Aphantasia

[FifthView]

Maybe I got it wrong then - or I'm just overthinking it as usual.

Oh, I don't know. I'm personally fascinated in the relationship between viewer and viewed. In the older meaning, the viewed had the power; but in the newer meaning, the power is in the viewer. "It comes from letting the mind explore new ideas and avenues of thought. It comes from the discovery rather than from that which is discovered." This seems as good a representation of that change as any!

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'm bringing this old thread back to life because of something I came to think about: can aphantasia affect "internal senses" other than the mind's eye? Like sound or smell?

I can recall songs I've heard and remember what they sound like. It's not like listening to them - in the same way that visualising someone's face isn't the same as looking at them - but there's something there.
What if your "mind's ear" can be deaf?

I dug around a bit and it seems this can actually happen, and the ability of the inner sense to function does not seem to be connected. It may be possible to have aphantasia that affects the mind's eye, but not the mind's ear, or the other way around.

My writing is in many ways centred on triggering images in the reader's mind, and to a lesser extent sounds. I very rarely go for smells and only once in a while I work with touch or taste. On top of that I often translate non visual sensations into images. I describe tastes using the images the taste would create in my mind - stuff like that.

That's my style, and I'm unlikely to change it, because it works well for me, but I can imagine that others may feel differently - especially if they relate to the various senses in different ways. What if you've got a good nose and scents and smells are very important to you? Perhaps your writing would be a lot more focused on how places and people smell, rather than how they look?

 

[skip.knox]

How about a magical equivalent?