What about writing during sex? Sounds like a good idea. If I want to drink something while writing, it's either soda or alcohol.
Lol. Gives a new meaning to cyber sex I suppose. Coffee + training = even bettah! Besides, I tend to get a lot of story ideas while at the gym, or while jogging. Sometimes I do the stuff the characters are doing, like if they like to swim, I might go swimming. If they box, I might go boxing. If there're horses in the story, I'll head to the stables. Perks me up and gives me inspiration. Drugs and alcohol combined with writing has never worked for me, never.
I'll freely admit to being an utter caffeine addict. I don't, however, believe for a moment it makes me more creative. My caffeine addiction kicked into gear when I was doing alternating day/night shifts, with little in the way of time off to play catch up. Anyone who has done this will know how hard it can be to settle into a routine with it—working when you should be sleeping. For me, writing is a bit like that. I primarily write in the wee small hours, foregoing sleep to do so, as that is when my mind is more creative. I favour a calm environment—no noise, dim lighting—and that can be quite sleep inducing in itself. So... a good strong cup of coffee sets me up for the session. Once I get a grip on what I'm doing and where my story is heading, I can write a little during the day, but I find that something energising like exercise, really helps me to knuckle down. An hours belly dancing drill, combined with yoga is my usual choice. It energises me without tiring me out. I could go out for a five mile run, but I ain't getting any younger, and by the time I get home all I want to do is take a nap. As for other substances, I avoid them like the plague. It's too easy to fool myself into believing the work is of a standard when, in truth, it reads like absolute drivel.
Oh? A method writer. I wonder what you do when your characters are about to partake in an erotic sex scene.
While I haven't done day/night shifts, I've found mixing work and studies difficult because when I have work, I have to be there at around 8:00, when I have school, I have to be there around 12:00. Say I have work on Monday, I wake up early, but 'cause I have to be at the uni on Tuesday at 12, I won't be going to sleep early and then I sleep until 11. Cos I slept so late, I can't go to sleep early so that I'll be perky when I have to wake up at 7 on Wednesday. So without coffee I'd be a total zombie in those work mornings. Plus I love the routine of having a warm cuppa by my desk first thing in the morning. T and I are also at our most productive after midnight. I kind of wish it wasn't so, but I'm a natural night owl and forever resent our society for thinking we need to get up early to get shit done. How does waking up early make one a better person? "Oooh, I woke up at 5:30, and then I jogged for an hour and ate Kelloggs Fitness cereal and an apple and drank organic white tea and now I feel awesome, how about you, Kat? You look tired. You should go to bed early." Well, ok, I actually like white tea and jogging. It's just that waking up early is hell brutal to me (and the reason why I didn't go to army... which I sort of feel crap about right now), and I seem not to be able to write at any other time except at nights. Thank you, coffee, for keeping me up and running and providing me the perfect excuse to eat chocolate.
I think the worst thing about what has become my natural rhythm, is that I am both a night owl, and a morning person. Yup, I'm pretty much nocturnal. My mate works night/day shift patterns. At random anti-social hours, he'll sometimes check to see if I'm online and he'll slip me a msg to the effect of, "For feck's sake, T, will you go to bloody bed, you're going to make yourself ill!" knowing fine rightly that I haven't slept a wink in the previous 24 hrs. Chances are, I'll keep working through until exhaustion takes me, at about 11 am. ('Slow' doesn't begin to describe my writing pace.) I've heard it said you need less sleep as you get older. Don't know whether that's the case, but I can never sleep for any more than 4 hrs on the trot. So, if the old 8hr rule holds true, I generally get by on half the amount of sleep I'm supposed to. Back to the OP. I have a couple of friends who regularly take Ginseng and swear by it as an aid to concentration, but there's a dirth of good studies on its effects. For such a commonly used supplement, it's surprising to me. At least with caffeine, I know the risks I'm taking.
Any ladies up for the last dance? A few cups of strong coffee is recommended by physicians now. I used to be a coffee hound, but now a few cup in the morning gets my mojo going. Cigarettes are the one to avoid.
This works the best for me as well. Or, if I'm feeling sluggish, simply doing some push-ups and curls brings me back from a stupor pretty nicely (although taking a break for sex produces a similar effect, I suppose). Also, if I'm doing the stuff I'm writing about, like, say, parkour, I tend to pay attention to details, tiny things that I can then put into the scene to help give it a tiny hint more realism, like how easy it is to tear the crotch of your pants when clearing a wire fence or how difficult / physically taxing it actually is to climb an 8ft concrete wall even if it looks easy. Or I might realize not to put in something I've seen on TV plenty of times, like shaking your hand after hurting your fist punching: do you ever see people do that? Chances are, you don't. At least I've never seen anyone do that, not even when they've broken their knuckles, be it in an actual fight or at the boxing gym. I've cracked mine a few times and it never occurred to me (at the time) to shake my hand. I mean, you got a cracked bone there, why would you think it would help or make it hurt less to shake the injured limb? It just hurts more, is my guess. I realized this the last time I busted my fist after going at it with the heavy bag too long (lost focus, concentration broke, crack, ow, but no hand-shaking). Ditto for booze and all drugs except tramadol and pregabalin (prescription drugs) neither helped nor hindered my writing. Both had lots of annoying side effects though, so that being said, I really, really prefer to write completely sober. Caffeine doesn't affect me much (except my pulse climbs a bit if I take 200-300mg or so), so I don't usually take it to stay up or anything, I just like the taste of diet coke. The only times I've felt caffeine has helped even a bit was when I pulled 50-70+ hour stints doing translations (usually 200mg did the trick). Caffeine or no caffeine, I always grew somewhat zombie-ish after staying up for more than 60 hours straight and things started getting a bit psychedelic after 70.
As far as caffeine goes, I find that it is sometimes hit or miss, when it comes to creativity. There are times when my creativity is stifled, and there are times when it's accelerated. But regardless, the coffee shop axiom about caffeine is true: It makes you do stupid things much faster. Someone mentioned being inspired when they are dead tired. I've also found this to be the case with me, but unfortunately, I've never taken advantage of the state. I have been trying to become more aware of said states, however, but usually, I am about to lie down and need to get up for work in like four to five hours, so I want the sleep. But when I have been in those states and aware of the internal 'narrative,' I've found my thought formulation is slow enough that I can actually transcribe them much better. Usually they are lost in translation, because I think way faster than I can write/type. I have to do some serious 'slowing down' in order to write better than I often do, which is still badly. Maybe in the future, when I can, I'll stay up for a long period of time and then try to write. In other news, I've also decided to start experimenting with a Dictaphone, since I can articulate myself verbally much, much better than I can through writing/typing. I think it has to do with another part of the brain being engaged, one that I may be more developed in. I'm wondering if this is going to play a role in fostering creativity, because a lot of the recordings will more than likely be stream-lines, or acts when I'll be sort of 'freely associating,' which may or may not lead to new discoveries and other ideas. On a different note, however, I'm not sure if I can post the link, but I TOTALLY suggest youtubing John Cleese's speech on creativity, or more specifically, his speech on fostering creativity. He believes it has nothing to do with intelligence, but that it's a state of mind, one that must be practiced, nourished, and given enough space to live, before it can thrive and function at optimal levels. The speech confirmed some of my own suspicions regarding creativity, most of which I have yet to put into regular practice, but will be soon (have been involved in a rather serious transition and am not quite 'settled down'). He even uses some psychological studies to back up his argument. Incredibly interesting, to say the least. I could talk about it on and on, but I'd rather not ruin the fun. Go explore!
@erebh, the mushrooms of this land are only of the cute kind, not the naughty kind. Oh, and I may have exaggerated with the "all drugs"-bit since my experiences are mostly based on prescription stuff, so who knows, maybe magic shrooms and crank turn you into Shakespeare.
Coffee is pretty great. It tastes good, makes you feel great, and the rituals around preparation and drinking it in the morning are good at focusing one on the herculean task of waking up. I can't think of a better way to get ready for another work day...
Coffee makes me crazy. I mean, tongue tying words, not being able to think straight, elevated heart rate, can't sit still, etc... I mean, it's great when I have a shitty night of sleep, but if I have it otherwise... I'm literally bouncing off the walls.
