be even better than a film
(that was one job, I learned fast not to read about it near lunchtime)
Even when I read your post, I saw an image.
I never realized people were being literal when they said „imagine a beach“
Or whateves
* - their own COMMON aphantasic incident BTW.
But having a name for an uncommon thing doesn't mean it's necessarily bad.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/2862324277332876/
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2024/feb/26/what-is-aphantasia-like
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-minds-eye-is-blind1/
But I prefer to actually have images... And sound... But that's just me...
Do you not see anything from the description of it?
who read the book.
The films visuals don’t vibe with our mental
image.
But yes, if Clara is driving down a country road and comes to a covered bridge we can see her and the bridge and all the background.
Understand that it's just as difficult for me to comprehend that someone else CAN'T do that. It's like someone saying they have no sense of smell. I can't imagine it.
Peaches still taste weird, though.
The first question he always gets is if he can taste food. And yes, he can. He just can't smell it.
Since COVID, peaches taste like grass to me. Like... green. But not like peaches.
I'm kidding of course.
But that is strange.