I can't wrap my brain around seeing in 'words'. I mean, what does that 'look' like? Do you literally see 'words'? Don't you have to get some kind of image in your mind when you read words? No?
I definitely don't see the words when I remember a book, I don't think I even register that I see the words when I'm reading a book
! It's more that my memory of the book is auditory rather than visual. It's kind of odd, because I'm not a very auditory learner (for instance, I can only judge the spelling of a word by seeing it on paper; I always recognize a familiar face, but often can't attach the person's name to it, etc.). I know that I have visual images along with what I'm reading, but they are kind of indistinct--the visual details aren't "sharp", they're kind of...ephemeral.
I think that's how I am in the rest of my life too. Obviously I see the things in my life as I'm experiencing them, and certain visual experiences remain vivid even in memory, but mostly my memories are auditory. I'll have a visual snippet (snapshot or film-segment, if you will), that is accompanied by a much longer auditory memory. It's kind of like when I visited Ellis Island and took the audio tour as I walked through the museum. There were pictures and images, but the meat of the experience was in the voices that put all the life into those still pictures.
I think it's fascinating that the reading experience appears to be just as satisfying and absorbing for both types of readers described here. It would be easy to think that a picture thinker couldn't make words come alive completely enough to fall into a book, or that a word thinker couldn't create an engrossing enough alternate world without the vivid movie.
So here's a question then....for those that have a highly visual experience in books, do you hear your voice in your head when you write, or is that something that is more typical of those of us who think in words?
