So I was thinking the other day about my favorite characters for whom I have my ownHowl's Moving Castle I have in my head is of a wizard with a longish white beard (it's quite nice-looking) with a youngish face. This is despite the fact that DWJ specifically said that Howl is a ginger. (And his hair briefly[Warning: Young Wizards Examples Ahead. ]
what? there ain't no logic!). Even when I was really young, really old people were in their fifties and sixties and seventies. Once Tom started speaking, I thought he was probably much younger than that (late thirties/forties), but I still haven't managed to throw off the beard, or the white hair color, in my imagination. It probably doesn't help that he's the Californian, because that, combined with the beard image, immediately reminded me in mind of sandals, hippies and Santa Cruz. Although he could be from San Francisco. In other words, the combination wasn't unlikely enough to revise the image: in fact, it made it stronger.
The people of Mars from C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy also look just like Pralaya to me. (The fanart DD posted today put me in mind of it.) I definitely read the Space Trilogy after the YW books, so.... I think they are both furry mammalian aliens, kind of a cross between an otter and a sea lion. With extra legs.
[Examples over.]
I am quite sure I am not alone in this experience of having my imagination gallop way ahead of description, making up something completely different from the scene that was probably intended. Maybe you don't tend to do this with characters, but with scenery; or not with X, but with Y... Also, as I've demonstrated, the pictures in my imagination tend to bleed through one work to another.
So I am curious: what are your most spectacular and colorful experiences with this?
what? there ain't no logic!). Even when I was really young, really old people were in their fifties and sixties and seventies. Once Tom started speaking, I thought he was probably much younger than that (late thirties/forties), but I still haven't managed to throw off the beard, or the white hair color, in my imagination. It probably doesn't help that he's the Californian, because that, combined with the beard image, immediately reminded me in mind of sandals, hippies and Santa Cruz. Although he could be from San Francisco. In other words, the combination wasn't unlikely enough to revise the image: in fact, it made it stronger.
The people of Mars from C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy also look just like Pralaya to me. (The fanart DD posted today put me in mind of it.) I definitely read the Space Trilogy after the YW books, so.... I think they are both furry mammalian aliens, kind of a cross between an otter and a sea lion. With extra legs.
[Examples over.]
I am quite sure I am not alone in this experience of having my imagination gallop way ahead of description, making up something completely different from the scene that was probably intended. Maybe you don't tend to do this with characters, but with scenery; or not with X, but with Y... Also, as I've demonstrated, the pictures in my imagination tend to bleed through one work to another.
So I am curious: what are your most spectacular and colorful experiences with this?
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