How do you visualize when reading

[Synamon]

Words and phrases have meaning and emotion all their own. I don't visualize books, I experience the words (for both text and audiobooks).

[QuantumIguana]

Objects, people and events all have a spacial context. I can't get in someone's head, of course, but it is hard for me to imagine not visualizing it. How would I make sense of a scene if I don't visualize the space in which events take place? If text describes a gun on the table, an image of a gun on a table appears. My visualization isn't highly detailed, more like an impressionist painting.

[Sweetpea]

I see a video in my mind. That's also why I almost never liked films/tv-shows based on books. They never look the same as I imagined them and thus the pictures don't match...

Also, when I think about a book I've read earlier, I rather remember the images than the text.

Oh, and about audiobooks: whenever I read those, I visualise a person, sitting in a chair, with a microphone in front of him, and a book on his lap....

[Kumabjorn]

I have this weird notion that I read it in my head using the accent of the writer, provided I know their background. For example, if I'm Reading something by an Irish author I'll read the whole book in a sort of Irish sing-song melody, if it is written by an Australian then it comes out in that accent. I should probably see a shrink.

[Sydney's Mom]

Especially when I read romances!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Words and phrases have meaning and emotion all their own. I don't visualize books, I experience the words (for both text and audiobooks).

Exactly. And that alternative is missing in the poll.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Objects, people and events all have a spacial context. I can't get in someone's head, of course, but it is hard for me to imagine not visualizing it. How would I make sense of a scene if I don't visualize the space in which events take place? If text describes a gun on the table, an image of a gun on a table appears. My visualization isn't highly detailed, more like an impressionist painting.

By building up the relations. The gun is on the table. The table is on the floor. Somebody is behind the table. And so on. Just like you have to do with dialog. You have to build up the logical consequences of what have been said and who know what and so on.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

I'm the same way. With a well written book I see the action as a video in my head. If I hit a 'glitch' such as really bad grammar, misspelled words, or something not consistent with that universe than I find myself thrown out of the story and have to stop to check what the problem was. It happens even with the best of books sometimes, but is really annoying when it happens a lot. It's like having the video freeze up until I get past it.

On a book I'm really enjoying, I don't really remember seeing the pages.

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

This sums up my own experience nicely as well.

Same for me on all counts. And my mind fills in any missing details, so it's generally best that I avoid most movies based on books because it's just too jarring. It can also be awkward in series books when additional details are given later on that don't mesh with what I originally filled in. "But... I thought the table was on the other side of the kitchen!"

When I later think back on something I read, it's like re-watching the video - it plays out visually in my mind as it did when reading it.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I think I mostly read the words. I do usually have a mental picture of the characters' appearance, houses, etc. That said, I read fairly quickly, and if the descriptive passages are too long, I tend to skim them, so it is possible my mental pictures are not entirely as the author intended

That pretty much is me. I don't skim much, but am likely to actually skip long descriptive passages. I can always go back and sometimes do.

I don't see video like scenes or hear the words spoken but I often have strong opinions as to the appearance of the characters, and even stronger ones as to voice type. How I arrive at those opinions I do not know. Rarely are they overridden by a movie adaptation, but occasionally. Martin Shaw is George Gently!

I do see still images of characters, animals and even houses or trees but not all of the time. If the description is detailed I am less likely to visualize, although who knows what my brain is really doing. If I don't understand the description then I may actually try to visualise.

The movie in the head thing sounds lovely, but I don't seem to have the right mental prowess for it. I can't decorate worth a damn either

Helen

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

The movie in the head thing sounds lovely, but I don't seem to have the right mental prowess for it.

How fast do you read, and what kind of novels do you read?

If they are slow novels with lots of dialog and background story, it's much harder to get this movie thing going than if they are fast paced action novels.

I actually read the latter (much) faster than the former.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

How fast do you read, and what kind of novels do you read?

If they are slow novels with lots of dialog and background story, it's much harder to get this movie thing going than if they are fast paced action novels.

I actually read the latter (much) faster than the former.

I read novels with a lot of dialog much master than novels with a lot of descriptions. To me it seems that my process to experience the dialog is much faster than the process of understanding or experiencing a description.

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

With a well written book I see the action as a video in my head. If I hit a 'glitch' such as really bad grammar, misspelled words, or something not consistent with that universe than I find myself thrown out of the story and have to stop to check what the problem was. It happens even with the best of books sometimes, but is really annoying when it happens a lot. It's like having the video freeze up until I get past it.

On a book I'm really enjoying, I don't really remember seeing the pages.

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

Books I don't like take forever. Books I enjoy end too quickly.

I'm with you on all of the above that's pretty much a perfect description of my experience too. And like Sweetpea and CWatkinsNash, watching films based on books I've read is rarely a good idea As an aside, I don't particularly like watching films or tv series anyway, mostly because obviously there's no room for me to imagine anything and I find that really annoying

[Pangolin]

I don't often 'see' the action but I do sometimes see the people, Tartt's Secret History, Buddy was Philip Seymore Hoffman so strongly that I thought he'd actually played him, as a young man. Then I realised the timing was out so he couldn't have. It was almost hallucinatory. I was so sure.
Otherwise the words just pour out and bypass a visual stage, or just don't go through one. I tend to prefer books that play with words and tone and language more than paint pictures, something I hadn't thought of before
Cool poll, thanks. Everyone's answers are really intriguing.

[Pangolin]

Synamon with the pink rabbit slippers - exactly.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

How fast do you read, and what kind of novels do you read?

If they are slow novels with lots of dialog and background story, it's much harder to get this movie thing going than if they are fast paced action novels.

I actually read the latter (much) faster than the former.

My reading speed varies and action novels or those that are all about the story without long descriptions go much faster. Lots of dialogue or where a lot of the narration is in a characters head I read 100+ pages an hour. Epic fantasy with world building etc. maybe 50 pages an hour.

In either case I don't see videos or even an interactive picture. I usually have a strong idea what the characters look and sound like but it is pretty static. I don't see the character running through the bushes, or hugging or dancing etc.

Despite this I enjoy many books to the point of pheromones (warm fuzzy ones)being generated so I'm not whining. But I would also like to see the video if I could

Helen