Blog Survey

Wow, I love talking about how people think and work :D

Thinking - I do think visually and do have synesthesia. Writing and reading for me is like watching television in three dimensions. The synesthesia manifests by linking a colour and a feel to everything and I do my mathematics in a very odd way. It is great for creativity and remembering passwords. The big downside is that if I can't visualise it, I can't learn it. I also need to attach an image to things to remind me to do them (ie. if I want to buy milk on the way home from work, I have to visualise the part of the road I will be driving through where I need to stop to buy it so that when I drive through that piece of road I will remember to stop...whether or not I remember that it is to buy milk is a whole other matter :D). Consequently I have a poor memory for some things, but a fantastic memory for others.

Oh, and I love your term 'detritus' :D The image I got off of that was sheets of worn paper being disturbed like leaves in the autumn wind :D

Maybe your brain is relational? I've experienced the whole smell association thing, and music is another big associator as well. Heh, I often use places I've been as shortcut backdrops to my internal visualisations and if I'm reading a book, for example, and used a particular place in my memory to stage it, the next time I go to that place, I will remember the book and often quite vividly.

I envy your complete poem generator :D I can sometimes get the first three lines of a four line rhyme, but usually have to work for the fourth. Mostly my writing is created from an initial image. I see the picture in my head, and I describe what I 'see'...then it is like playing with action figures as I move the players about in my head :D But often a fic is just based on that scene and they can sometimes be incredibly vivid. My best works are the ones where my image is clearest, I think. I should also mention that when I say 'image', there is more tied into it (I think it is part of the synesthesia thing) as there an emotional backdrop and attached to those emotions are colours. Sometimes other senses are tied in too. This could be why I don't like to write horror :D

Writing novels - I'm with you on that one, but I don't think I'm that solid in my method. Sooner or later in my longer fics, I find myself writing very brief chapter outlines as I tie loose threads together. My brain doesn't have the capacity to visualise everything, so some ends up on paper (I wonder if visualising takes up more brain space like images take up more computer space?). Also the vividness of the scenes fade in and out (along with the quality of my writing). This is sometimes due to laziness on my part :D

Writing can be fun. Sometimes it is an emotional dump. Sometimes it is an emotional pump :D For long stuff I find it hard work. I have the attention span of a gnat at times and I have to work at it to keep working.

As to how my thinking affects my writing - I've had many comments over the years as to how visual my work is. I've also got a slightly odd way of writing, both in the way I structure my paragraphs and my turn of phrase.

But as a visual thinker, I'm totally fascinated to learn how other people think. My hubby doesn't think visually, but he can't seem to describe how he thinks in a way I can visualise to understand it :D So thanks for babbling on :D I dare you to babble more.

Nutty
(fully qualified babbler)