Altered States

[jesseszen]

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

Comments

[lunabee34]

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.

[serria]

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.

[lunabee34]

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.

[inevitableentresol]

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.

[lunabee34]

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.