NICOLA MORGAN

Synaesthesia

In Mondays are Red, Luke wakes from a coma to find that he has developed an extraordinary condition called synaesthesia. This is a real and fascinating condition. If sounds have colours, or touch produces taste, or if you always experience vivid colour when you think of a day of the week, or perhaps when you hear a loud noise, you probably have a type of synaesthesia.

But don't worry  -  it's NOT an illness or a problem! You are lucky  -  you have a gift, and extra vivid way of experiencing the world. Many people don't even realise they have it.

Here are some of the ways I describe Luke's strange experience of it in Mondays are Red:

But now when I thought of Monday, I saw red velvet, felt its warmth, tasted the corners of its softness.

Friday. Melting chocolate oozing over my tongue.

Hair as long as the sound of honey.

You'll find plenty more in the story. I'd love to know which ones you like best.

Q: Why did you decide to write about synaesthesia?
A: I became interested because I know someone who sees colours when she hears some sounds.

Of course, people with synaesthesia can't do the things that Luke does in Mondays are Red - don't try flying, for example. But I was trying to show what incredible powers of creativity it could give. I wanted to open readers' minds to the endless possibilities of our wonderful language.

Things we know about synaesthesia

• Someone with synaesthesia is called a synaesthete.
• The word comes from two ancient Greek words: syn, meaning together, and aisthesis, meaning feeling or sensing.
• More women have it than men - about 2:1.
• It appears to be more common amongst left-handed people.
• Most synaesthetes have just two senses mixed. Colour mixed with hearing is the most common combination.
• Coloured days is the most common type of synaesthesia. Coloured letters / numbers is the next most common.
• The sensation is usually felt in the head  -  these synaesthetes are called "associators". Sometimes the sensation is experienced outside the head  -  these people are called "projectors" and are more rare.
• Up-to-date research suggests that the condition, in some form, may be as common as 1 in every 23 adults
• Although two synaesthetes will have two different experiences (for example, Mondays might be red to one and green to another), each synaesthete's experience will be the same on each occasion. So, if Mondays are red to you today, they will be red to you in fifteen years as well.
• We've known about it for hundreds of years - but we still don't know quite why or how it happens. Some people believe all babies are born with it, before their senses 'separate' during the first year.

Do I have synaesthesia?  No, but I do make connections between senses. What I mean is that when I hear a sound I don't actually see a colour or taste a taste or smell a smell, but I DO imagine the various senses when I start to try to explain or describe something. So it seems very very obvious to me that the sound of the highest notes of a violin would be lemon yellow or sometimes mint green, occasionally even silver. And I can imagine a silver smell or a voice having an apricot sound. These things don't seem strange to me and I only recently discovered that some people (most people??) do think it's strange.

Fascinating thought: John Locke, the English 17th century philosopher, describes how a blind man was trying to understand the idea of colour. One day the man announced, 'Now I understand - scarlet is the sound of a trumpet.'

There are lots of websites about synaesthesia. There are some on my contact/links page.