Ever watched this movie called Limitless? That concept has some similarities, except the man's girlfriend (I'm not sure if she smoke and drink) dumped him, and the man doesn't smoke nor drink either. They both live in the city.
Ok, thank you. I realised the mistake when I saw the answer... but I was unsure of that neither-nor, which I have never used.
How would this not be realisitc? Unless you are one of those that assume people who don't drink or smoke are either boring or health nazis. I don't drink or smoke. But I like video games, writing, and doing outdoor sports. I know plenty of people that are the same.
Posting to find answers is not the same as posting to get a reaction. The latter is called trolling. Trolls plant posts to see how many people they can get too take the bait, on a question they have no interest in the answer to. Forgive my skepticism, but this looks a lot like that kind of question.
The question seemed a bit naive, but it's not exactly hotly debated troll bait, like politics or religion or something. And honestly, in this day and age, I can see how it would be an honest question. I can't think of a single friend (beyond me, actually, but mostly for medical reasons) who doesn't drink or smoke, and I don't like either very much, have never found a date that didn't either smoke or drink... so, seemed like a valid question, if not a bit naive, perhaps.
Looks like it varies a lot by region. Where I live, few people smoke, but most drink, at least moderately.
I loved that film!! And I might go for the recovering alcoholic version... the guy was a messer in school but he had brains and becomes a sports journalist
When I saw this question I nearly laughed. Of course there are going to be people who don't smoke or drink who are going to meet other people of the opposite sex who don't do any of those things either. And still be interesting. Some of the comments here are kind of shocking. Just because someone doesn't smoke of drink they can immediately be dubbed as "uninteresting"? We don't live in the fifties, guys, people know about the health risks. I know quite a few people that are completely clean, have always been clean, and still manage to hold my interest. SMH.
I'm kinda staggered by this one too. I've never smoked and didn't touch alcohol throughout my teens, twenties, and much of my thirties (so that covers high school, college, and my young "professional life"). No dramatic reason for it. Just didn't like the idea. Am I uninteresting? No. Unrealistic? By definition, no (given that I'm real). And several of the women I dated didn't drink either. Only one person I've ever dated smoked. I live just outside of DC and used to live just outside of (and work in) Baltimore. Both cities. Neither has had any effect on my view of smoking and drinking. If that qualifies me as uninteresting, I'd say that the observer is being pretty myopic. In my life, I've been a lot of things aside from a nondrinker and nonsmoker. No reason for a fictional character to be uninteresting either.
Suburbs North of Detroit. I am in my early twenties and do not smoke or drink. Currently, I have one acquaintance of the opposite sex who I know also does not smoke or drink. All of my friends drinks, very few use tobacco. I had a friend who moved away to Florida who didn't do these things either, but I don't know if you want to count this statistic because he had social disorders that could have had a significant effect on whether or not he became a smoker / drinker. In addition, my girlfriend drinks on a weekly basis. Point: The teenager / young adult population in suburban areas from my observations are dominated by smokers and drinkers. The odds of finding someone who doesn't smoke or drink are not very high. Finding two people who neither smoke or drink is even lower. Now add into the equation that they must be of opposite sex and not already involved in relationships with smokers / drinkers... not very likely at all. Fortunately, you are writing fiction I take it and you can create your own world. If you choose, this information can all be invalid and if you write it well enough, no one is going to question you about it.
I'm home, drinking a glass of my favourite single malt, thinking about my story, and I come here to see this...I find the lack of irony in this thread VERY disturbing.
