WHAT DO YOU PICTURE WHEN YOU READ? 

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I'm in complete agreement with Madison. Honestly if I didn't have this movie playing in my head I 100% would never pick up a book. The screenplay makes it so much better and honestly determines whether or not a book will be finished (I.e. is the movie I'm picturing good enough to 'keep watching') Edit: This was also a dope topic. Also, 5

I usually get a dream-like scene. I can’t get the details, unless it’s a really descriptive, immersive book like Name of the Wind. Especially with faces, I picture everybody’s face as pretty hazy

5. I’m very similar to Madison. I’ve always said ‘a book is just a movie you can pick up anytime’ lmao if a fiction book can’t make me visualize a scene well enough I typically put it down.

I find this so interesting. I'm not a visual reader at all, never have been. At uni, I lived with this guy who had a crazy visual imagination. He said it was as if his memories were a movie, and he was able to shift the 'camera' around, change perspective, replay certain moments etc. Whenever telling a story, I noticed he would struggle to filter out relevant/pertinent details. He'd easily go off on tangents, or take too long describing something that had nothing to do with, well... anything. He was baffled by the idea of me not really 'seeing' much in my head.

I’m like Madison. Literally the exact same no cap. No matter what I read.

I can definitely get visuals here and there but they come and go. If a book is really engaging and well written/easy it’s like a full blown scene but if it’s a difficult book than not so much because I’m too much in my head trying to interpret what I’m reading

Late to the conversation, but I'm definitely in the same boat as Maddison. When I read, a movie basically plays out in my head and I'm able to come up with faces and pretty detailed images of characters. I think it's probably because I draw and paint too so I'm inclined to be more visual. It definitely makes reading a fun experience!

Bit late to this vid but, I'm closer to Nate on this. I don't automatically imagine any visuals when I read, but when an image is particularly interesting, or described really vividly, I think that I consciously try to come up with an image in my head, but it takes some extra effort, and sometimes I'll have to reread the last sentence or two to do it. It's hardly ever like a movie though, just still pictures of details here and there, so what Madison was describing is pretty crazy to me. I'm reading the Lord of the Rings rn, and Tolkien describes things in so much detail and with such a good balance of physical details and abstract impressions that sometimes it feels like a disservice to not try and picture it. On the other hand, when there's a long and specific passage about a feature of the landscape, it can take sone time and effort to fully picture it for me, and so I often won't. Gotta say some of the images I make are really hazy though, like I still don't have a clear image of Durin's Bane cause the way it's described is pretty abstract. I'm probably a 2/5 on the scale. Thanks for starting the discussion, this is really interesting!

It's always a movie for me. I read 100 Years of Solitude for the first time last year and that shit was a feature film lol. 5/5

I often imagine scenes in books, not as they actively play out the whole time but i can see the setting where a scene takes place and i can see like freezeframes or clips.

I see scenes when I read too. Even if it's philosophy I'm imagining some old dude lecturing me.

Big Nate and Madison chillin in the grey zone post apocalypse

I do picture images when reading but they are like dreams, for example: I picture like real life people with cartoons or anime characters

What’s your literary inner dialogue? I see a full on movie as well. When jm reading, it’s like a whole trip.

5. I see it as a movie playing in my head.

Yes, I picture what I’m reading as a movie! It makes it so much more fun. On the scale it would be a 4 😅 I loved this video! Also I now wanna get a glasses chain bc of you lol

I visualize what I'm reading, but I'm no Fellini, my mind movies are pretty basic. Tell me if this is weird, I read 1984 and Frankenstein and visualized them in black and white. I also read The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis and I visualized some of it in black and white and some parts in color, like the fancy cars the characters were driving, and album covers of the music that was being described. This is such a cool cannel, keep up the good work Nate.

I'm with you, I only get a little visual when I read. Sometimes I forget I'm reading and get completely immersed and I do read visually, but most of the time not so much. Hard to read visually with the ADHD though haha

I would say I’m like a 2 or 3 on the scale because similar to Nate I just picture select images that stand out in the text and it’s not really like a constant linear movie playing out but more like periodic images popping into my head here and there. Loved this video!!

At fist a thought she was translating into sing Language.

Happy New Year Big Dawg, I try to imagine when I'm reading but I think I'm a lil creatively challenged fr. If an author is goin krazy on the imagery I go on Bing and use the AI image creator so that I can get some type of image of it to get a Pic in my mind. It depends tho tbh cause sometimes I might jus have a soundtrack in my head playing if some intense shi happening, and if the book got pictures in it I can fasho imagine movie scenes every now and then. I would give it like a 2 out of 4 how vivid it is, depending on if I'm blazin while readin. i'm more like you tho for sure, most of the times it's jus words on paper for me

I’m like Madison and I think that’s why I lean more towards fantasy books because it’s always like a movie in my head and it’s so detailed. Sometimes I’ll read character descriptions and my brain will just be like “lol no” and override it and just kind of make up its own character. like for the longest time I thought Isabelle lightwood from the mortal instruments series was a dark skinned southeast Asian girl and was so confused when I would see fan art of some pale girl😭

I am not even kidding. I don't even read books anymore -- teetering on edge of iliteracy -- but I watch these videos for moments like these where you're cheering on each other's interests & reading journeys rather than getting inspiration for what to read or how to improve my reading behavior or lackthereof. Y'all are just such wholesome siblings with quite a good understanding & openness with one another. Like you two could be some cute animated show about two pothead siblings obsessed with reading & mythology -- & people would be in love with the sweetness & charm of it all.

Im starting to love this channel. This concept of great too 📸

I don't picture anything when I read tbh it's a void up there. if anything i see like the words on the page individually in my head. I'm not a very visual thinker in general though and I don't really picture anything in general. I have to write or draw things out when i'm trying to have a thought process i think bc I don't really have a mental image of it until it's actually on a page in front of me

I don't literally see anything different while reading but I do still add details and stuff when I'm reading descriptions and relate it to something similar that I've seen

I usually see bodies and faces / backgrounds / silhouettes and I’ll either see them in motion or still frames (depending on the scene in the book). In terms of what characters look like, I usually see a drawn version (think anime or painting) or I’ll “cast” real life actors in my own version of the movie if a movie adaption doesn’t already exist. I don’t always visualize like this but since I’ve watched more films and appreciated more art, I’ve developed more imagination I think and it’s made reading very engaging.

I’m definitely a 5 or even more, like I’m out this world, it’s even madder when I’m baked and reading 😭

I didn't fully appreciate how visual a reader I am until I chatted with my friend with aphantasia. He doesn't read at all, but when I read it's def like a movie. I've even had moments where cinematography and camera choices happened like magic in my own brain. If the writing is confusing enough though this doesn't happen so well... I read a lot of fanfiction and a lot of the time new writers can get kind of tangled up in the blocking--espescially for sex scenes--so if it's not something i'm invested in picturing myself I'm just like "...ok but... where are everybody's hands?" plus I write quite a bit myself, so avoiding just flatly describing the movie i'm seeing in my head has been a long hard lesson. After all, books are uniquely positioned to display character's thoughts! If i'm not taking advantage of literature's unique strengths what's even the point? One thing I found that kind of circumvents this bad habit is writing fanfiction of characters texting each other. That adds a level of abstraction to the point where I don't bother picturing what the characters are doing wihle they're typing. It's a neat challenge--though it messes up my writing process because I need to physically type out the writing to write it? I can usually picture it in my head, but when it's writing it's not so simple This stuff is pretty interesting! Reading through this comment section is a blast lol

Depends on the type of book. Certain nonfiction works (self-help, psychology, etc) I just process the words without any visuals but for fiction I always see vivid imagery

When I read a book with body horror my skin crawls. When books describe smells it's like I can almost smell them (not literally but I remember what said thing smells like). Like if a book mentions an apple pie imma be thinking about the smell of that apple pie. Reading is very sensory for me.

Definitely picture stuff while I read. I’d rate it a 3-4 because sometimes I have trouble picturing a character so that picture isn’t as clear🤷‍♂️

i always visualize but the style/genre of the imagery is based on the main character or narrator. also too based on whether im familiar with the setting, then my own memories become layered with the imagination. too me that makes the whole experience!

Definitely imagining a scene, in terms of scale is more like a 4. But, when i read Murakami’s Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki, the last part when he went overseas made me feel like i was there with him even like hearing sounds well maybe just imagining it but it felt real.

a lot of the time my brain will imagine characters as people i know in real life

I think it’s a 3.5 for me. I constantly have images but it’s it’s kinda like a mix between the imagery on the page and memories from my own life. For me it’s like a comic where I get a still image that slightly develops as the description continues and if I’m really into it the still images come faster and faster until it’s essentially animated. But when it’s something emotionally familiar I get flashes from my own life and faces of people or duration who have made me feel that way. I pull myself back into focus by really just trying to see the image described on the page and keep going What you said about the adding extra details yourself when imaging is why I feel like people always say the book is better than the movie, because when you read the book you have full control of what you see and it makes sense to you, but when it’s a movie, they could have chosen to put the character in a dress that you find ugly, or the house might now be as grand to you, etc. even if details are wrong/not intended when you imagine them, your brain has created something that makes the most slot sense and evokes the emotion intended by the author which I would argue is more important

Nate ‘Da Great’ is back Boi !!!!

On the scale you mentioned its a 5/5 for me. Like Madison said, it is as if a movie is playing inside my head. You mentioned just seeing the words, for me a sentence or 2 into reading i stop noticing the words and just "see" the movie playing. Kind of when you think of memories and look up at the ceiling. You are technically still just looking at the ceiling, but in your head you are reliving past moments. When reading its like i am reliving someone elses past memories. You also mentioned something about misinterpreting a book, or just visualizing things wrong. While most of the time that doesn't seem to be the caser (or very mildly), there have been moments where i imagined someone bedroom for example in a specific way and later on we got a description of the room which forced me to rethink how the room is structured. Overall i constantly see and know what's going on. I can give you tours of some of the houses i read about, or cities, or even worlds tbh. Especially with fantasy when there are maps included, i always know in which part of the city we are, how everything looks, how it feels to be there, how it smells there... . You might have something called "aphantasia". Basically you just can't imagine things as well as others.

Hey man, have you read brothers karamazov? I’m reading it rn and I’d love to know your thoughts!

i think im a 4? because i definitely see things but it also depends on how the book is written, like im seeing through the main characters “eyes” so i cant see their face. But i also use inspiration from things ive seen in real life, so a fantasy book can tell me all about someones silver hair that glows in the sun like what are u talking about im imagining utah mom curls silver

Sis is so pretty by the way 😍🫶

Very wavy thank you

I get fractions of imagery, never like I’m watching a movie but quick snippets of .. imagery which is 80 % transparent with 15% standard deviation. That’s the formula; I look forward to your letters..

Have you read Piranesi? I thought that was a very visual book. Some books are more visual than others, so I think my level of visualization varies, because I'm not that good at picturing faces, but I can really picture places. I would say I'm more on the movie side of things though. Minus faces? It's also hard to read books visually if they're written in a way that's hard to understand. On 1-5, I would say 3.5. Not as vivid as your sister though

Absolutely a fucking movie playing in my mind.. but like a VR movie.. literally inside the world being described looking around.. when I read a song of ice and fire the white walkers scared the fuck out of me because it felt so real like I was there face to face with them.. I cant imagine not seeing it.. that would be so fucking boring

1 or 2 depending on the book. Relate to most things Nate said

I'm a visual reader. I definitely imagine the scene, the characters and all that shit. So, books that are deemed "too cinematic" are never a problem for me. There is a name for people who can't picture anything in their "mind's eye". There are a few people I know that just can't build that scene in their own imagination.

Deadass !! An Entire Netflix Series is playing in my head while I read. Facts !!

I don’t see shit.