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.
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 
Cool to find out you're not, right?
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.
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
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!)
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.
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.
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.
Very cool actually ^^ It's nice to know others experience things similarly! When other people told me that it was something they didn't experience, I thought perhaps it was rare, but I'm glad it's not as uncommon as I thought ^^ And yeah, the not-so-good scenes are not the best feelings but they help me remember the work regardless, the wonderful and not-so-wonderful scenes are great on a whole different level. I think if I didn't have this ability, I would definitely have a different experience with works. I like being able to enjoy and sometimes feel ghost pains because it makes me connect with the work in another level ^^
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately I don't have to experience it. But it does explain feelings of deja vu. When I was in Sicily a couple years ago it was as if I knew the place, I knew the sites and sound etc. Keep in mind I was raised by an Italian woman so the language and smells of cooking were known to me, but the rest of it... Like I'd never left, even thought I'd never been there.
Perhaps not to the same extremes as you but I can see what I write, like its a TV show or movie. Like I can see the fight scenes and how emotional the characters feel in certain moments. Sometimes its vague at first but the more I write it, the more I can see it.
Yes, this is exactly how I experience mine! I've had people tell me that reading my work is more like experiencing a movie in written form haha.
I've always been able to immerse myself into the scene like I'm there with the characters. I think it's pretty cool and very helpful for my writing! I used to skip over descriptive details, but I've learned to do better with it by describing all the vivid images and scents I can sometimes smell, faintly in my mind. I can even picture my characters perfectly, which is why I struggle so much with character descriptions. I expect readers to be able to see the same thing that I can, both with their voices and appearances.
Something I can't do is feel what my characters are feeling. I don't imagine myself as any of them. I can't imagine myself as a character I'm reading either, yet I've heard that's pretty common in first person stories. I'm more like an onlooker, watching everything that happens to them from a safe distance. But I have always found it really cool how I can imagine myself in their world. It's helped me tremendously with the worldbuilding. I used to daydream a lot as a kid doing this, especially back in school if I got bored.
That was strong. I do imagine as the main character in my head or Imagine I read it or being as a TV show or movie but not till all five senses feel it. But I do experience some of my idea who ended up just idea, since I mostly only told only to my closest person but never act on it, will appear as movie or TV show in upgraded style in real life. Mostly the main idea story is the same. That's why I called it upgraded style.
Not sure what this is called. But it happened since I was young.
I was once watched this Korean drama, about demon can steal your idea and sell it to other soul. lol
I know its not make sense, but there's a time, I almost convinced. 
I do often can guess the story plot of movie/TV show, as what they called de ja vu or simply I watch/read too much story. Lol
@therosesword, you can see all that while being awake right? what I know If it's while sleep, they called it lucid dream.
But you can lucid while being awake. Then, that's one of your strong aptitude, And An artist might really your path. Brava!
when you go places, and feel like you ever been there, I feel that too often. That's more like de ja vu, and I think what you tell us in the first post its more like being vivid while awake. Which much more difficult to do it.
Totally while I'm awake and writing or thinking about a scene that I want to write. It's like the brain is divided in two... one side working on the story the other side doing whatever it is I'm doing, whether it's cooking or even reading sometimes (that gets annoying). It's totally second nature to me.
It's a little like existing in two places at one time.
Joining those who are relieved to know they're not the only ones who experience this, I genuinely thought i had my wires crossed or something.
It always varies for me though. Sometimes I can be present in a specific setting able to vaguely sense certain things or it's more like a film being projected in my head. It's far more vivid in dreams so I tend to lucid dream (or let the brain do its thing) when I'm thinking of certain scenes or trying to plot out certain points in a story.
Fully understand the oddness of pain sensations from more violent scenes and I can still vividly recall a would be character death I'd experienced in the first person in a dream
It's kind of strange but also really really cool and it's awesome knowing other folks do this too!
I tend to have a general idea, nothing too specific unless I use a real-world reference (which even then, I subconsciously blur out whatever's not mandatory to know about). General streets, buildings, rooms, planted trees, faceless uninteresting crowds in the background.. Stuff like that is purely visual and filtered for practical use.
And in terms of characters interacting, I'd say that's the most vivid part of the writing experience as I prefer to act things out and smooth out dialogue before permanently adding it to script. Emotions and physical sensations are felt out as well.. To the best of my ability, anyways. There's a lot of grave injuries in there that I've never felt and could never possibly just imagine feeling lmao
In short, my mind's eye sees everything like you would for directing a film and comes with the same limitations. Characters matter infinitely more than everything else going on for my process lol
