For those of you who are shaking their heads at the title, let me remind you that writers are not perfect people. And like a good deal of imperfect people, writers abuse drugs and alcohol, for a myriad of reasons. In fact, a good percentage of the world’s most famous writers were either alcoholics or drug addicts. Don’t believe me? Think of 5 great writers, and tell me which one didn’t have a drug or alcohol problem.
Alcohol, in particular, seems to be a popular favorite among writers. Fitzgerald, Melville, and Poe were alcoholics. So were O. Henry, Tennessee Williams, Dylan Thomas, Jack Karouac, James Joyce, and, of course, Ernest Hemmingway. There are lots more. There are so many in fact that I don’t think a complete list has ever been assembled and if it were it would probably be publication-worthy rolling in well over the 30,000 word mark.
As for writers who took drugs, there are plenty of names that pop up there too. William S. Burroughs is an obvious favorite with novels like Naked Lunch, Queer, and of course the aptly named Junky. Aldous Huxley’s later works were heavily influenced by his experiences with psychedelics, well after his invention of Soma in Brave New World. And then there’s Ken Kesey who took a magical mystery tour on his notorious bus “further” right around the time he was finishing up One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Many writers have built their entire writing career on experiences that occurred while under the influence. There is even a genre for it, more of less, called psychedelic fiction.
But what is it about drugs that leads writers to use them? And what about alcohol? Certainly while drugs and alcohol may lead to brilliance for SOME writers (god bless you Hunter S. Thompson) they definitely do not contain any inherent power that universally can make anyone a better writer. So why then?
Why Do Writers Drink & Do Drugs?
In addition to all the normal reasons people drink and do drugs, here are a couple which reasons which I think effect writers in particular:
1) Drugs are habitual. And habits, by nature, keep you doing SOMETHING. So a writer might say, “I always drink when I write. I always write when I drink.” It becomes a habit to the point where the writer learns to think of the two working in combination.
2) Drugs and alcohol lower inhibitions. For writers, this translates into a silencing of the inner-editor, the voice which tells you you’re doing this or that wrong or even stops you from writing completely.
3) Writers tend to be adventurous people always looks for a new experience to undergo and get inspired by. Drugs and alcohol are notorious for offering new ways to see and experience the world. It seems only natural that writers would want to use them.
My Own Experiences
Like a lot of writers, I’ve tried writing while under the influence. Sometimes the results have been great, and sometimes disastrous. Usually, it depends on WHAT I’ve been doing and how strong it was. For those who are interested in what my experiences were, they are below for your reading pleasure.
Coffee and cigarettes are probably two things that most writers abuse regularly, and are mostly harmless. I say mostly. I don’t smoke, but I certainly was on a coffee stint for a while. I was drinking about five cups a day in order to finish a novel for NanoWrimo when I had a panic attack and, not knowing what the hell was wrong with me, was taken to the emergency room. I spent about 145 euro on an EKG only to be told by the doctor that I was fine and just needed to cut out the caffeine for a while. As far as writing goes, I’ve found that sometimes coffee helps me to write and sometimes it makes my brain so jittery I can’t concentrate. I know other writers who have to have coffee in order to “get themselves going.” Personally, I think it is better in moderation. BTW looking back at the NanoWrimo I created, most of it is hurried, rambling garbage.
The next up on the totem pole of substances is the favorite of Carver, Capote, and Hemmingway among many others: alcohol. As a girl living in Germany, it’s easy for me to write after a couple drinks as long as I’m still mostly in control of my thoughts and limbs. After a certain point, though, I find it becomes pointless. I’ve written a few things while drunk which seemed sheer genius at the time but in the morning were nothing more than disappointing, illegible scribble. As a result, I try and steer clear of having too many drinks before writing, and try not to intentionally mix the two.
As far as marijuana goes towards being a gateway to a mystical realm, I’ve never found pot as inspirational as everyone else seems to. On the rare occasion I have smoked weed, it’s impossible to get me to do anything other than watch TV and eat cheddar cheese wedges (two things which often conspire to keep me from writing, but that I can generally say no to while sober).
As for harder stuff, it seems to make writing harder too. I once came up with a brilliant plot for a novel while on LSD about an acid head in purgatory. I went out to the beach with my notebook intending to write the whole thing down. I felt like I made a lot of headway. A couple weeks later I peeked in the journal and found I’d only written a page. It was a decent page. But there wasn’t much there. In fact, it wasn’t even a complete scene. I will probably write more of it someday, even if it isn’t as brilliant in retrospect and certainly has less priority than some of my other ideas. But looking back I realize that I was probably being a bit ambitious to think that I could write a whole novel all at once, even if I wasn’t going to sleep for another 12 hours.
Attempting to write a science fiction story on shrooms was probably the worst idea ever. For one thing, none of it made any sense. For another thing, it didn’t even make sense to the other people at the party who were on drugs, although they did all assure me it was brilliant and offered to hug me for sharing.
So Should I or Shouldn’t I?
Okay, so I’m really on dangerous ground here aren’t I? I should probably tell you to just say no and be done with it, but in the interest of stretching my right to freedom of speech (which doesn’t get enough time outside the house, really) I’m going to go a bit against the grain here and use the much-celebrated “IF.”
Well, in my opinion, if you are going to write while under the influence (of anything, including Tylenol), I wouldn’t recommend making a habit out of it. Whether you feel it makes it easier for you to write or not, it is still a crutch if you make your writing dependent on it and writers generally speaking have enough of our own innate crutches to hobble around on.
My second bit of advice is to not attempt to do anything beyond your means. You may get some great ideas. Write them down. But don’t expect to write a whole novel just because you now have super powers and are beyond the confines of the mortal world. Producing a solid work takes a lot of time and effort and realism (as in thinking realistically about how you’re going to do this thing). While under the influence, it is unlikely that you will have a lot of either at your disposal.
If you’re going to do it, do it for the right reasons. Now I can’t exactly tell you what the right reason is, but I can warn you against doing it for the wrong reasons. Don’t do it because you feel like you have to or that there is no other way. There is always another way. And if you’re doing it to solve a problem you might want to try some other, less life-changing solution first. There are plenty of ways to inspire yourself aside from taking drugs. A good collection of them can be found in this blog under “exercises.”
Lastly, be smart, know your limits, and take care of yourself. If you mess up your body and your brain then what’s there left of you to write with? Remember all that Platonian jazz about “healthy mind, healthy body?” Well, it wasn’t just the abundance of good, Greek wine speaking.
And So On
This entry of course is only the tip of the ice berg on this discussion. There have been books written as well as entire classroom curriculum designed around the topic of writers who take drugs. There are also some excellent resources on the web for those interested, among them I’d recommend reading Ann Waldon’s research on Writers and Alcohol.
Feel free to share other good finds in the comments! Happy writing!
