Portraying synesthesia in prose

Question

How can an author effectively portray a character with synesthesia, where their sensory perceptions are intertwined, without confusing the reader or disrupting the narrative flow? What techniques and narrative strategies can be employed to convey the unique experiences of such a character while maintaining clarity and engagement in the story? In short, taking the liberty of one kind answer to help me clarify the question: How can an experience be conveyed that other people do not have?

Answer 1

Initial thought: Have you tried?

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This could be categorized as 'what to write', which is off topic, but I believe your question could be interpreted to more broadly ask for 'how to properly convey an experience that most people do not have'.

Fundamentally, since this has to do with 'a real thing', most first answers to your question would be to do (a lot of) research on the thing you're attempting to portray.

If you haven't already, read up on how people with synesthesia talk about their experiences, look for illustrational videos, scientific explanations and so on.

Consider perhaps; If you yourself do not personally experience/have synesthesia, how/when did it make sense to you, or seem comprehensible?

If you do experience/have synesthesia, when have you experienced others understanding it? What have they struggled with grasping and what did make sense to them or how?

Generally, language is flexible - it is powerful: Sometimes, simply putting something into words does the trick. Other times, you have to create your own 'vivid' ways of portraying something.

I'm in no way an expert on synesthesia, but one way could be to simply write something like this:

Mark got up from the couch to turn up the stereo, as his favorite track on the CD was next in line. Already on his way across the living room floor, he anticipated the shapes an colours from his all-time favorite bass-line, and how the shapes would typically take on more pointy characteristics as the chorus began. He recalled how they used to overwhelm him as kid, but how he grew to enjoy them over time. As he turned the volume-knob, he felt a bit sorry for Jimmy and Sarah, who, like most other people in the world, had never experienced the world like he does. He couldn't help but feel that they were, to a slight degree, missing out. Poor plain neurotypical bastards.

Take this example with many grains of salt, and do go into detail with concrete examples, to further illustrate the experience(s), but generally, I'd say; just write it. Then have (the) characters talk about it, discuss it - I'm sure I'd be curious about it if I met someone with synesthesia and attempt to understand what it was like.

TLDR; Try your best and see what your readers understand and/or like or dislike from the different attempts.