How do I visualize a scene better in my head?

How do I visualize a scene better in my head?
I've started reading recently. It's pretty interesting, but I find that when I'm reading, I don't really see the scene in my head like what some of my friends say they do.
I just process it as something happening, or attribute traits to things that they were told to possess. And when I try to visualize, for example, the layout of a certain room or a house as described on a novel, my mind just fails to make an image of it.

You might have Aphantasia but I'd suggest improving your vocabulary recognition, maybe take a walk in the woods.

You are not the "How do I learn to think guy" by any chance? Where are you mental halflings coming from?

It's important to think about how seeing something in your head is different from seeing it in real life, and how in other ways it is similar.
Don't put too much thought into specifics, especially if the book is very heavy in pointless detail. If you were in a room talking to people you wouldn't focus on small details of a room, you would focus on the people.
When you are doing something in real life, you can see everything, but your mind is not like that, especially when you are trying to read at the same time. If you focus on small details you will be bogged down, and unable to visualize the important things.
It's also good to practice. Reading more will help, but there are other ways too. Just close your eyes and try to imagine scenarios, maybe when you are trying to fall asleep. Or listen to an audio version of a play or some other kind of audio only media, or just close your eyes during a tv show, you will be able to visualize what is happening based on the information given, and what you can naturally infer. This is more important than being able to visualize detail. If you can visualize without specific instructions in this way, then all forms of visualizing will become easier.

I don't think I have Aphantasia. I can sort of visualize things, but not very well. Almost like a child's drawing or something (At least when I'm trying to construct an image from written word. I can recall things I've seen with my own eyes reasonably well). I would try to improve my vocabulary recognition though. And that walk too. I think maybe actually experiencing the real world might help me visualize things more.


No, I'm not that guy.

I'll read more and see if it improves. I'll also try some audio only media. Do you have any suggestions for that? I'm not really familiar with my options there.

Not OP, but still aphantasic: how useful is mental visualization when it comes to reading fiction? Could you read without it?

There are high quality audio versions of lots of plays available through services like audible, or itunes. You may be able to find some good ones on youtube, but I don't know.
Things like Shakespeare, though that might be too difficult, or Ancient Greek plays like Oedipus. I don't know very much about contemporary plays, but there is a lot available. Just see if anything interests you.
Plays are probably the best, Because they are written with reliance on speech, but with the visual aspect also in mind, meaning you won't write off the visualization entirely, in favor of the more important speech.
You could also listen to podcasts, but many of those might be too rooted in being audio only to actually help with visualizing.
I'd also recommend just listening to an episode of a sitcom like Seinfeld or something. The visuals are important, but take a back seat to conversation, and the setting is consistent, making it easier to visualize.
You don't have to, but if have a hard time reading without it. It helps to make scenes more real, and makes symbolism stronger, but most importantly, it makes reading more fun.

I'll try the audible free trial since I have a long commute usually. After that, I'll check to see if I can find any on YouTube. Thanks, user.

How about stopping during reading and try to remember the sequence, but as if remembering something that happened last week that you forgot and a friend is telling you about. The way the brain reconstructs memories is quite remarkable, you can remember things that never actually happened.

I'd be interested to know how prevalent this issue is on Veeky Forums because it's an issue I have too.

I'm reading Blood Meridian at the moment and I've easily imagined fights in bars or characters riding horses with a thunderstorm looming above them. But most of the time my mind reminds blank.

I wonder if it's a concentration issue because it often feels like my mind wants to race forward and so might not pay enough attention to individual parts in order to visualize them.

Do fast readers find visualizing easy?

I often substitute the layout of my own home or a building I often visit while adding in the characteristics the book gives me.

Do people actually see stuff in like clear 1080p detail inside of their heads?

I do this, kind of frustrates me. Also don't imagine voices unless I force it

Human memory is really, really awful. If you want to preserve something accurately you need to put it to paper as soon as possible.

I don't think so, or at least I can't.
If I really get into it, I can see pretty clearly, it's different from seeing with your eyes though.
I'd relate it to singing a song in your head. It's probably pretty removed from the actual song, but you can make it seem pretty exact.

>Try to write intricate fight scene
>Inevitably sound like a weeaboo trying to ape the Guy Ritchie Sherlock fights

why

>try to write spooky creepypasta
>end up sounding like a 3rd grader writing a horror film
end this

That is actually the point. Human memory is unreliable, but when people ask us about things we usually can give an answer. This is because the brain autocompletes the memory.

For example: If someone asks you what you ate last wednesday and you say you don't remember, and they say you had an egg omelette, you say "aha! I remember!" Your visual cortex is filled with egg, your gustatory cortex activates, you taste the egg and cheese, you smell the frying pan, all spliced together from previous memories of egg and cheese and totally independent of having actually eaten that meal that day.

I listen to music to jump start my brain. It's the only way I can visualize things clearly.

I do this too, and every scene in the book will basically end up taking place in my home town. My mind automatically associates every scene with spots I've frequently visited. Shit is annoying.

Is it really necessary to visualize scenes while reading?

Fuck you too you faggot I can visualize even when playing games

Imagine you have to turn the book into a movie (either hollywood style of indepdent). You have to write and direct the actors then edit the film.

Unlike movies in real life, the image you have in your head will be exactly replicated. So the pacing, voices and descriptions of the actors you think of while reading it.

What is she doing to that bun?!

I want to be that bun

I can't really visualize specific details. Like if a book starts describing a gothic castle, I'll create an image of a gothic castle in my head with the mood that the text gives off, but if I really pay attention to the details I realize that the geometry of what I create is completely different from the actuality. So I just focus on getting the feel of what's described rather than accurate details.

This.

>tfw can't visualize anything now after looking up Aphantasia

I've always had a vivid imagination, I use it in my professional work of networks. I can literally picture how the packets are traveling, what tags they have, them changing colors after hitting a nat or getting routed in a particular protocol, etc.

I just did it every day since I was a child. I think you'd just need to practice. One thing you can do is assign characters faces you know and when they are describing a place just picture places you have been. Don't be incredibly detailed with it, just get a general picture in your head, your mind will deal with all the details on the backend.

Yes. You're disabled.