Intoxicated Writers: Discussion

[Gavin Luper]

A writer friend asked me a few months ago what I thought about writers taking drugs (or other intoxicants) in order to get inspired or write down their thoughts and feelings during the psychedelic state. I thought it'd be interesting to see what the writers of TPM think about this.

Do you think it's a good thing? A bad thing?

Have you set out to take drugs intentionally to alter your state of mind and experiment with your writing?

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Personally, I don't take drugs in general; I drink alcohol, but never to "inspire" myself or reach an altered state.

But I did share a dorm in Amsterdam with a writer who was laying there gobbling down mushrooms for this exact reason: to add another dimension to his writing. It was actually very interesting to watch --- I had never seen someone take drugs purely to experience the sensation and write it all down.

I never read what he wrote, though, so I don't know if his experiment was a "success" as such.

Discuss!

[Weasel Overlord]

Wow, that's something that's never even occurred to me. I mean, I've read some writers before whose work looks like they were on something when they wrote it... but I know I would never do it myself.

I don't like drugs, or even cigarettes, so it's a definite no-no for me. And alcohol? Well, it makes me sleepy and incoherent. Totally useless for writing, heh.

I think it would depend on what the person's like when they're ON the drugs. If they can manage to be coherent enough to write, then go them! But at the same time, I've listened to drugged up people talk and it's dull as ditchwater. So if it rubs off in the writing, or is detrimental to it in some way, I'd say it's a bad thing to do.

[Cadmus]

I've heard of musicians who use drugs (some soft, some more 'hardcore') to write songs. The band "Aqua" (Barbie Girl, Cartoon Heroes, Dr. Jones) were taking drugs during the recording of their albums. It helps creativity, they say. I don't know, I've never tried it and quite frankly, I don't even feel like it. I wouldn't like to be addicted to some drug to be more creative. I prefer to be creative on my own than with the help of some drug.

If you're picky, then you'd say; if you use music to inspire yourself to write, then isn't this a sort of drug as well? I know I use music to sometimes think better about certain scenes, moments or even plotlines, but would you call that a drug?

But anyway, yes, I think quite a lot of writers and other artsy people use drugs to enhance their creativity and stuff. It's not that uncommon at all. I think it's not necessarily a bad thing, just because I don't feel like putting something in my bloodstream/system to put me in some sort of alternative state to write more or better means that it's not something good to do.

To each their own, really, I guess. If you are at your best while under the influence of a drug and you write gems of stories or even something completely out of this world, then why not?

[Goodnight Seadra]

Me and a couple of my friends were talking about that also. I find it weird but fascinating at the same time how writers would write while using drugs/alcohol/etc. Heck, in another forum I actually read a one shot where the writer admits she was high while writing that story, and she's actually one of the best writers in that forum.

I wouldn't do that due that I plan to never take drugs nor alcohol and I never want to have my mind be all numb and such. Like Cadmus, I use music to inspire me to write most of the time. Yeah, I guess it depends how that person is able to handle their mind while on drugs/alcohol. If they can be able to write fine, then that's okay.

[Lady Vulpix]

I think taking heavy drugs for any reason is a bad thing. There are far better ways to get inspiration, and even if you can't think of any, it's better to take a break from writing than to ruin your life like that.

As for alcohol in moderate amounts and not too often so that it doesn't cause any permanent damage, I think it's up to the writer. I wouldn't want to do it, I'd much rather be in control of my own mind. But to each their own, as long as no one gets hurt.

[Dark Sage]

I don't drink, nor would I ever do anything that might land me in rehab. (I've went through enough of that when I was a teenager to last a lifetime.) I never understood any theories that claim that they help creativity.

Then again, I know that Lewis Carroll, a writer who has inspired me a lot, used opium. But then again, so did a lot of people in his time period. Opium use was rather widespread in his era. He wrote something that has stood the test of time, but whether opium actually inspred him, it's hard to say. Carroll once wrote that his mind functioned better when it was in odd situations, and his writing certainly suggested that he was eccentric. Drug use? Maybe. But again, his use of it was hardly irregular at the time.

I won't drink myself, so it doesn't apply to me. And I think there are far better ways to get inspiration myself. If I was intoxicated, I'd likely only write gibberish.

[PancaKe]

I once tried to get drunk so i would just loosen up and do my assessment.

Instead I got drunk, decided that calling my friend to come over and teach me bass was a much better idea, and then I sobered up at about midnight, maybe 1, and realised that drinking was a terrible idea and I only had like 8 hours left to do my assessment.

x_x


My friend also drank wine whilst doing her writing fiction assessment. She had to sober up before finishing it.

I mean, we all THINK we're better writers whilst high/drunk. But we're not. There's a difference between stringing words together and getting high and writing music. Music is allowed to be incoherent. Writing just sucks when its' like that.

[mistysakura]

Mm, know of quite a few writers who do that, and musicians as well. It's the only reason I'd ever take drugs (besides alcohol). But I would never rely on drugs to get inspiration. It would just be... a new experience I could incorporate into my writing. If I were ever to do this experiment, I'd only ever do it once, and make sure someone trustworthy was supervising me.

It's beyond me why music is allowed to be incoherent while writing isn't. And also why musicians feel that they can write lyrics in a matter of hours and chuck them onto songs, like they don't matter. And they become bestsellers anyway. Personally, I don't think that incoherent writing is inherently bad, but meh.

[mr_pikachu]

Oh, I've heard this debate before... crazy stuff.

For the most part, I agree with Gabi. I, personally, don't do drugs or drink. There never seemed to be a point in doing so. There are better ways to get inspiration than by risking addiction/sickness/death/etc. I'm willing to excuse someone like Carroll who probably didn't know the risks, but there's really no excuse when you're aware of the long-term effects.

That being said, I think Cadmus makes a good point about the definition of an "altered state." For instance, many of my best ideas come when I'm half-asleep. I'll be lying in bed on the verge of unconsciousness when something will sort of come to me. Maybe it's sort of a half-dream, but I'll go through it for awhile until I realize that I'm still partially awake and need to write down a quick summary of my thoughts. Most of my best ideas have come this way.

Consequently, I do a lot of my writing late at night. Part of this is because I'm not at all a morning person... I'm generally groggy for several hours after waking. Mostly, though, it's because I seem to be able to reach a heightened level of focus when my alertness wanes. If I write when I'm totally awake, I often won't get further than two paragraphs before something distracts me (including my own thoughts) and the process is abruptly halted. Late at night, though, when I could legitimately go to bed, I'll get into a rhythm that I can just feel, in which things click for pages on end.

Is that an altered state of mind? Maybe. Is it a foolish approach? Certainly not so much as drugging myself, but perhaps it does have a negative impact elsewhere. I don't take drugs to achieve inspiration, but it still may not be a good thing to repeatedly work myself to exhaustion in search of a better product.

Food for thought.


(Side note: I typically do my editing while fully conscious. You pretty much have to be alert at that point.)

[Lady Vulpix]

Interesting. I do most of my writing early in the mornings, because no one else is around/awake to interrupt me. And because it's also the time when I get the best inspiration.

My writing is much slower and less interesting in the afternoons.

I can write late at night (say, around 10 PM), but then I have to review everything the next morning and fix it.

[PancaKe]

I think being in a surreal state can give you a broader imagination - in the sense that you can see and think about things and stretch ideas and nothing seems stupid or impossible. It frees up your mind to think abstractly.

Although I think it depends on what you're surrounded by as well; there are plenty of things to write about and be inspired by without even going near drugs. I keep thinking that a great show would be about a coffee shop, and then every episode would follow one customers life, and the central point of the show would be about the coffee shop and them ordering coffee. *shrugs* But then translating that to writing?

$Yeah.

[Gavin Luper]

I think being in a surreal state can give you a broader imagination - in the sense that you can see and think about things and stretch ideas and nothing seems stupid or impossible. It frees up your mind to think abstractly.

Although I think it depends on what you're surrounded by as well; there are plenty of things to write about and be inspired by without even going near drugs. I keep thinking that a great show would be about a coffee shop, and then every episode would follow one customers life, and the central point of the show would be about the coffee shop and them ordering coffee. *shrugs* But then translating that to writing?

$Yeah.

You thought of that one day at Gloria Jean's, didn't you?



I love doing that too, dreaming up stories for other people. That's a cool idea you have, except that the characters would be different every time, which could be weird if it was a sitcom.

[PancaKe]

You thought of that one day at Gloria Jean's, didn't you?

Maybeee.

Actually you know what has been hilarious for me to read lately, plenty of inspirations - my diaries. Ranging from 12 years old to 15. They are so dumb