The Voices in Your Head

No no, not schizophrenia, nor in that talking to yourself and getting lost in the thought of what you're saying inside your head. Rather, what I've been curious about lately is the phenomenon of people reading, particularly fiction.

See, apparently I happen to be a bit of an anomaly: when I read books, I do next to nothing when it comes to envisioning characters beyond what the author describes or applying any voice to the characters I read. Apparently, when most of my friends that I've talked about this with, and the majority of the people I went through the master's lit program with at SF State have primarily said that they assign some kind of voice to the characters in what they read. There is part of me that fears I am somewhat missing out on this. On the other hand, it could be argued that by eliminating a voice when reading, I can more freely receive (and in an academic setting analyze) what is being said and by whom.

Now I won't try to say that I am completely immune to this; I clearly distinguish mentally when a narrative voice is changed. I also realize that in some situations I certainly attach a voice, namely when reading writers whose voice I know, or whose voice is such a strong part of their work, for instance with Bukowski or Kerouac, but I don't know if that really counts, since each author writes from a somewhat autobiographical point of view.

Still, it hasn't been until recently that I've become more cognizant of this fact. I suppose part of it would relate to hearing something read out loud. As I said before, I don't attach voices to the characters, but still, from time to time I'll either hear of an actor cast to play a part, or I'll happen across an audiobook rendition of something I've read, and I can say with complete certainty whether the person chosen is "right" or not.

So how does this work? Do you have distinct voices for characters when you read? Do you adhere to regional accents? Inflection? Do you picture characters a certain way, other than what is listed in the descriptions from the book? Have we become so centered on multimedia experience that we can't simply take literature at face value? Or am I missing out, desensitized by all the reading I do on a day-in-day-out basis, plowing through books and not being able to distance myself from the academic pursuit of reading? Leave a little something in the comments - I'm curious to hear what you have to say.