Visualisation, Subvocalisation and Reading
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- In which I talk (at length) about how we experience reading . . .
How (and Why) I Read a Lot: • How (and Why) I Read A...
The video from @jenniferlovesbooks: • How do you experience ...
More about Aphantasia on Creative Revolution: creativerevolu...
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Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen: / 1885.pride_and_prejudice
The Mars House, Natasha Pulley: / the-mars-house
John Green: / 1406384.john_green
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His post from last year about visualisation: x.com/johngree...
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The Secrets of Hartwood Hall, Katie Lumsden (me): / the-trouble-with-mrs-m...
Thomas Hardy: / 15905.thomas_hardy
Dune, Frank Herbert: / dune
Ernest Hemingway: / 1455.ernest_hemingway
Donna Tartt: / 8719.donna_tartt
J.R.R. Tolkien: / 656983.j_r_r_tolkien
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë: / 10210.jane_eyre
The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie: / 12781.the_satanic_verses
The Wonder, Emma Donoghue: / the-wonder
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I’m a very visual reader . I even have moments where I get annoyed when an author describes a space when I’ve already had a clear image of someones home for example. It’s a battle to decide whether to ignore the authors description or adjust my own image. I definitely had very clear images while reading The Secrets of Hartwood Hall.
There is a style of writing that induces visual. I’m a visual reader but some authors can really bring it on quite a bit more than others.
This is such an interesting topic to me and one I hadn't considered. I previously thought every one visualised/sub vocalise as they read (as I do), and I find it fascinating that not everyone does. I also found it fascinating to hear how you research the details of your own books. I've never heard this topic discussed before, and you're right is is very interesting to learn other people's experiences. Reading is obviously a far more complex activity than I previously thought! 😊 P.S. I cannot believe you actually talk faster than you do in your videos! Could we hear a short "non-slowed down" clip of you talking sometime? X 😁
I thought everyone did both as well. It's so interesting to learn that we don't. There was a scene in one of the fantasy series I just finished where the magic system used enhances one's communication skills to the point where words become an encumbrance that slows us down. Imagine!
Thanks! I do find it really interesting to think about how people's minds work.
I think I started slowing down my videos maybe in 2020, and I have slowed them down more over time - used to be 0.9x and now is usually 0.85x/0.84x. If you watch any of my older videos, ua-cam.com/video/HQC2sdw6eLQ/v-deo.html that's probably more like the speed I speak at, though I was a lot younger then and I feel like my voice has changed a bit since then!
@@katiejlumsden funnily enough, I watch most of your videos at 1.5x, I mean when I am watching them for the first time. I often rewatch for fun so those times I watch them at normal speed
I have such a strong visual memory of the opening scene of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall that it is amazing to me that you didn’t imagine the scene in your head. I wonder if because you don’t have a visual imagination that your writing gives the reader space to take your words and create their own images. I can’t remember how I answered your poll, but now I feel like I do have a pretty good visual imagination. We are very similar in terms of subvocalization.
That was really interesting Thank you. As a visual reader it never crossed my mind that not everyone is!
I'm thankful that you brought up this topic, because I have wondered for quite a while how people manage to read as fast and still enjoying the process. There are a lot of tutorials on UA-cam about speeding up your reading (especially non-fiction and reading information rather than novels), but I just find the advice not really helpful for my reading. That's why I started to accept my reading speed and also accepting that I might not read as many books in my lifetime than other people (which is kind of hard seeing the amount of books on my shelves that I haven't read yet).
I find the connection you have drawn between reading speed and what's going on in your mind really interesting. I can't really tell if I'm a slower reader because I visualize a lot or because I tell the story to myself in my head. It definitely helps me sometimes to stay focused while reading to read the words out loud and to make it quite vividly. It is sometimes quite hard for me to get into a story because my inner monologue is still preoccupied with things that have happened that day and I have to read passages over and over again which is sometimes really annoying.
Reading novels that tell stories about people in different places and switching between those places a lot can also be quite hard for me because I tend to skip descriptions of time of day or of the settings at times and then I have to go back to these descriptions in order to find orientation, if that makes sense. So I definitely rely on the author's descriptions in order to get a sense of the time, place and atmosphere of the scene and to be able to visualize it "properly". And I appreciate when an author is very descriptive not for the sake of describing but for the sake of creating a vivid context in which the story and the characters unfold. That's what I love e.g. about Tolstoi's or Dicken's writing. One last thing about visualisation. When I visualize characters or places in the story, it's rather like screenshots or little film sequences, there is no ongoing film in my head. The characters in my head are rather abstract or vague figures. I sometimes also see a landscape or a scene through the eyes of a character. But all of these visualizations kind of happen without any effort from my side. It's like looking at a photo album with moving pictures that are separate from each other.
I also loved to listen to radio plays while I was growing up and I love how sounds are produced to help bring a story to life (like sounds of cars or other vehicles in the background). Nowadays I actually prefer reading a book to listening to an audiobook because I just enjoy the act of sitting down with a physical book and turning pages.
Fascinating. I feel like I am in the world and images are immediately there when I read, but I can't actually focus on them or create them. However I remember the images when I remember the stories and books. Like I remember the book in images.
I can't stop subvocalizing which I think makes me such a slow reader and why I can fly through audiobooks much faster as I can listen faster than I can read.
Typing as I go, funnily enough, I have very vivid dreams too (but thats partly a side effect of medication!) The aphantasia scale is interesting, I'm probably a 3 but even though I can picture stuff to a certain extent I just don't when I read (I think my visual memory is probably better than my visual imagination). I'm the same as you with imagery and nature writing. I also can't imagine what it must be like to 'see' a movie as you read, I'm happy not to have that as for me I think it would be sensory overload (maybe that's why I don't have a visual imagination and also very little audio imagination). I totally have a constant inner monologue, it's pretty dull tbh 😂 Wow to being able to imagine smells and tastes, I can't do that at all. All so fascinating! Yes, this would be a great PhD topic!
🩵 another great spoonies readathon. You had some fabulous reads this month. The lake looks lovely never you.
Haha. Talking of how reading can bring effects to the real world: If I read classics I become a lot more gentlemanly in life. It also changes my usable lexicon. Another way of saying that is my speech becomes dated and I stand out even more than normal. 🤷♂️
It might be why I only ever read one before I take a break with another genre.
Amazing to hear that your videos are slowed down!
Visualisation can be tricky as it can mean a scene/chapter doesn’t make any sense due to how the author has approached it. It might be a useless load of words before the author drops a key item and then I can make sense of it. This happens a lot in short stories (the worlds I’m in can be different from chapter to chapter) and sci fi/fantasy where their worlds are often so different.
And if you really want to get into my brain: I also like to have movie soundtracks on in the background. This does many things: brings greater focus to the story I’m reading, quiets my wandering mind, gives a soundtrack to the story playing in my head.
Not all the time, but sometimes the track I’m listening to will gel with the scene/chapter and it brings a synchronous feel to it all.
Yes, I know what you mean able reading affecting how you speak! I feel like there are some words/phrases I use (rather, quite, marvellous, not always using contractions, etc.) that is definitely to do with me reading a lot of Victorian literature. But then I also use some very modern filler words (like, you know, etc.) a lot, so the way I talk feels quite odd to me sometimes.
It is so fun that you have soundtracks in your brain while reading!
Such an interesting topic - thank you for elaborating your thoughts. I have moderatly good visualisation, which becomes much more vivid if I have seen a screen adaptation of a book as I borrow those images as I read. I do subvocalise but not with accents, unless I’ve seen an adaptation that I can ‘borrow’. I find long, complex classics difficult to read unless I pair them with an audiobook, then the narrator differentiates the characters and by following in the text I can prevent my mind wandering and missing plot detail.
As an example, last year I read “The Year in Between” by Christina Morland (a Sense and Sensibility variation) and vividly had Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman playing out the scenes in my head as I read. 😎
Yes, I tear up or cry in nearly every book. I can dislike a book and still cry at scenes. It's shocking to me when people say they never cry when reading (the same is with shows or movies).
Right?! I think, really, never?! I cry SO MUCH when reading.
I do visualize sometimes but not a lot, but I do subvocalize, especially dialogue, and I totally do it in accents! I also definitely get emotionally invested in my reading, and will experience physical symptoms of anxiety or stress if I'm reading something really intense.
An interesting side note: I have a deaf son, and I often wonder how deaf people experience reading. I'm sure they don't "hear" spoken dialogue, although perhaps if they are hard of hearing and know what speech sounds like - maybe? But do they ever "hear" the dialogue in sign language? I know deaf people dream in sign language. So for example, when a deaf person dreams about a hearing person they know, in their dreams that person signs. (I have sometimes dreamed in sign language, but usually if I dream about a deaf person I know, they speak in my dream. When I wake up, I'm horrified!) My son is still fairly young - and alas doesn't read much - so this is not something we have ever talked about. But when he is older, it would be interesting to know. And what if a deaf person has aphantasia? How do they do their internal monologue????? So very interesting to ponder.
Love this video, love this topic! So fascinating to hear how you experience reading and thinking. I have no visual imagination or memory, and my audio imagination/memory is also very very faint. My own inner voice is very clear though, and I subvocalise everything I read, all in my own voice. I feel everything I read very deeply. When I am reading dialogue I would describe it as if I was experiencing each characters emotions, hard to explain, but as if I was inside their body or their mind to some extent. If it's an argument between characters for example, I will imagine and feel each characters seperate frustration as I am speaking their lines in my head, almost like I'm acting out the scenes internally. I know some people imagine themselves as the main character, for me it's like I am every character.
Whoa, this is 85% speed? Mind blown!
I know. It's ridiculous.
This was fascinating - I've never really thought about subvocalisation before or really what people see (or don't) when they read - so itneresting too that you have such a clear sense of what each character's voice sounds like as I struggle with that! Reflecting on this I think in general, I have a constant inner monologue and a visual imagination so I kind of have an ongoing 'film' in my head (that I can turn on and off, but would rather keep running tbh) with comments and narration over the top, which makes me write either really slowly (as I try to 'translate' onto the page) or means I write in bursts because I've played, replayed, edited etc in my head first before I can even commit to writing... not ideal tbh. As for reading, I'm wondering if physically reading does take me longer because I'm visualising but also trying to make sense of the voices - whereas I can listen to audiobooks on fast as I'm not having to think of what the voice should be? I don't know - anyway, thank you for sharing this video!!
This is so interesting to me and maybe it's why I don't read as quickly as you or some other booktubers and book podcasters I follow. I had thought that the speed I read at was primarily affected by the difficulty of the language, and whether the writing was mostly plot and action oriented or more literary and focused on ideas and descriptions. For example, I can speed right through a suspenseful procedural mystery or a YA book but literary fiction and nature writing takes longer for me, even though I love them. But now I am thinking about how my brain works while I read, and how much that may affect my reading speed. I am maybe a 2.5 on the scale you put up on the screen for visual imagination. I can see enough that when I was a kid I would get annoyed if the character in the movie was not how I had pictured them in the book, but it is not photo-realistic by any means. I definitely have a sense in my head of how rooms in houses are laid out in relation to each other, or where people are sitting in a room while talking to each other, and become disoriented if the author writes something partway through that seems to contradict what I had in my head. I love a book with a map, because it allows me to engage further with that visual part of the reading experience for me. I also subvocalize. It is my own voice that I hear, but higher or lower in register for each character as appropriate and with the proper accent as best I know how to imagine it in my head. But most importantly, I subvocalize the inflection in each sentence. I have sometimes heard an author read their own work out loud, and thought to myself, 'That is not how normal people speak,' or even, 'That is NEVER how such and such a character would have said that!' Hahaha even though they wrote the character and if anyone would know how the character meant something, they would! Probably the strongest example of my auditory imagination is how I feel about Beatrice' speech in Much Ado About Nothing where she is trying to convince Benedick to avenge Hero's honor. I can't find a single adaptation where the actor says that speech the 'right' way lol. The one that comes closest is probably the 2012 Joss Whedon adaptation with Amy Acker as Beatrice. (It ought to be Emma Thompson of course as she is the queen of everything, but I will blame that on Kenneth Branagh's direction as - unpopular opinion klaxon - I don't like anything he's done.)
PS You talk faster IRL than in your videos?! That's like, Gilmore Girl dialogue levels! Well done!
This is fascinating, I have a vivid visual imagination so the words turn into images for me like watching a film and I can read fast if I am really into a book. I think this could also be why I generally prefer books to films because a film would never recreate what I have imagined so I can find films disappointing. I don’t imagine smells but can imagine eating foods when reading especially if it is food that I like. It’s also interesting about this affecting the type of books you like as I love Hardy for his descriptions as is easy for my imagination and I also love metaphors for the same reason, but if it is a bad metaphor or one which does not make sense it can take me ‘out’ of the book/impair my visual images so for me the descriptive writing/metaphor needs to be good, if it makes no sense I find this frustrating.
This was really interesting. I am like you and don't have much of a visual imagination. I sub-vocalise but only in my voice. I can't imagine reading any other way. It is really interesting how different we are.
Omg this is a great video that explains how my brain works! Gonna send this to people to explain my lack of visual imagination and why I read so fast. It also explains why I struggle with some Sci fi and fantasy or with descriptions of a character's appearance. Also I now understand why I love audiobooks so much.
Glad it was useful! :)
I am so glad you made this video as it has opened my mind to the variety of ways people experience reading. I knew subvocalisation was a thing some people did and I didn't, but there's clearly a huge range for this and for visualisation. I will be examining my own behaviour more now. I am currently reading a memoir and notice I subvocalise a bit more in some sections as it feels like the author is speaking very directly about his experiences.
As someone who doesn't visualise or subvocalise much at all when reading by myself, I am intrigued to note that I rather enjoy reading aloud to children for example and am told I do that quite vividly. It's all an interesting puzzle.
It’s so so interesting. I am very visual person in everything. It’s not really something I thought about before you guys brought it up😅
I love that you said you vocalise as you write. That’s so cute and it must be so important with your process.
It’s so fascinating to hear how different we all are!!
Loved hearing your thoughts on all this. ❤
I have to imagine the scenes, the characters, as well, otherwise I get distracted, even lost in language. Some pictures come to mind easier than others, but If I'm engaged I can bring up any image.
ooh this is interesting because I’d say my visual imagination is also not the best- also like seeing a screenshot through frosted glass! However, for me it’s always there, I’m always seeing these frosted glassed, shaky screenshots while I’m reading! And I’m a pretty slow reader 🤷
I'm pretty sure I subvocalized, but I'm definitely a more visual person. I often remember shows and movies better than books unless I read a book multiple times. Having listened to the Harry Potter audio book for the longest time I heard Jim Dale's voice doing the characters.
Interesting! I visualize to the point that a character exiting to the right when I visualized the door on the left will take me out of the text and I have to rearrange the scene in my head before I continue. I also subvocalize without effort unless the text or dialect is clumsily written. I also look at the words/language as I read with inner dialogue about that. For instance, I wonder about the connotations or possible weight that is meant by word or phrase choices. I stop to ponder all the time. So, I feel this all slows me down and yet enhances my reading experience. For college courses, I sometimes listened to the audio while reading the texts in order to stop the pondering and keep me on task. But, I must SEE the words to remember them.
You may want to read "Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What it Means for Teaching" by Cristina Vischer Bruns. The text speaks to the intersection of self and other within texts and the possible psychological impact of reading.
Thanks for the recommendation! So interesting that you visualise with that much detail!
For me it a lot of it comes down to how I was taught to read. I spent 1st-7th grade in special reading classes so for me subvocalization is a normal part of my reading experience. I honestly don’t remember a time where I read something without doing it. But I also have a vivid imagination so even though I do subvocalization I am still able to picture in my mind what is happening on the page. For me it is like when you and a friend are driving down the road talking. I am able to talk and keep track of the conversation but I also notice the grass on the side of the road, the sound the tire makes as it moves along the pavement, what setting am I in rural or more urban even what’s playing on the radio.
To me one way is not better or worse than the others. You need people with imaginations to think up of new ideas and those that picture it to be able to draw out those ideas and those that are good with words to be able to describe to someone who is unable to see it. As the old saying goes there is always more than one way to do the same thing and if each one gets you to the same destination without causing harm to anyone than who cares how you get there.
I find this so interesting! I always thought it was entirely figurative when people would say, 'visualize a beach....' and was shocked to learn that some people/most people actually see images in such a situation. And yet I have strong spatial, I guess you would call them mental constructions, of scenes when I read, and strong opinions about how people and things look. I have access to an academic library, so I did a search and found articles with titles like "Aphantasia and the Contingencies of Artistic Imagination" , "Multisensory Subtypes of Aphantasia", and "Aphantasia and Involuntary Imagery". So your questions are right in line with those of researchers. Thanks for this video!
I find this such a fascinating topic! have a vivid imagination, and I also subvocalise and have an inner monologue! Great video!
That was incredibly fascinating! Thank you!
I think what we experience depends on how our brains work AND on what we read. Some authors describe more and some use more dialogue. You mentioned Hemingway. I find he doesn't describe anything at all: trees are green the sky is blue, is about as descriptive as he gets. But Zola ? 🥰 All your sense are contributing to the reading experience.
I do need to read some Zola sometime!
This has made me think about how I read and how I listen. It's fascinating that you slow down your videos because I speed them up to 2x speed and tend to listen to audiobooks on 2.35-3x speed or even more if people speak extremely slowly. I don't think I've actively thought about how I read physical books or ebooks, but I do get through books quickly, so perhaps this is a factor? I'm certainly going to be analysing myself more now 😂
I usually listen to Booktube on 1.25x speed, sometimes on 1.5x - same with audiobooks. But I get quite a lot of negative comments telling me I talk too fast, so I started slowing down my videos years ago, after I realised that trying to talk more slowly wasn't working at all. And I guess hopefully it still feels smoother when listening to lots of videos in a row, on whatever speed, if I'm not as much faster as everyone else.
@katiejlumsden sorry you get so many negative comments about something so integral to you as a person - that's rough. I hope those who do think you talk quickly appreciate that you take the extra step of slowing down the speed in editing, but it's rubbish that you have to do that
I recently tried to briefly read without visualizing to see if I could speed up my reading. This made reading less enjoyable for me and I quickly went back to visualizing. I’m also less likely to pick up a book that has the character completely drawn out or real pic on the cover because I like to create my own image of the characters. Great video!
Edit: A map of the rooms in The Secrets of Hartwood Hall would’ve been helpful. I had to keep rereading the part when she went from room to room because I just couldn’t picture it in my head!
This was very interesting. Thank you!
BTW, I'm able to listen better to audio when it's at a faster speed. Yours work best for me at 1.25 :)
I also have aphantasia, probably acquired but I'm not sure. I've always sub-vocalized which my kids particularly enjoyed when they were living at home and I read to them. They still mention how they loved the voices. :)
I often listen to audiobooks on 1.2x/1.25x speed, too, otherwise I struggle to focus on them. I sometimes listen to audiobooks when going to sleep, and then I listen to them on 1x speed or even on 0.9x speed, because that feels calmer and helps me sleep.
I too have very little, if any, visualization when reading.
I also did NOT learn to read as a child with phonetics. The school only taught the "look - say" method. Phonetics places another layer on top of the reading process. Phonetics is easier to learn from scratch but it slows down the speed of reading once mastered, compared to those who learned by look say.
Visualization is also another layer which will also slow down reading speed quite a lot.
This was a very interesting discussion! I've had it with other bookish friends as well and its such a range. I'm somewhere in the middle of both visualisation and subvocalisation. Mostly I will visualise action scenes, sex scenes and descriptive scenery. Glad you brought up the other scenes as well as I will hear, feel, taste and smell certain scenes along with visually in my head. Those are usually like marketplaces or other busy crowded scenes that have a lot going on. With subvocalisation its mostly monologue unless its stated that a character has a unique accent and I will then hear them in that accent if I know it or if they are yelling/crying or whispering etc. I do like how that comment made you think about how fast you speak may be tied to your reading speed.
Thanks for posting a vid about this. I read a lot from the community post you had recently, and it's so interesting to see different experiences of reading when it comes to visualization and voices.
I had a college friend before who was Chinese and she told me she was taught to fast read by not doing subvocalization. I didn't believe her at first, so I tested her. I gave her I think 30 seconds (forgot the exact time but very short) to read 2 pages, and then I quizzed her after. She got all my questions right. Still couldn't imagine how you can read without voices... She said it took a lot of practice.
Thank you Katie!
Thank you Katie…this is indeed an endlessly fascinating conversation for the bookish community. I particularly enjoyed the distinction between visual and audio imagination and also when these distinctions are applied to fiction and non-fiction. Personally I visualise when I read fiction but now that I think about it I don’t when I read non-fiction which intrigues me. Since you first mentioned this topic in that initial video I’ve been thinking about it every time I pick up a book. Wonderful video.
Thanks very much!
I have always felt like a very slow reader. On kindle the "time remaining" usually goes up instead of down for the first chunk of the book. But very recently I realized the length of the audiobook will be pretty much exactly how long it takes me to read something. (I don't listen to audiobooks, I have audio processing issues and I hate them.) I do subvocalize, and do not visualize anything. As far as other senses, spatial and proprioception. I do have a sense of the space the characters are in, and if an author describes a position or movement that's not possible it will jump out at me. When it comes to general prevalance of subvocalization, I think it's important to note that when I was in school teachers actively tried to suppress subvocalization. It was considered to be "immature" or a sign of a "poor reader". Studies since then have shown it probably improves comprehension and retention, but just FYI there may be some cultural baggage around it depending on where/when people were in school.
I think it would be interesting to study how people feel about description vs visualizers and subvocalizers, and also sensitivity to rhythm/cadence in prose for the two groups.
This is interesting - I had no idea teachers used to try and suppress subvocalisation.
I was one of the little visual imagination and a slow reader. I think I'd be a four. I often see outlines or silhouettes of a scene but there's no detail. (though this crosses words too, I have a good memory for facts but if you asked me to tell you the lyrics of my favourite song I'd be able to summarize it but I wouldn't get the words right)
I don't really have different voices for people in my head, everyone ends up with a British accent something I was relentlessly teased about because often characters aren't British, my accent is not very good and I do without even noticing. But even when alone I often mouth or speak aloud every word. I see words much more clearly than scenes.
And the same is true when I write, I'll end up talking aloud without noticing. I even did it with schoolwork.
Haha I love that you are subvocalising in a British accent!
Such a fun and fascinating video Katie! I do wonder about correlation and causation though because I have a vivid visual imagination and I don't get along with Donna Tart and Hemingway either! I also don't get a lot our of nature descriptions even though I can imagine them. I had no idea you slowed down your videos! I wish my inner speech was faster so I could read faster too lol. I've been trying to develop the skill to read without subvocalizing (so I can read faster, I've seen it recommended for that purpose) but it takes time to learn to do it while fully absorbing/retaining what you're reading as you go. But in the meantime it's not fun because I don't feel like I'm absorbing what I'm reading so I question if it's worth it to sacrifice enjoyment for speed for an undefined amount of time. I feel like no, ah reader problems!
I often visualize the words on the page. Often? Always. My reading experience has always been decidedly cinematic. This is difficult at times, almost impossible sometimes, depending on the author. I do wonder if this is because the author didn't/doesn't have a visual imagination.... Also, some books are largely internal or introspective, something that does not translate to a visual experience.
I suspect I visualize so strongly due to my slow reading pace. I'm somewhat dyslexic, regardless how avid and voracious a reader I am. I do wonder, though. Descriptions of dyslexia never match my struggle with the written word. I find myself often rereading words and passages two or three times, and then sometimes vocally to decipher a word, phrase, passage, sentence, or paragraph, to understand its meaning.
I once thought myself stupid - thanks to the 1970s elementary school system - placed in "special reading class" when I could not keep up with my classmates. I was rather young when I began school, and struggled with most subjects, until my parents were advised by my far more inspired and sympathetic than average school principle to hold me back in Grade 2. I was a better student after that, but reading remained a challenge, and still does despite my decades of skill. Thus my suspicion that I'm something of a dyslexic, if undiagnosed.
I do wonder how common my experience is.
No matter, I adore reading. It is by far my preferred pastime.
Love your channel, Katie. It is inspirational.
This is really interesting! What happens in the brain is so automatic, I’ve not given it much thought. I definitely feel that I will be more self-aware next time I read! (It’s like when someone asked me if I dream in black and white or colour and my immediate reaction was Of course it’s colour, but then when really I thought about it, I was less sure). I would say I do have a visual imagination when I read, I do subvocalise (a word I don’t think I’d heard before today haha) and I do have an inner monologue, but…. After watching this video I feel I will be much more aware of when I’m doing it, and which one dominates in different circumstances. Of course, this now means my reading will be even slower because I’ll be stopping to ask myself what is happening in my brain! Hahaha
I have been extra conscious of all this stuff in the last month while thinking about making this video!
I can hear glasses clink and music in the background IF that is described, NOT to mention smell and feel heat. This was particularly noticeable when I read BlackBerry Wine by Joanne Harris. I thought EVERYONE was the same, It's a fasci atikng subject.
I think I am a visual reader. If I can't picture motion pictures of what I read, it's hard for me to get into a novel 😀. I also imagine different voices for the characters 😅
Here's an interesting question: for those who visualise, how much do TV and movie adaptations enhance or detract from what you imagine when you're reading? For example, I just read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time, and I bet you can imagine which actor I had in my head, even though I saw the film over 30 years ago and barely remember it. But it bothered me. It's why, when I learn that a book has been adapted and I haven't read it, I will always try to read it first.
My native language is chinese. I think i am also a fast resder for English. I do not visualise as well while reading, both English and chinese.
I am about a 1 on the Aphantasia scale, but it does depend how ' into ' the book.
Hemingway, JRRT, and Hardy, some of my favorite writers are, as you state, VERY "visual-inducing" artists. I think that suggests I'm likely at the lower rather than the upper end of the scale. I don't know Donna Tartt. Is she a lemon or a strawberry, or a bird of a different feather?
However, you have not mentioned George Eliot, a very dense, word-heavy writer that bores me to tears. I believe I've heard you say you struggle with George (Mary Ann as was), too, so perhaps she really is just bad or overrated?
I'm a slow reader, too, and SV when I face a text.
In fact, here is a nightmare vignette for you to add to your collection. I've joked with my son about it and refer to this condition as Letters to My Sister. I don't actually have a sister, but when I was really ill a half dozen years ago, I had several episodes of sleeplessness where I could not shut off my brain. The nightmare was a never-ending scroll of mostly senseless text, words upon words (with vocalization), with occasional excerpts about my sister's new pillow or purse or similar nonsense. I am not crazy, but these episodes were truly terrifying.
Perhaps this gives us glimpses of what hellscapes will be like for the word obsessed, as opposed to endless potholed highways for coach drivers, or miles of glass-enclosed butcher display cases for cannibals?
This is interesting. Yes, I really don't get on with George Eliot either - perhaps she is also a more visual writer? I'm not sure - I just find her quite dense. That sounds like a terrifying nightmare!
Sometimes I have dreads that are reams of text in Microsoft Word. I work a lot in Track Changes as an editor and writer, and a couple of times, I've had dreams of endless documents marked up with Track Changes 😅
I find that I stumble over words and my reading is far from fluid ! I wonder if my brain and eyes aren't quite synchronised .
Yikes. We all have our crosses to bear.
I’d be interested to know if this impacts the way children play at school - like in junior school, my friends and I played a LOT of ‘let’s pretend’ games, and visualisation was vital, as we were just in a concrete box essentially
Now, this is interesting because I used to play a lot of make-believe games when I was a kid, but I was never visualising anything - I was just making up stories.
So to give examples about visualisation, when I read Harry Potter now that we know how the movie actors and locations look like, I have random imaginations of non movie scenes as well when I read
But for example in case of Wuthering Heights I have not seen any visual adaptations of it, so I imagine almost nothing, however, since it is emphasised how Heathcliff is a foreigner, I have some distinction in my head, where in he does not look like the other characters but i still dont really imagine Heathcliff to resemble any actual human being, but I do imagine the locations to be something. It's not nothing in my head. But it's almost nothing. 😅
Or for example I am currently reading Lorna Doone and I have absolutely no imagination about anything in it.
Interestingly the harry potter thing does not apply in case of sherlock. though I loved the series Sherlock and I watched it before I read the books, I still don't imagine any of the characters to resemble the series actors.
About subvocalisation, I turn it off and on when I want it, so for example I read the time traveler's wife recently and I read it throughout with subvocalisation on, because it was a book that asked for it, if that makes sense
However i am not doing it as I read lorna doone.
Wow what a rich topic to think and interact about
I can't turn on subvocalisation in non fiction, so it's hard for me to engage with non fiction. Yes, I also turn off subvocalisation in fiction when I just can't get along with the book, this happened to me with a hundred years of solitude, and I am not comfortable with dnfing a book so I finished it without subvocalisation which further distances me from the book.
I absolutely have to subvocalise in case of emails and texts, even comments on videos like this etc because I can't read these without subvocalising
I also hadn't realised till you pointed this out about other senses, but if i eat something while reading a book, i am constantly craving that particular food every time I resume reading that book
I definitely stopped subvocalising with A Hundred Years of Solitude, too!
I think it’s interesting about it is not necessary for writers to have a visual imagination. I feel that an overly descriptive book of scenery for me is something I skim. I still have a visual imagination so it’s not crystal clear. I am more interested in the feeling of a scene than how it looks. So I think it’s a valid point that it is not necessary to have a visual imagination for writing. This brings about an interesting thought about how this is executed on the page as a writer. If you look at descriptions in different books, could you extrapolate how an authors brain works? Would you then say that Thomas Hardy has more of a visual imagination and Jane Austen isn’t? As a writer myself having looked closely at these writers you notice one is very descriptive and the other is minimalist and keeps to essentials. Example would be that Elizabeth is given only a few visual distinctions. This is true also of the benefit sisters as well. We do not have a detailed list of their appearances. Cannot recall for scenery but if my memory serves it wasn’t as detailed as other writers. Your thoughts?
That's a good point - Jane Austen very rarely gives visual details, and perhaps that was because she didn't have much of a visual imagination. And perhaps Hardy did! So interesting.
26:00 😂
Are there writers who are Visual? More Visual than others?