I immensly struggle with visualizing characters in a novel. I have no issues with other types of descriptive passages, but when it comes to appearances, I always end up associating one random image of an acquaintance/famous person to a character even if it's the opposite of what the author is making him out to be. How do I get over this?

>>24510237 (OP)
Surely there's a pill for your brand of mental illness, but I don't know, that's more a question of medicine than literature.

>>24510248
I'm gonna piss in your ear canal

>>24510237 (OP)
>>24510237 (OP)
It's not your fault and you will never fix it on your own. He gives descriptions that leave so many gaps in the details that there's no point trying to imagine what they've written, it would be a mess. You can numb it by thinking "I'm the greatest. I have no problem embellishing details and don't see a problem with it" or just look at movies portrayals of the character. James out.

I just make my own characters because they're more interesting and because I know that if I care too much about it some dumb fuck authors are gonna describe them like a 100 pages in and completely fuck with my perception of them I had up to that point

>>24510237 (OP)
>struggle with visualizing characters
You don't though. Authors take random arch types from irl exposure to what they like, and, you are doing the same procedure. This is actually where the writer and reader shake hands! If you want a tip from my experience - I used to think of characters and scenarios just from listening to a track list of music - make yourself MORE comfortable with it by just picturing from what the author has them saying and what a character that would say that would look like to you - let the little descriptive words the author adds act like a costume.
I still do not picture Sherlock Holmes with a beak nose, tall and slim - I just throw in Sean Connery and am done with it.

>>24510336
>cont'd
it was ages before I saw Basil Rathbone onscreen, but my brain said "okay, it checks out". Same with Jurassic Park, but the wait was shorter to see it filled out onscreen.