1. CAR0527

    CAR0527 Member

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    Drinking & Writing

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by CAR0527, Jan 20, 2018.

    Does drinking help you write better?
    Does drinking put you in the mood to write?
    Have you ever tried writing while drunk?
    Is it good or bad to write while drinking?
    Is it good or bad that drinking helps (said person) to write better?

    What are your thoughts and opinions on drinking and writing or being drunk and writing?
    I've been very curious. I don't wait until I get drunk to write (when I do drink and write), I wait until I'm relaxed enough and have that tipsy thing going on and then I write, sometimes; depends on when I have to go to work the next day lol.

    So yeah, thoughts and opinions on the subject would help.
    Thanks,
    Courtney
     
  2. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I definitely don't write drunk, I don't get drunk. But after one or two glasses of wine, it does help me live inside the story I'm writing and that helps me write.

    Tipsy doesn't help, it's more of a barrier so I try to avoid it.
     
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  3. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    Drinking doesn't help me write better, but it does help loosen me up to a point that it's easier to write and get words and ideas on the page. I've tried writing while drink, but it's not a good idea. My drunken thoughts put on page are sporadic and disjointed if they even make any sense at all. I enjoy having a few drinks while I work, like I enjoy having a few drinks while watching movies or hanging out with friends because it just seems to make something a little more enjoyable (or depending on how the story's going, bearable) than it was already, so I'd say it's a good thing. If you're asking whether or not it's right in a moral sense, I'd put it chaotic neutral at worst as long as it's not having negative effects on either you or those around you.
     
  4. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    As Shakespeare said "It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance".

    Drinking may be a good way to get ideas and to make you enthusiastic about what you're writing, but I really don't think it's a good way to produce technically strong and effective work.
     
  5. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I used to have this issue with weed. I was totally sure that my brilliance while baked would show up on PAVE PAWS stations in southern Canada, but... not true. :wtf:
     
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  6. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    I post on here mainly - if I've had a drink, don't write so good when lubricated.
     
  7. Rani99

    Rani99 Member

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    "Write drunk, edit sober".

    I've tried few times writing while drunk, it was hard, as far as I remember, but the main point is that yes, it helps to put down ideas on the paper (or I should say, to think of an ideas in the first place) and then the next morning I don't find it difficult to edit the text. So it helps more to think of some idea for the story. Especially if I had only two glasses of wine, as somebody else has mentioned already.
     
  8. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    I have done some of my best drawings on weed. Some of my better writing ideas came from it, but it makes focusing difficult. It exacerbates my ADD, which is one of the reasons I have not used it since '04.

    I can write on a glass of wine or two, but do it better sober. Then again, Hemingway was reportedly half in the bag most of the time.
     
  9. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    Drink and writing doesn't work for me; or I should say not anymore. Used to work, back when I was a novice, but nowadays I've way too much stuff to think about while writing (hopefully) better prose. I'm one of those who has an internal editor that examines every sentence I put to screen, and when I've alcohol in my blood this editor switches off. Which makes for rather a lot of cringing on the next day. Which I don't like at all.
     
  10. Night Herald

    Night Herald The Fool Contributor

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    I've tried writing while somewhat drunk, but it doesn't work for me. I prefer to be stone cold sober. It just seems to work better for my creativity. If I'm revising or editing, a couple of beers or a single tiny whiskey does no harm, and helps me relax to a point where I can focus better. Anything more than that is a spanner in the works. That being said, I don't rely on alcohol in any way to get my work done, and I think it's a bad habit to get into.
     
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  11. Iain Sparrow

    Iain Sparrow Banned Contributor

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    Hard drinking is a wonderful thing for flights of fancy; a tonic to invigorate the imagination. But I never, ever drink while writing. For me, the hard business of writing is best done cold sober. Besides which, my writing sessions can last many hours... and I'm not near the drinker I once was.
     
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  12. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    Oh hell no. Writing drunk goes about as well as cooking drunk.

    ETA: Plus, I've known too many creative people who ended up in rehab (or didn't survive) who started out with a drink or two to write, then suddenly it's a few years later and they're convinced they can't work without it, and pretty soon they're convinced they can't do anything at all without it. ETA: I'm not saying that will happen, or that it happens to everyone, but I've known enough people who ended up being cautionary tales to know it's not a road I want to risk.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2018
  13. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Writing is best done with a lucid mind. At the least, revise with a clear mind, so you can dredge out the muck you threw in while inebriated..
     
  14. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Alcohol may have a liberating effect on people who feel too nervous to begin writing. It also may free the mind or remove inhibitions. BUT ...and this is BIG ...it also will have a negative impact on your health—both mental and physical—if you make it a habit. Or if you get to the point that you can't write unless you've been drinking. I would strongly suggest that you find some other, non-addictive way to get your creativity in gear.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2018
  15. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    In the 1970's there was a popular cooking show called The Galloping Gourmet. The popularity of the show came from the personality of the chef, Grahame Kerr. The guy was hilarious and loved cooking with wine in the sauce, while occasionally putting some in the chef. The show went off the air after he was in an auto accident that nearly killed his wife. He made a comeback several years later with a show devoted to healthy, and sober, cooking.

    Like Hemingway.

    I was, and still am, a fan of Pete Townsend, who like many rock stars of his era had a substance abuse problem. Like many, his drug of choice was ethanol. One of his best albums was called Empty Glass and was rife with references to alcoholism. He got sober after it's release. His work suffered briefly, but he came back after learning to work sober.
     
  16. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    Believe it or not, while Hemingway was a famously heavy drinking (he even invented a cocktail of Absinthe louched champagne and named it after one of his stories) he swore that he never drank while he wrote.
     
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  17. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    I can believe that.
     
  18. DITF Ninja

    DITF Ninja Member

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    Dinking and writing is awesome. Drunkin writing is a hot mess that is too much to try to edit later. Find that happy medium and just float away.
     
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  19. Teladan

    Teladan Contributor Contributor

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    I always think a couple of glasses of wine will help me write, but I end up just feeling tired. I get like that with drink.
     
  20. exweedfarmer

    exweedfarmer Banned Contributor

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    Sometimes being well lubricated helps when I've written myself into a corner. Mostly I just drink because I like it.
     
  21. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    I don't drink much anymore, but when I do, I don't feel like writing. I do some of my best thinking after I've had a couple, though.
     
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  22. O.M. Hillside

    O.M. Hillside Senior Member

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    Some beers or even a couple of shots are maybe okay. It can even contribute somewhat by making you think differently than usually. But, you may find it difficult to focus. If you get straight up drunk, you're SOL. That's just not going to work, long-term or short-term. You won't be able to write properly or... at all. Here's what's best: drink, smoke, go on a trip to Paris, whatever. Get inspired, come up with an idea. Jot it down if you think you'll forget. And then, use your skills to write it when you're sober and STAY sober until it's done. Don't work while you play. But sometimes, you can come up with something good while you're playing.
     
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  23. O.M. Hillside

    O.M. Hillside Senior Member

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    Exactly. You just don't do that. Drinking can be a fun part of life. And it's living life that one should draw inspiration from and then try to represent that through their writing. But you can't live life and represent life at the same time. It just doesn't make any sense.

    Moreover: the only people who can, maybe Poe, are functioning (barely) alcoholics. There's no glamour or added artistic perspective from being a complete alcoholic. The line between alcoholic and "heavy drinker" as you said is just that: you can drink all you want, but as long as there's something you take seriously enough that you'll keep yourself straight while doing it, then you're at most a heavy drinker. When you drink no matter what you're doing, you're an alcoholic.
     
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  24. GrahamLewis

    GrahamLewis Seeking the bigger self Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    Drinking makes me drowsy or distracted, neither of which is conducive to the discipline needed to write. Weed used to give me great ideas that never survived until the next day.
     
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  25. JLT

    JLT Contributor Contributor

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    That's my situation. I've written under the influence of weed, and the results are interesting but seldom publishable. They do lead to other ideas that are sometimes worth developing, but that development happens when I'm sober.
     
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