Do you experience (in your mind) what you're writing?

[therosesword]

A little bit of a story before I get into the main idea of this thread:

Years ago I was taking a scene study acting class. The teacher gave us a scene of women (there were no guys in the class at the time) at the town fountain in an Italian village. He handed out roles.

I popped an imaginary baby on my hip to the right and a wash basket to the left and shuffled with my sandals forward. Another actor asked how I just dropped into the persona. I said I could see it. I could see the village square, the cathedral, the cafe, the houses. The teacher stopped us and asked me to describe what was around me and even what I was wearing.

After I was done he said "you can see that?" I said yes, I see it, smell it, hear it and feel it.
He repeated, "you can see that?"

I looked at him and said, "Yeah, doesn't everyone do that?" I was surprised that no, not everyone does that.

When I read that horses approach the manor, depending on the time frame of the story I can see the manor, the horses, the people around the manor, time of day, smell horse droppings, the whole works.

It's why description is so hard for me to write because after all this time of learning that other people don't necessarily "see" a complete scene in their minds, I still think they do so I don't bother to describe things because... why be redundant? I have to force myself to write descriptions.

So my multiple questions here, and how they affect your writing are:

How much do you "see" in your mind's eye when you write?

Do you smell the coffee brewing or the beef stew cooking or the cherry pie baking?

Do you sneeze at the flowers.

Can you feel the wool or silk against your skin.

Do you feel the pain your characters are experiencing (that's one of the worst things for me... I've ended up bent double over a non-existent sword to the gut)?

In short, does your mind's eye conjure up the experiences of your characters and the world around them so that you experience it real time with them.

I mean that, literally, you actually step into the story like a virtual reality.

[joannekwan]

Not as present as virtual reality, but I do see the scene play out like a movie that I'm playing and rewinding in my mind as I write and revisit passages to work on.
Sights and sounds are the main things I convey to myself. Very rarely do I get the others, smell, taste, touch, but when I do 'experience' them through my little mind movie, then I have to put it down in words since they are more occasional.

[therosesword]

I think there might be something wrong with my wiring.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Not that vividly, though I wish that I could XD because then I'd know exactly what to draw.

In fact there's a huge disconnect between my writing and my drawing. How I see the characters in my mind's eye when brainstorming story ideas is different from how they come out visually on the page.

When I listen to the right music, I can see the characters very clearly, usually in the middle of fighting or getting hit by their enemies.

[cherrystark]

Synesthesia!!! Yes, this happens to me in a sense. I am not able to "visually" see what's going on in the story about all of other senses come into play. I can tell you the sounds a character heard, what they smelled, what was said, but never what things looked like. I have no idea what my characters look like, but I have a clear sense image of who they are in my head.

[therosesword]

I see through the eyes of my main character so I know what the other characters look like. With the main character I end up having to guess which is why I quite often don't describe them and I've had a few people get a little annoyed at that.

I see it all somewhere in the back of my mind. I've always done that. Even watching old Golden Girl stories where Sophia says "picture this, Sicily 1942" and yup, there it is, the picture (especially since I was there a couple of years ago.)

But all I need is a one word prompt and ... dang, it's all there.

[surenlicious]

Ooooh absolutely! It's like I'm watching my own anime series- no I'm not kidding I really do. XD

[cherrystark]

That's awesome. I can do feelings and other senses, but visual stuff - nope. Much to some readers chagrin. It does help with dialogue. I just write what I hear.

[WoollyPAR]

Yeah, this happens pretty much all the time when I write and imagine the scenes in my novels. It'd be really hard to describe all my scenes if I couldn't see hear or feel them. I also get the under-describing things bit. That's a habit I'm working out of, but really it's just a matter of finding the right words to put everything into. Even when I make my comic, I find myself making the expressions I draw on my characters so I know what their feeling and what they'd look like while feeling it, but I also don't usually put much time or effort into the backgrounds because I already know what place they're in so I kinda forget about it.

It's cool how as writers we have the ability to put people inside our own minds, and for a moment they can even see what we think and feel. God, I love stories so much

[HippieGhost]

I absolutely get that way, though it depends on the day for me. Some days I have trouble "experiencing" my own work in that way but it's usually because there's another place I need to explore first.

[Phantomlight]

Okay, so all this time I thought I was alone in this. It might not be exactly similar, but I will describe my experience nevertheless. I will read something and it's like I'm viewing it in my mind. When someone describes a scene I can concoct an image of what that scene looks like in my head. The more and more they describe, the more I can add to the scene and change it according to the info they give me. I mean we've all experienced different tastes, smells, and sounds, but when I read about them, I can imagine the smells. If they say something like "The warm tortillas were placed on the table" my mind may fill in blanks the way I experienced it, perhaps the table is a certain kind from my childhood if it's not described, but the tortillas? I can smell the corn, feel the warmth on my hands, the feeling of a bit doughy soft texture. I'm reading a work right now and I can see the garden they're describing. Again, it might not be completely accurate or the way they're intending it to be pictured, but I see it and I can feel the way the mud sticks to the character's shoes. It's as though I am experiencing it while being there in my mind. When someone gets hurt, I feel this weirdness of ghost pains or tingling in the areas that are affected. If someone is punched in the gut, I feel that even if I have never been punched in the gut. It's interesting and I thought it was probably uncommon, but at least others seem to experience similar things.

[GoldenHoneydew]

I have a small project that I haven't posted yet but I find myself daydreaming (I think this is what it's called?) about random interactions between characters. sometimes it isn't even according to my story plot and it's like I'm making an entire AU in my head.

[therosesword]

Not that vividly,

I have to admit, it's pretty vivid. I'm totally aware I'm walking down the street or sitting at my desk or anything like that but, jeez I can conjure up a setting at a single word prompt right down to the signage on a shop door.

When I did my little bit of acting for a few years it came in handy in little theatre to work props.

So glad to see I'm not the only one.

[Cyena]

I do, to some extend. I can see the surroundings and the characters (though not as detailed as in reality). Sometimes I will see through the eyes of the main character, or it's like I'm there as well, standing next to the characters.
But I never experience smell or touch, nor do I hear background noises (unless the story refers to these things).
Now that I think of it, it's almost the same as my dreams
But it's really useful for writing scenes, you can imagine all the surroundings, movements of the people etc. All that's left is just describing what you see and writing it down.
What I like to do sometimes as well, is after seeing a movie or reading a story, I will imagine what will happen after the story ends. Or I'll alter some of the events and let everything play out. Or I imagine what would happen if I was a character in the story

[therosesword]

Okay, so all this time I thought I was alone in this.

Cool to find out you're not, right?

I can smell the corn, feel the warmth on my hands, the feeling of a bit doughy soft texture. I'm reading a work right now and I can see the garden they're describing. Again, it might not be completely accurate or the way they're intending it to be pictured, but I see it and I can feel the way the mud sticks to the character's shoes.

Yup. It's all pretty wild, and totally wonderful... well, for the good scenes, for the not so good blood and guts scenes it gets iffy.

[surin]

I literally cannot see anything in my mind.
And for most of my life I thought every one is like this and that when in books and movies the protagonist can see something in their imagination as if it is real - it is only written/made like this for the purpose of storytelling, never have I thought that people can actually experience it.
And then I stumbled upon the term aphantasia and I couldn't believe it and after some research and asking some people it seems like there is a spectrum of those who can't see anything in their mind to those who can see it and feel it as thought is real (and hear and touch and smell). I fall into one end of the spectrum where I can't see anything, most of the people I asked fall into the middle like they can see something in their mind but very vague and one person I talked to experienced it similar to what you have described.
Maybe it is also why writing is so hard to me because I can't see the scenes in my head and I can only start generating ideas when I sketch otherwise my head is blank xd

[TedGravesArt]

Honestly I've been doing this for my comic and I thought I was just going crazy from isolation XD I feel scenes, and what the characters feel, and each action has a sort of rhythm to it, so it's easier to dice up into panels. It all plays like a movie in my head, so I often get camera angles, gestures, expressions, sounds, touch, music, and vivid emotions. Some scenes are fuzzier than others, but the more I replay them the sharper they get. It's like a really vivid dream.
Writing and drawing are just like acting, but onto someone else. How would you make your audience feel something if you don't feel it yourself? Gotta respect creators with aphantasia, I can't imagine what that would be like! (lol irony!)

[Crusoe]

It's less common for me to experience smells when coming up with scenarios, but I definitely get what you mean. Today I wrote a summer scene for example and while not everything that you feel when thinking of that scenario ends up in the story, it really helps. The strain of sunburned skin for example of how a cracked tiled floor feels beneath your hands even if the character doesn't touch the floor. Helps visualize it.
The problem is that I must have experienced it in some sort of way to really be able to visualise it.

[TedGravesArt]

That's interesting, I don't get smells very often either, but then I very rarely use my sense of smell in any meaningful way. I've known some people who are much more smell oriented, I'll bet if they experienced scenes like this they'd be more likely to get smells.

[therosesword]

I literally cannot see anything in my mind.

Oh, so sorry. It makes things so hard for a creative person.

Do be aware that it can be a boon and a curse at the same time.