How do you “write what you know” when you have bad recall?

[Tallyfire]

As for the aphantasia thing, I'm really not sure? It is hard for me to actually picture things, but I can sort of, kind of do it, especially when the subject has been photographed and I've looked at the photo enough times.

I've read that there's a whole range to how people visualise things. There's true aphantasia where you can't picture anything at all, then for people who can visualise mental images it ranges from black and white and 2D up to 3D images in full colour and detail. I don't think I picture things in a huge amount of detail, but I can imagine a cat with a blue head and pink tail and rotate it in my head.

I remember one day I was driving through town, and the shop signs that I thought were made of vinyl were actually made of cloth. Totally screwed me up mentally for some reason, lol. All these signs I had been thinking about as if they felt like vinyl were now cloth and my entire life was a lie, basically.

This sounds stressful! But also like it would make for a really interesting narrator in a fiction story. The way you describe your world doesn't sound like anything I've ever read about. Brains really are fascinating objects.

I don't know how to quote properly on this website, maybe someone can teach me XD. My dad claims I described my birth experience at the age of four, describing what the wallpaper looked like and how the doctor spanked me and held me with paddles, shit like that. Like just a "remember that day I came out of mommy?"

There's a nice function where you can highlight a text section of a forum post and press "+ Quote" on the pop-up, and you can use that to add separate quotes in with the "Insert Quotes" button beneath your reply, if that's what you're meaning.

Otherwise, damn. That must have been quite a shock for your dad!

 

[Altani]

I don't think I picture things in a huge amount of detail, but I can imagine a cat with a blue head and pink tail and rotate it in my head

I think I’m really pretty bad at generative imagery, like I can picture a blue cat but not one with just a blue head. But if I’ve seen a photograph or like still image even once that’s way easier to remember for some reason. I can see as many moving pictures of someone as possible and it’s still really hard to remember their face, and yet I can see video of someone once and I’ll be able to remember that? Truly weird now that I think about it, I guess I mostly remember people through their pictures which is kind of funny.

This sounds stressful! But also like it would make for a really interesting narrator in a fiction story. The way you describe your world doesn't sound like anything I've ever read about. Brains really are fascinating objects.

It wasn’t too stressful, like being overwhelmed, it just took a while to readjust haha! Thankfully I don’t do this stuff super consciously most of the time,, my brain will just automatically catalog a new environment and how everything feels when I first step in. Since I’ve had to be in a lot of environments, generally I know what most things feel like, it’s more of a sorting the books (feelings) on a bookshelf more than anything else.

It would be kind of interesting to write about, now that you mention it, or at least do some journaling about. I try not to take on too many fiction problems at once though—they tend to run away and become novels.

There's a nice function where you can highlight a text section of a forum post and press "+ Quote" on the pop-up, and you can use that to add separate quotes in with the "Insert Quotes" button beneath your reply, if that's what you're meaning.

Otherwise, damn. That must have been quite a shock for your dad!

Damn that even works on mobile. So cool! I think this is the best formatted forum I’ve ever seen.

But yeah I’m sure it was lol! There’s another funny story he tells about the time he thought I’d learned to read. He came home and I was reading aloud. Turns out my mom had gotten me audiobooks on tape and I had just memorized the chime sounds for turning the page. She was like, “No, she hasn’t spontaneously learned how to read,” and turned the page, and yep, I was adorably lost!

 

[CdnWriter]

I really overdo this, but I am a visual thinker and I like to have detailed sketch of layouts when I write scenes. It ALWAYS takes me out of the story if I was to read something like, "he walked into the noisy bar and took a seat."

????? So, the car's noisy (WHY???), and he sat down (WHERE???).

I want to know if the bar is noisy because of loud tv's playing the baseball game or karaoke night or a loud crowd. I want to know where he's sitting - at a table, in a booth, at the bar? And having it sketched out helps me do that. Then I can write scenes that "fit" and flow with the story. I feel it makes the story "pop" more, brings more life to it.

When I say "detailed" sketches, I don't mean professionally done but more the kinds of maps you see in Dungeons and dragons role playing games. I know how many tables are in the bar, I know where the bar is, I know where the bathrooms are, I know where the door is. It allows me to write properly about the steps the person takes in the bar to get a drink or pay the bill or go to the toilet or leave. If I want him flying out the window with a crash of broken glass or walking out the door.

Same if someone's breaking into a house (or a bank) or boarding a plane. Google images is awesome for getting basic layouts and then I can write something that makes sense.

You then liven up the scene by having the character order a Miller Lite beer and honey bbq wings. You have a server bringing the food and taking payment.....

Anyways...that's how I handle writing what I "know" when I don't have the greatest recall.