I also have some facial blindness, I have never pictured faces when I read. I often don’t recognize any celebrities so I can’t pull from their faces. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s that I could even picture what the scene looked like in my head (with effort). I imagine I just read similarly to how someone with aphantasia reads. I mostly have a sort of mental checklist for character traits: their names, descriptive words (“curly black hair”, or “tall and lanky”). Even with these I don’t picture the characters, they’re just details. I suppose its less exciting to read when you don’t picture the book like a movie in your head, but it’s not like I can miss something I’ve never experienced.

I don’t have aphantasia, but i don’t picture faces in books unless the author is describing them in detail

If you worry facial blindless means you’re missing something other readers aren’t, I don’t think that’s necessarily true.

I don’t have facial blindless and I rarely imagine character faces, it’s just too detailed. I picture their body shape (skinny, short, obese, etc) clothing when it’s a useful characterization (are they in a 3-piece, a trenchcoat, stillettos), and other unique features (dramatic hairstyles, amputations). Or in fantasy, their entirely alien shapes.

You’re asking a question that compares your experience to others, and I’d be wary of the implied expectation of “normal” in that context.

I have a very vivid imagination while reading, to the point where I can almost forget that I am reading, like a movie playing in my head.

And while I do not have facial blindness, I try to not see faces of characters unless I am reading after having seen a tv/movie adaptation in which case it is near impossible not to see the characters from the screen while reading.

I instead try very hard to go by shapes starting from a blank canvas which is like a faceless mannequin or the of one with details filled out by what i read, such as a red lipstick, purple eyes or a smirk but it’s more like clear details on an otherwise blurry/faceless mannequin.

I picture the books I’m reading very vividly, but oddly I don’t really picture faces.

Instead, I usually make micro expressions with my own face, so I “act out” what the characters are doing with their faces. This helps me “picture“ what they’re expressions look like but without picturing their faces.

Imagine they have a tattoo of their name on their forehead.

I only picture faces if I’ve seen a movie adaptation of the book first and remember the actors.

I have this problem too. I create a cast for any book I’m reading. The cast is any celebrity that matches the description of the character of the book. The cast is based just on appearance. Sometimes I’ll even write it in a piece of paper. I hope this helps!

It’s not really a big deal, just don’t picture faces if doing so annoys you…

Heaps of people, including me, find it difficult to visualise anything at all, best I get is a very vague and fuzzy idea of something - and yet I manage to absolutely love reading books, as I have done for the last 45 years of my life. The name identifies a person, you don’t need to picture exactly what they look like as well to understand what’s happening in the book.

I make notes when I read as I write blog posts but it might help you if you need to memorise characters perhaps.

I never put a face to the characters I’ve ever read unless there was familiarity. It’s a mix of people I know that may be placed on the character.

my characters rarely have a face I visualize it’s more a tone/ feeling

Why are you picturing anything at all? Words are for reading, this isn’t a marvel movie

Oh this is actually a topic I got weirdly fascinated with and I think it’s related to whether or not a person thinks in words or images. It started when I asked my bilingual mother what language she thinks in and she said “What do you mean? Thoughts are pictures.” I think in words and this was absolutely wild to me. I can visualize things if I try, but by default I just hear the words in my head.

Turns out she’s a slower reader than me because she’s visualizing every detail by default. Meanwhile, I just read words and get the general emotions. But apparently most of the world is split into word-thinkers and picture-thinkers.

In short, I don’t picture faces at all. But if you’re usually a visual thinker, I’m guessing your facial blindness is conflicting with that. Not sure there’s a real answer to that conflict other than trying to let it go, but you might find this interesting: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/16/how-should-we-think-about-our-different-styles-of-thinking

I don’t have face blindness, but I still can’t picture new faces in my head. When I read a description of a face in a novel, I definitely don’t envision the features - just a blur.