How do you read?

[past_perfect]

This may sound like a strange question - but I noticed something odd, when I read a couple of stories lately: Apparently I don't visualize at all, but literally get off ( - if they are good that is )on words... Since I am reasonably strange anyway I suppose that might not be universal... So my question(s): Do you visualize the scenarios depicted? If so, does your mind wander off to do that or is it more of a concurrent thing?

 

[English Lady]

If the story is good, the words melt away and I can see the scenes. I just re-read my favourite David Gemmell Book "Dark Moon" and from page one I am in the story, watching everything unfold. It's why i never finish a "bad" book -if I can't visualise the story, I can't read it.

 

[SweetErika]

This may sound like a strange question - but I noticed something odd, when I read a couple of stories lately: Apparently I don't visualize at all, but literally get off ( - if they are good that is )on words... Since I am reasonably strange anyway I suppose that might not be universal... So my question(s): Do you visualize the scenarios depicted? If so, does your mind wander off to do that or is it more of a concurrent thing?

I do the same as you with excellent stories or ideas that tap into my deepest fantasies, but I've never really stopped to analyze it before, so it seemed perfectly normal. I'm very visual in many respects, yet stories don't form particularly vivid images in my mind; it's more a matter of mentally placing myself in the action and feeling without necessarily seeing a lot.

Something I find strange: I never visualize a character's full face, and usually not their body, even when there's plenty of description. It's like I can see individual features, but never quite piece everything together. Everyone, myself included, in my fantasies are just "beings" who act and feel.

 

[past_perfect]

I do the same as you with excellent stories or ideas that tap into my deepest fantasies, but I've never really stopped to analyze it before, so it seemed perfectly normal. I'm very visual in many respects, yet stories don't form particularly vivid images in my mind; it's more a matter of mentally placing myself in the action and feeling without necessarily seeing a lot.

Something I find strange: I never visualize a character's full face, and usually not their body, even when there's plenty of description. It's like I can see individual features, but never quite piece everything together. Everyone, myself included, in my fantasies are just "beings" who act and feel.

Yes, I have the same disjointed images when I concoct my own fantasies or stories. And I just assumed the same thing happens when I read stories - but then I tried to figure out the different effects more or less detailed descriptions would have on a reader - and since I was the only guinea pig at hand, I read some stories under this premise - and was surprised that not even that faceless "being" thing occurred (although the stories worked very well in all other respects).

I thought about how that differs from reading non-erotic novels for instance - and recall distinctly that I try to visualize landscapes if the text is inviting and elaborate enough - but same thing there, I never actually assign faces to the main characters. Strange, since I consider myself to be a rather visual person too.

 

[past_perfect]

If the story is good, the words melt away and I can see the scenes. I just re-read my favourite David Gemmell Book "Dark Moon" and from page one I am in the story, watching everything unfold. It's why i never finish a "bad" book -if I can't visualise the story, I can't read it.

Well, it's a little different for me - somehow I sort of "feel" my way through books it would seem. An excellent example is "Abbe Mouret's transgression" by Emile Zola. Oddly enough the lavish descriptions of the garden and plantlife I do visualize - and since they are highly charged with sexuality (fab book btw) they do have an effect, but when it comes to the scenes of actual love-making I just don't picture it.
Perhaps I was a flower or tree in my previous life and its all just very new to me...

 

[cloudy]

I read much more critically than I used to. A good story will always be a good story, but sometimes I can be very caught up in what I'm reading, and then a badly constructed sentence, or really weird metaphor will sling me out of the story so fast it almost makes my head hurt.

I still love to read, but I just can't skip over that kind of thing anymore. Go figure.

 

[Lee Chambers]

I thought about how that differs from reading non-erotic novels for instance - and recall distinctly that I try to visualize landscapes if the text is inviting and elaborate enough - but same thing there, I never actually assign faces to the main characters. Strange, since I consider myself to be a rather visual person too.

I don't think it's strange to not really visualize faces. It takes a lot of concentration to bring to mind the detailed features of a persons face. I don't think many of us have that much concentration to fully conjure up a person's appearance and still visualize the action in the story.

When I read, often the clothes of the person will change in sublte ways, colors or styles, even if what they were wearing was described in detail. If it's a man wearing the fashion of the early nineteenth century, instead of trying to picture him wearing the jacket, pantaloons, cravat, and all that I simply see him wearing slacks, a jacket that somewhat resembles the period, and a white shirt beneath. This allows me to stay focused on the story and the characters.

I find that fashion and clothing and the details of a person's features matter little unless they're meant to stand out in some way that goes along with the story, such as a very noticeable scar or a piece of jewelry that a person wears all the time.

 

[SweetErika]

Yes, I have the same disjointed images when I concoct my own fantasies or stories. And I just assumed the same thing happens when I read stories - but then I tried to figure out the different effects more or less detailed descriptions would have on a reader - and since I was the only guinea pig at hand, I read some stories under this premise - and was surprised that not even that faceless "being" thing occurred (although the stories worked very well in all other respects).

I thought about how that differs from reading non-erotic novels for instance - and recall distinctly that I try to visualize landscapes if the text is inviting and elaborate enough - but same thing there, I never actually assign faces to the main characters. Strange, since I consider myself to be a rather visual person too.

At least now I have a buddy to be strange with.

Maybe there are different types of 'visual' people, and we're just not an image-oriented type.

I read much more critically than I used to. A good story will always be a good story, but sometimes I can be very caught up in what I'm reading, and then a badly constructed sentence, or really weird metaphor will sling me out of the story so fast it almost makes my head hurt.

I still love to read, but I just can't skip over that kind of thing anymore. Go figure.

I'll second that. I'm finishing up my first story now, and I've noticed I'm very focused on editing for things that might take someone like me out of the story. Thankfully, several of my beta readers and editor excel at sniffing those details out.

 

[Aurora Black]

I read much more critically than I used to. A good story will always be a good story, but sometimes I can be very caught up in what I'm reading, and then a badly constructed sentence, or really weird metaphor will sling me out of the story so fast it almost makes my head hurt.

I still love to read, but I just can't skip over that kind of thing anymore. Go figure.

I'm very visual, when reading as well as writing. If I can't settle into the story and watch the action like a movie, I won't enjoy it. I also agree with Cloudy; if I encounter something within the text that feels wrong (this applies to my stuff as well), it's like getting a bucket of ice water thrown in my face. I snap out of the reading trance and I'm like "What was that?"

 

[past_perfect]

I'm very visual, when reading as well as writing. If I can't settle into the story and watch the action like a movie, I won't enjoy it. I also agree with Cloudy; if I encounter something within the text that feels wrong (this applies to my stuff as well), it's like getting a bucket of ice water thrown in my face. I snap out of the reading trance and I'm like "What was that?"

When I am writing its a different story - I don't visualize faces when developing a story, but do describe features and expressions in great detail. It's cheating a bit though, as I am lazy enough to draw those from (fond) memories rather than visualizing a character made up from scratch.

Well, as far as reading is concerned, I have similar criteria coming from a different angle: If the "flow" of a story is disturbed somehow (unless I have the feeling it has been done on purpose), I lose interest or read on technically (again that means for me "it doesn't feel right"). When editing my own stuff, I have even stranger criteria: a sentence must have the right "melody" and it mustn't break the "theme" (in the musical sense). That's probably why only few sentences survive my editing process and it takes months to edit a story that initially took only a few hours to write (or never makes it to the editing phase).

At least now I have a buddy to be strange with.