They are the two extremes of visualisation. Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. I couldn't really imagine what it's like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really." "I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolve. "Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains," she says. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier.
When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her mind's eye when she reads text from her author.
#Conjure in a sentence series
Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being "extremely distraught".Īt the other end of the spectrum is children's book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel "isolated" and "alone" after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: "You're weird." But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is often a cause of distress for others. But I'm not describing an image I am looking at, I'm remembering features about her, that's the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret." "When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, she's brunette. "This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things," he says. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. His condition begs the question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles.
Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are "terrible", but he is very good at remembering facts. Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. "I couldn't see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count." "My stepfather, when I couldn't sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldn't," he says. He knew he was different even in childhood. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind mind's eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Most people can readily conjure images inside their head - known as their mind's eye. How clear is the image that springs to mind? Close your eyes and imagine walking along a sandy beach and then gazing over the horizon as the Sun rises.
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