How do you usually imagine a world and its characters while reading a novel?

[Scaletalon]

It's a question that I've wondered for a bit. For me I would say it's usually live action or animation.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Anime because I am a weeb

 

[Dec]

Live action, anime, or RPG session. Depends on the genre and in what POV it is written.

 

[DeOwl]

I usually don't imagine the characters themselves surprisingly. Like I could read what a character looks like and then completely forget that info the next second.
If I were to describe it, I usually imagine the way the characters interact with the world using my inner monologue or, since I, most likely, have aphantasia I "imagine myself imagining" a scene if it makes sense? Like I know I see a scene but I don't know if I actually see it or am just bullshitting myself into believing I am seeing a scene.

 

[Navillus]

Anime and really really vividly... I am not satisfied if I cant feel what the characters feel... I like to feel like I am there so I pseudo-hypnotize myself-nya.

 

[Valmond]

I usually don't imagine the characters themselves surprisingly. Like I could read what a character looks like and then completely forget that info the next second.
If I were to describe it, I usually imagine the way the characters interact with the world using my inner monologue or, since I, most likely, have aphantasia I "imagine myself imagining" a scene if it makes sense? Like I know I see a scene but I don't know if I actually see it or am just bullshitting myself into believing I am seeing a scene.

Someone encountered Truck-kun a few times I see.

 

[Tempokai]

Manga illustrations. Basically, it's easier to imagine than anime and has more coherence than the imagination anime the brain produces. If you ever thought of thinking the complex actions in your imagination while projecting anime, you'll understand what I mean.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Probably closer to live action but kind of cartoonish backdrops I think. Never really analyzed it.

 

[owotrucked]

moving cut and paste collage art made of memories from manga/anime/drawings

I wonder if there are gigabrain people who actually have painting software in their head while reading

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

moving cut and paste collage art made of memories from manga/anime/drawings

Same. When I read a description of a character, my brain searches in its data base for a similar character. It can be a real life person, an anime, a comic, an illustration... Doesn't matter. And when there's a scene with two characters but they have different art styles in my imagination, my brain immediately blends the two styles. For exemple, I have Maria Carey speaking to Luffy from One Piece, so it will change the style into a more realistic anime style with 3D backgrounds. And oftentimes, this new style for the two characters will become the new one for my imagination going forward. So chapter 1 is patchwork, but by chapter 20 I start to have a solid visual representation of the story.

 

[LilRora]

Hard to specify because there's a very wide range of what each of those categories can be and they may overlap - 3d animation, depending on style, can look very similar to live action, to anime, or be completely different from both. For me, 3d animation feels best, but I tend to juggle between various styles depending mainly on what I'm reading.

 

[RainyLiquid]

I'm a weeb so...

 

[Dec]

I wonder if there are gigabrain people who actually have painting software in their head while reading

That would be me, animation, voices and SFX sounds included. But for this to work, the author needs to be really good at describing the scene. Otherwise all I get is a big sad.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Hentai

 

[l8rose]

I usually don't imagine anything. No moving pictures in my head or even imaging what characters look or sound like. It's a lot easier for me to picture things with my own writing but otherwise, it's like everything is blank in my head when I read.

 

[owotrucked]

Same. When I read a description of a character, my brain searches in its data base for a similar character. It can be a real life person, an anime, a comic, an illustration... Doesn't matter. And when there's a scene with two characters but they have different art styles in my imagination, my brain immediately blends the two styles. For exemple, I have Maria Carey speaking to Luffy from One Piece, so it will change the style into a more realistic anime style with 3D backgrounds. And oftentimes, this new style for the two characters will become the new one for my imagination going forward. So chapter 1 is patchwork, but by chapter 20 I start to have a solid visual representation of the story.

A funny thing is that you're not limited to visuals to create fake memories for imagination.

If an author doesn't take the time to explain in detail the appearance of characters, I'll just slap a cheap concept of passerby NPC. It feels as if I know their appearance without ever committing to retrieve the visual memory out of laziness. It's like my imagination is just a bunch of .zip files doing their stuff. And it's only really unpacked when the author decides it's worth mentioning it.

But I'm the intuitive type. There are people who might feel more comfortable using memories of visuals or smells.

 

[AncestorDuck]

I dont. Its quite simple.

 

[melchi]

Carefully.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Mix of anime and reality, just like a typical weaboo.

 

[Sola-sama]

Hentai

SHE... SHE JUST LIKE ME FR FR