I have many weaknesses as a writer—too numerous to mention. But one, I realise, is probably more off-putting to readers than the rest.
My descriptions, especially of people.
“I want to know what happens in the story. Who cares what they look like?” I ask myself.
Well, a lot of people, it turns out. People who have a better imagination than I.
I can’t remember the faces of people I know in real life. Can’t conjure their image even if I’ve known them since I was a child. When I think of them, appearance isn’t something my brain provides. When I try, the image it conjurers is unusually their profile photo from social media. (I can recognise them when I see them. Usually. If I know them well. Voices I remember.)
It’s one of those things that you don’t realise about yourself until you learn that others aren’t like that. Some people, when reading, apparently have a full technicolour film running through their head. When I read, I can follow the action, gestures, thoughts. But unless it’s somehow part of the story, (he had a vicious scar from his vicious past, or only one eye that unnerved people when it fixed on them…) the face just doesn’t appear. It’s blurred out. Many times, their body is a blur, too. Clothing almost never distinguishes itself unless minutely portrayed by the author.
There is a word for not being able to imagine anything.
Aphantasia.
I can bring fuzzy images to mind, so I’m at least somewhat phantasic, I just can’t help but feel that a writer ought to be vividly phantasic. (I keep wanting to spell it, phantasTic.)
I’m not going to give up on writing, of course. I love stories and storytelling. But this is something that I will have to be more mindful of, and take care to practice going forward.
Do you also imagine vaguely? Or do you have the full movie going all the time? Let me know in the comments, I’d really like to know how many people are vivid imaginers and how many aren’t.
5 replies on “Phantasia”
I’ve never felt like your writing lacked in this way, but then again, I prefer vague physical descriptions for characters XD. It’s more vivid when not everything has been predetermined and the characters’ actions help build how I see them. And you do character development very well.
Aphantasia, that’s interesting. I think I’m somewhere between full technicolor film and aphantasia lol.
I consume entire book series and movies without knowing what anyone or anything looks like. I often don’t even remember the names of main characters, usually it’s “that sister who betrayed the main character” or something. I really wanted to like but didn’t know how to play DnD 😂
I wouldn’t worry overly much about descriptions to be honest – there is something soothing about a very concise and concrete story, where I never felt like I had to at least skim paragrahs of description in case I missed an important detail. Whatever descriptive detail is in the story is IMPORTANT to the story and not just fluff. Perhaps I actually prefer my descriptions in an appendices or something.
I am actually with you on this one. I don’t enjoy when writers spend a whole page describing something. It’s a bit of a turn off for me, especially at the beginning of the book when I finish chapter 1, not having the foggiest idea what the story is going to be about. I definitely prefer jumping straight into plot, and Discovering details as they are relevant e.g. finding out what clothing someone is wearing when they look at themselves in the mirror, Or puts something in their pocket. That’s actually One of the things I love most about your writing! In saying that I would still read it with the descriptions 😅
I have complete aphantasia. I don’t think I’m less of a person or creative for it. I’m told people can’t tell in my writing, I’ve just learned to use reference photos for places, people, etc. There are workarounds for everything. I prefer reading stories without pages of flowery descriptions, as it’s does nothing for me.
That’s an excellent idea! I know people use story boards for their writing, and I never thought it was for me, but it could be so useful reference photos for faces. Brilliant. I’m glad to see in the comments that people don’t seem to depend on description as much as I feared.