Friday 13 August 2021

Hard to imagine

I have a problem with novels that other people don't seem to have. I find it very hard to conjure up a vivid mental picture of the characters. Even if I read a description of someone several times, they remain words on the page and I get no clear image of them. I can summon up a stereotype of an old man or a young woman or a gurgling baby, but nothing more specific.

Most people seem to conjure up characters in their head quite easily. They have a very haunting image of the person, almost as vivid as someone in real life. They know exactly what Elizabeth Bennet or Jay Gatsby or Jane Eyre look like, while I have no such image.

If I have a vivid picture of someone, it's only because I've seen them in drawings or films - like Miss Marple, Frankenstein's Monster, Oliver Twist or Winnie the Pooh. I may know what they look like even if I haven't read the book - like Harry Potter.

It's frustrating because I feel I'm not really enjoying a book fully, I'm not totally immersed in it, if I can't picture the characters in my head. I can follow the plot and know what's going on, but there's something missing. It's like being in a very bare room with only a few sticks of furniture.

I guess I just have an inability to translate words into a visual image. They remain words and for some reason don't fire up my imagination as they should.

I'd love to see novels that have illustrations of all the main characters. I seem to remember that being a common practice when I was young (in Dickens for instance), but somewhere along the line they got dropped.

34 comments:

  1. I had a misread moment. I read the opening sentence of this post and wondered why you'd have a problem with novels that other people don't own. Oops. At least you don't have my misreading problem - although my misreads make me laugh!
    Okay, now that I've understood what your problem really is I'm at a loss, so I'm no help at all. I think reading kind of happens in the sub-conscious - it all sort of sinks in. I don't really dwell on what the characters look like - not consciously - they just come alive in my mind somehow. I love the experience of reading - just enjoy it, Nick!
    Sx

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    1. Ms Scarlet: Ha, interesting misreading! So the problem might be in my sub-conscious. If only I had access to it! Don't worry, I enjoy reading immensely, even if I can't fully picture the characters.

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  2. I don't think you need to see them to recognise them or identify with them. Or not identify! I don't get clear images but I know characters well.

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    1. Liz: Oh, I can identify with them, but I feel I'm missing something if I can't also picture them.

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  3. It does seem like book jackets and covers no longer have illustrations of characters like when I was growing up. I tend to imagine book characters as reality tv persons that I watch, though it’s more based on personality than appearance.

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    1. Bijoux: That's interesting, that you imagine reality TV stars. I might try using characters from my favourite TV series.

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  4. I've never thought about this. I form vague pictures of the characters, nothing concrete. I tried to visualize the central characters of the novel I'm reading at the moment and they're quite vague. I know she has ringlets and he has auburn hair and eyes.

    I don't need much obviously. :)

    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: It sounds as if you don't get much further than me in visualising the characters! But ringlets and auburn hair is a good start....

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  5. I get completely immersed in a book, the characters, the setting, the places, they're all there in my imagination.

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    1. Polly: That's brilliant. I wish I had that ability!

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  6. I guess personality is more important than looks to me since I simply don't bother to try to imagine how book characters look but I do care how they behave.

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    1. Linda: I agree that how the characters behave is the most important thing, but I'd still like to have an idea of what they look like.

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  7. what an intriguing post! I've never thought about it.
    but I learned at an early age to 'visualize.' I do it easily. never have thought about it. but I wonder if it was a form of entertainment for a lonely child. we were always Moving! that's why the characters in books took on such a vivid importance.
    who knows really. I think your life hasn't been the less for it! you seem to be very happy and well adjusted. XO

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    1. Tammy: Fascinating. I wonder how you learned to visualise? Perhaps you picked it up from someone else, like a sibling or parent?

      Happy and well adjusted? I guess I am. Thanks!

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  8. I don't 'see' the characters except in the most vague of ways as in how P.G. Wodehouse describes them...but i must do more than I think as I was most offended by the TV depiction of the Earl of Emsworth.

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    1. Fly: Interesting twist that your visual image clashes with other people's!

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  9. I also have no ability to form and visualize the written character. However, it's not important. The story is about what happens, why and how.

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    1. Joanne: Indeed, it's the characters' behaviour that really matters. But as I said earlier, I'd like to have an idea of what they look like.

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  10. I don't imagine you are alone with visualizing characters. It gives me an idea about describing people in the stories I write. I tend to not go into detail about appearances. But maybe, I'll describe what I see when I write them more.

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    1. Ann: I don't think you need a lot of detail to conjure up a character. I think you just need a few vivid and arresting phrases that stick in the mind. "He had hair like a haystack".

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  11. I have no problem visualising characters in fiction. In fact, I was very disappointed with the choice of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher as, Lee Child's description of the latter was vastly different from how Tom Cruise appears in the movie.

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    1. Ramana: I guess that's the downside of vivid imaginings. If a film version comes along, you're likely to be disappointed by the on-screen character.

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    2. Yeah Tom didn’t quite “measure up” for that role.

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    3. I don't know the Jack Reacher novels so I can't comment!

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    4. Very large man = Jack Reacher in novels

      Smaller than average man = Tom Cruise as Reacher in movies (Thus the not “measure up”)

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    5. Mike: That looks like a pretty inept bit of casting!

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  12. I'm not sure how good I am visualizing characters in my head. Reading a novel, for me, isn't like seeing a movie in my head. And when I try to picture characters I usually think of a well known actor or actress that fits their description--which I guess is a lazy way to go about it!

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    1. Jennifer: That's a good idea, picturing a well-known actor. Unless later on there's a film of the book with a totally different actor!

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  13. Ok, I've heard of this. I didn't know that people had this problem until my daughter told me that it was happening to her.

    From Google..

    "Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create a mental picture in your head. People with aphantasia are unable to picture a scene, person, or object, even if it's very familiar. ... The phenomenon didn't receive a name until cognitive neurologist Adam Zeman coined the term aphantasia in 2015."

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    1. Mary: I'm not actually unable to create mental pictures. I can do it in my dreams, and I can picture scenes from holidays or my old workplaces. I just find it hard to picture characters in novels. But aphantasia is interesting, I hadn't heard of that.

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  14. I've not really literally envisioned novel characters in my mind, or even thought about doing so before. I do seem to formulate some distinct perceptions in my mind's eye separating one from another. I don't always find an actor who creates a book's character for a movie to be one that matches whatever has formulated in my mind, though I don't really see a picture of the person. I'm not sure what that's about. Next time I read a novel I'll have to pay more attention to that aspect of my reading.

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    1. Joared: It's something I hadn't thought about myself until a few days ago! I'm not sure I would be satisfied with a well-known actor standing in for a fictitious character. They would seem somehow incongruous.

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  15. I create a vivid image in my mind of characters and then if the book gets turned into a movie, it's sometimes a little disconcerting when it doesn't align!

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    1. Agent: Absolutely. You keep thinking, that's not right, urgent replacement needed!

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