So I’m one of those people without an internal monologue ( but I can choose to subvocalize if I want).

I don’t know if this will help you understand but for me everything is quiet. All the time. I don’t say to myself “I should take a bite of the apple” - I just take a bite. As I type this reply out I have not determined what the next world will be before writing it, I just write. If I need to build a mental image it is simply there.

When I need to make a decision, is made. I might have been pondering it for some time, but it’s not a surface thought. Again I can subvocalize - but it’s more speaking to the room as opposed to having an internal argument.

And when I say quiet, I mean quiet. I did not realize for most of my life that monologues in books where anything more then a story telling device.