I ask because I’ve never been great at visualizing things in my head and I’m somewhat sad when I hear descriptions of “rich worlds and deep detail” and I haven’t yet really started to actually experience it in my mind. Don’t get me wrong I have truly enjoyed finding a new love for reading and it’s not going to stop me from enjoying the stories from text only pov I just wish I knew how to better create in my mind what I’m reading instead of just understanding the scene and moving along.
by AnthemEffect
7 Comments
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
no. But drugs do.
I have aphantasia (I can’t see anything in my mind’s eye) and no, reading a lot didn’t cure me. But I still love reading! I do tend to skim paragraph-long descriptions.
I struggle with this sometimes, too. For some reason, listening to an audiobook helps me visualize things better than when reading it on the page. And when I really struggle, the books that have the most fantastical settings often have fan art. And I look up the fan art to help me visual places, characters, etc.
honestly I feel like it actually slows me down because more often than not I read a passage and then find myself staring at nothing for several minutes while replaying the scene in my head as if I were directing an adaptation lol
I’ve read hundreds of books and yet I can (almost) never visualise one. Lovecraft is about the only exception where I was able to visualise his description, but I don’t really know why.
Nope
I barely “see” anything, and I’ve read A LOT throughout my life. It’s just the way we’re built, and while you look at it like you’re missing out on something, there’s likely other areas you’re stronger in.