write_away | Altered States

Hello Fellow Writers-

Please forgive if this topic has been discussed recently or mods feel free to chasten if this subject is in poor taste or should be age restricted, but - my question is: Has anyone else noticed that a state of inebriation is conducive to better and more prolific fiction writing? Let me explain why I ask.

A couple of years back I experienced a sort of 'golden age' of personal writing. During that time I was drinking. This was not a fall down drunk type of thing but a bottle of champagne - which is roughly 2 large glasses - 2 or 3 times a week. My output was phenomenal and I was pleased with the quality of my efforts as well.

Fast forward to the present which is a time when I am more serious about my health and I no longer drink. Though I still have many ideas I feel are worthwhile and projects left to finish I can't seem to recreate that wonderful zone I'd gotten into when I was writing well and often. I really don't want to re-introduce less healthy habits so I'd appreciate if anyone else who may have experienced this would communicate their solutions.

Thanks so much for any information.

Ki

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I always feel like a weirdo when it comes to writing and drinking because it seems like such a common thing to write better when a little drunk, but whenever I drink anything I get too tired and lazy to focus on writing at all. I'll just sit and stare and think and not create anything with it.

I'd venture a guess that it was about creating a state of mind where you felt relaxed and able to concentrate? My tactic would be to try out a bunch of different changes to your environment - time of day, light level, background noise, phone silent/in another room/off, different snack foods or non-alcoholic beverages, different chairs or sitting on the floor. It sounds a little basic and you may have already tried a number of those things but if it's about creating a sense of a zone, I would keep trying. Wish I had more to offer :\

I don't drink much and I don't think I've ever tried to write after having a few drinks, but I have noticed a similar effect when I've been sleep deprived. You know that feeling when you're really tired and suddenly everything is hilarious? I've found that this mood is perfect for the kind of relaxed feeling that helps me write.

But this isn't the healthiest habit either. I have some Issues when it comes to my sleeping habits and I try to stick to a regular schedule.

It's about turning off the conscious part of your brain, I think. About shutting up the part of your brain that worries about plot lines and reception and balancing everything out, making the self-critic go away for a while. Turning off the filter between inspiration and fingers.

But it's not something that can be done on demand, I think. If I try and force it I end up getting slightly drunk and looking at pictures of cats on the internet.

For about 6 months, a few years back, I only wrote when I was drunk. A few times a week, I'd drink just so I could write. It started to worry me but it turned out fine. It stopped by itself.

Nowadays I can't write if I even have half a drink. I just want to lie down and have a nice sleepie instead.

I drank when I had bad health problems. It was my way of literally numbing the pain enough so I could concentrate.

I think the creative alcohol thing is probably a myth. It was for me, anyway. There are so many other ways of altering my mood into that frame. It was more the habit than anything else. The knowledge that once I was drunk I was good for only writing. It was like booking the time for myself off.

A brief spot of gentle yoga and 10 minutes of Arvo Part's Spiegel im Spiegel is what does it for me these days. That's more sustainable.

I have no idea if since I've given up alcohol the quality of my writing has gone down.

Younger people tend to drink more without regard for the state of their bodies. Younger people also tend to have more energy in general. Perhaps this is the real connection of writing to use of alcohol?

I believe 100% that the myth that drugs and alcohol cultivate creativity is just that: a myth. It's a pernicious one, and one perpetuated by many an MFA program. I can't tell you how many of the MFA professors hold class or peripheral activities in bars and shame students who come and don't drink or just don't come at all because they don't want to come to bars. Add in a handful of really creative and/or prolific writers who wrote high or drunk or whatever and you have one hell of a myth.

I believe those writers wrote well DESPITE having problems with alcohol and drugs not because of them.

I've written stuff while I was drunk, some of which I was pleased with when I was sober. But on the whole, I feel that my best writing efforts happen while sober.

I think Stephen King's discussion of this myth in On Writing is the best I've read in a published book.

That part of his book was really moving, I thought - I've only read a few of King's books, and didn't even feel that familiar with him when I read On Writing. I had no idea he struggled with hard drugs like that. But I loved and appreciated how critical he was about the drugs = creativity mindset. I don't want to judge anyone, and I understand there's a huge difference between being a hard drug addict and maybe writing when you're a little tipsy or high. But feeling like you need that to write well, or write at all, is dangerous minset to be in.

I agree.

I enjoy drinking. I'm an adult and I do it legally and responsibly, and I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I have no problem with people enjoying drugs that are legal for them to consume according to their countries' laws. But I do have a problem with, as you say, feeling that you need to drink or do drugs in order to creative.

Those lit professors sound like idiots.

There's that whole myth as well that starving misery = good art. It's more of a theory beloved by art teachers and students than actual professionals, an idea with similar appeal to the drink/alcohol thing.

I think the general public wants to believe that artists/writers are somehow different or special, that their creativeness comes from thin air. That's why these myths are appealing.

I had one friend who used to ask how I made my art when I was an art student, yet every time I explained the practical processes she said 'I like the art less now, why did I ask?'

There was another family member who wanted to believe I used 'special' pencils for my sketching. Like magic pencils or something, to explain the magic process of the portraits appearing from blank paper. She didn't want to know really how it worked - ie practice, application and perseverence. Special pencils would have been a much better answer.

Yes! Writing (and art) is a craft, more akin to hard work than any magic or alchemy. I won't deny that I believe there is something ineffable about a brilliant writer, some kernel of talent that is innate and can't be learned. But mostly, I believe that anyone can learn to be a competent writer and most people can learn to be good writers.

I don't think it's anything new - artists, no matter the medium but especially music and writing, have notoriously done some of their best, or at least most proactive work while using substances. A musician friend of mine insists that she can't write music unless she's high on pot. I guess there might be some merit in "relaxing" that conscious part of your brain, and letting only the creative part of your mind work.

But I only drink socially and don't think I've ever written while drunk, and I don't use any other substances besides that. I can't say personally. But I am skeptical, and genuinely worried about people who feel they can't create unless they are stoned.

That being said, I write with the most dedication when I'm drinking coffee or tea, so there's that. :P

I do fear I've swapped my alochol for caffeine.

Wouldn't know, as I'm straight edge and have only drank maybe twice in my life. But I think I'd be too out of it to properly write, much less anything else, when drunk.

Dear Everyone-

Thanks for the dialogue. A lot of these points make sense. Probably the truth for me, is a combination of things. Probably I tend to use this, 'gee I don't have my muse working anymore since I don't get lit' as an excuse for why I have virtually no output. Also, after reading all your comments and thinking a bit more on the subject I believe that having a drink or two really would loosen me up enough to be maybe more daring with what I was writing and try a twist I might otherwise have tamped down. Somebody said it was about creating a space or an atmosphere and I believe that is true.

One of you also said that work and practice can make a good writer. I think this is true. I think however, that great writers are born with a gift. A lot of people can write music and a lot more can read music but Mozarts and Beethovens are hard to find. Great artists are revered for good reason.

Ki

Altered States

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