This morning, I realized for the first time that my partner of 11 years has aphantasia–difficulty picturing things in his mind’s eye. I, on the other hand, have a very vivid mental camera.

I started thinking about our different reading preferences and wondering to what degree our mind’s eyes affect them. I read a lot of fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror in paperback and audio. My partner is a voracious reader of comics, graphic novels, and manga.

We also have different writing styles. I like to focus on the environment in my writing, and my partner often focuses on mechanics.

So I’m wondering: do you have aphantasia or not, or something in between? What do you like to read, and how does your inner perception affect the way you engage with the books?

  • freudi4nnip@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I have pictures, and find it quite distracting when the author doesn’t give me enough details to visualise the setting - I feel like I literally have to invent one in my head to be able to keep reading. This becomes a problem when someone does describe the visuals later on in the book - I have moments of “no it absolutely does not look like that!” with some books 😂