Apparently, most people have PICTURES in their imagination. What?!?! Not me. I've got aphantasia.
For most of my life, I thought that when people or guided meditations told me to "visualize", they were being figurative. Turns out...they meant it literally. But even without pictures in my head, I love to read and I love to write, and I write fantasy novels. Readers often tell me how vivid my books are. So, how do I do it?
In this video, I'll talk about my experience with aphantasia as a reader and a writer, and present a pretty bold theory as to why I think a lack of mental pictures might actually be a *help* to writers, rather than a hindrance. And I'd love to know about your experience, too!
Quick note on identity-first vs. person-first language in this video: I know that a lot of neurodivergent folks would rather have their diagnosis integrated with their identity, i.e. "an ADHDer" or "an autistic person" rather than "a person with [your neurodivergence here]". My personal preference for talking about my own aphantasia is "a person with aphantasia." Because even though it definitely makes me interact with, remember and maybe write about the world differently than most people, I still don't consider my life to be run by it. It's the only "normal" I've ever known, and I'd rather be a person first than a diagnosis. Your preference may be different, and that's okay! ^_^
RESOURCES:
"Vividness of Visual Imagery" quiz: https://aphantasia.com/vviq/
A quick overview of the phantasia spectrum: https://mashable.com/article/do-i-have-aphantasia-lack-of-visual-imagination