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Tips for reading with facial blindness? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by thottistic@alien.top to c/books@metacritics.zone

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I have partial facial blindness which makes it hard to picture faces that aren’t super familiar and I can’t create new faces in my head. I end up picturing faces of people I know and celebrities.

It becomes frustrating when I’m reading as the faces morph constantly into my head. I constantly stop to get the faces right. Sydney Sweeney ended up as 2 characters when I read “Bunny” lol. I also get a biased view of the characters this way. It makes it really hard to enjoy reading nowadays. Any suggestions? Different strategies for picturing or reading without picturing?

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[–] Bradnon@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

If you worry facial blindless means you're missing something other readers aren't, I don't think that's necessarily true.

I don't have facial blindless and I rarely imagine character faces, it's just too detailed. I picture their body shape (skinny, short, obese, etc) clothing when it's a useful characterization (are they in a 3-piece, a trenchcoat, stillettos), and other unique features (dramatic hairstyles, amputations). Or in fantasy, their entirely alien shapes.

You're asking a question that compares your experience to others, and I'd be wary of the implied expectation of "normal" in that context.