To See Or Not To See

I finished my third edit of the sequel to Screwing Up Time. (Throws confetti.) And I’ve given the book to one of my first betas. This beta isn’t a writer and doesn’t even do a lot of fiction reading. But this beta has one “gift.” He doesn’t see scenes in his head.

A lot of readers are people like me—as they read, they see the scenes of the novel in their mind. It’s like watching a movie. (In fact, that’s why I often think I’ve seen a movie version of a particular book even when I haven’t. It’s led to some unfortunately recommendations.) But not everyone “sees” in their minds. So a scene that’s clear to me and others who see in their heads may not be clear to readers who don’t.

I’m sure there are many readers out there like this beta, and I want my novel to “work” for them. So this beta marks the scenes that he can’t follow. And then, I go back to the unclear scenes and work on them until they’re completely understandable and the beta says, “Oh, right. I get it now.”

I’ve wondered over the years how many different types of reading experiences there are. For example, I have one beta who “hears” everything in her head. The characters actually speak aloud with appropriate accents, etc. (She’s an amazing beta reader for voice.) What about you all? What are your reading experiences like? Do you “see” movies or “hear” dialogue? Or do you do something completely different? I’d love to know.


BTW, I was recently featured on Samantha Sotto's blog along with two other authors. Samantha is the author of Before Ever After--a page-turning romance through history and time. If you'd like to visit here blog,click here.