Writing a Story That Your Mind Can’t See

A Story about Being a Narrative Writer with Aphantasia (Inability to Imagine)

A representation of how visualizing a waterfall might look to the inner eye of someone with very vivid imagery, somewhat vivid imagery, and aphantasia. // Photo by Mike Perrota/Aphantasia.com

Written by Ethan Henry

If someone told you to imagine an apple, could you? Let’s say, you were asked to imagine a scenic view, like a beach. Can you picture the waves in your mind? The sand? Can you picture your dining table, with food laid out for dinner? If you answered yes to all of these, then your mind’s eye can see clearly.

Now, what if you couldn’t imagine those things? If you are able to picture things in your head, how hard was it? Is it clear or is it somewhat dim and blurry? What if I told you there are people who cannot imagine things at all.

They try to picture something in their head and there is nothing. Some people may be able to see something there, but it is like a silhouette on the wall. This is a condition known as aphantasia.

Aphantasia Network best describes the condition as, “The inability to visualize. Otherwise known as image-free thinking.”

People with this condition cannot picture anything in their head. While they may still be able to recall memories, they lack the ability to envision new things.

Valerie Campbell, a student at Western Washington University, said she first discovered she had aphantasia by reading an Instagram post about it. She thought it was normal to not imagine things.

“If you tell somebody to see a red apple, they could actually just pull that up in their mind. I thought people just see words and lexical categories,” Campbell said.

Aphantasia was first discovered by British polymath, Francis Galton, in 1880. He ran a study that asked 100 participants to picture things in their head. In his study, titled “Statistics of Mental Imagery,” Galton found that about 12 of the participants could not imagine things at all. This was proof that some people could not see things in their mind like most others.

“It’s like having something on the tip of your tongue, but it’s like on the tip of your brain,” said Campbell.

In 1995, British psychologist David Marks invented the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire. The test was designed to ask partakers to rank what they imagine on a scale that ranges from “No image at all, I only ‘know’ I am thinking of the object” to “Perfectly realistic, as vivid as real seeing.”

This condition is not well-known to most people. Studies conducted on aphantasia have really only begun to pick up in the last 10 years. These researchers are trying to find if there is an underlying cause for why people may lack the ability to imagine.

Some possible causes could be mental illness, like depression or dissociative disorders. According to Heathline, causes could be,“Congenital, meaning it’s present from birth, or developed later in life due to brain injury or psychological conditions.” However, there is not enough evidence to prove this is the case.

Psychologists Akhtar Ali Syed, Shazia Neelofur, Aidan Moran and Gary O’Reilly conducted a research study that tried to find a link between intellectual disability (ID) and aphantasia, in comparison with typical development. The researchers concluded that, “a non-significant difference between the performance of people with mild and moderate ID and typically developing individuals on imagery vividness scale is noteworthy.”

While the research is starting to increase, there is still no concrete answer as to what causes this condition. Most people with aphantasia are seemingly just born with it. Does this put someone at a disadvantage in life?

For instance, say someone wanted to be a fantasy novel writer. What if they can’t imagine the scenes they are describing? That would certainly make it harder for them to write a convincing story than a person who can imagine things just fine.

“I’ve never been someone who is particularly good at creative writing. So I generally stick to research even though I would love to be a creative person.” said Campbell.

As a creative writer with aphantasia, it is hard to find a place to start. I can’t just sit down and imagine a scene and then describe it. However, I know what things are supposed to look like by memory, and then I can describe them in words based on how I know things should look.

Another scenario may be that someone wants to be a painter. They can’t just think of a scene and put it on the canvas. There is no way for them to try and picture how they want the painting to look, until they begin painting. Meanwhile, someone who can see things clearly will have no problem picturing what they want to paint before they do so.

So to ask again, how well can you picture things? Is it as clear as real life, a little dim, or nothing at all? If you can’t see anything, you may have aphantasia.

Ask your friends and family how well they can picture things. Ask classmates and co-workers. Because for some, seeing an apple in their head is as easy as counting to three, while for others it is something that is unimaginable.

If you are wondering if you have aphantasia, you can take the test on Aphantasia Network’s website.