It's just a thought, but I find that my inner voice has a degree of clarity, and my quality is better when I've had a little something. Not a lot, because then I get incoherent, but enough to relax me and let the mind flow a bit. I'm hardly alone; Ernest Hemingway certainly was a 'glass in hand' writer, though it overcame him eventually. Hunter S. Thompson, by all accounts, also liked to imbibe and write.

So the question is; have you ever tried it? What were the results?

Or, you can just give your opinion on the practice. We'd probably get some of those anyway.

Also, full disclosure -- due to fear of migraines and persistent sinus problems (recently cleared up though thanks to the right medication) I have been loathe to drink on a regular basis for fear of triggering a constriction of the sinuses and a bad headache. But it seems like the occasional drink is okay now.

I think too much of myself leaks into my writing when I'm tipsy - so while it certainly can help me connect if I really want to emotionally charge a scene, or if I'm writing about myself in some way, it tends to compromise my writing if I'm writing a character dissimilar to myself or some such. I think the style of my writing is clearer when I'm not tipsy, too - I tend to write in a fairly convoluted manner, and it's easy to slip up and make grammatical mistakes or lose track of my own sentence if I'm inebriated.

On the other hand, considering how many great writers have been known to drink as part of their lifestyle (sometimes to excess!), clearly you're onto something. ;P

I've tried drinking and writing, I noted the following results.

--My writings became more incoherent and violent. (Disorder-related?)
--They also became more sexually oriented if characters of the appropriate genders were around.
--They became more intelligent, surprisingly.
--The more drunk I became, the more nonsensical the plot got, and the worse my spelling and grammar became.
--The world had less censorship than I normally throw into it.

The greatest drunken rambling I ever stumbled on later was an RP where I played as a wise talking owl who's favourite hobby was shitting on some farmers. Then all the animals rose up and killed the farmers while my owl grew sad that he had nobody to shit on anymore. Then some other things happened that I don't remember. Then he was eaten by a flying sperm whale.

I've mentioned this story before, I think, but it's still glorious, nonetheless.

Due to some monetary restrictions my drinking as of late pretty much stopped cold. Before that though, I regularly enjoyed a little wine while writing my posts, or while working on personal writings. One or two glasses put me in an enjoyable position where the basic restrictions of a world blurred with what I felt at the time mirrored some chaotic truth. I was willing to put my characters into more danger, to throw them into situations I could not see the solutions for, and to let the world live as freely as the characters. Normally I strive for these areas, but a little wine helped. For me, the line between useful and obstructive is a bit thin though. Sometimes the second glass put my head in a place where I'd miss a word here and there more often than I'd like. On the other hand, scotch did not give me any issues. While my body clearly feels the effects, my mind stays surprisingly clear when drinking scotch. If I had the money, I'd stick to the latter when writing.

I'll admit that a little alcohol really does help my creative process. It shouldn't be any surprise, but I'm a dreamer. My mind is constantly producing narratives, images, and all sorts of background stories no matter what I happen to be doing. This helps me to catch the nuances behind how a person is acting in-person and has helped me see issues between departments of work before they had a chance reach me too. With all these ideas, when I sit down to write or to draw I need exercises to put each one in check. I'll do several short free-writes to just put some ideas down and store them for later. I do the equivalent with thumbnails for my drawings, which usually turn into paintings of some level of completion. Now, linking back to this thread, I find a little wine or scotch really helps to boldly cut certain ideas into their own. I find myself liberated to create without mercy, doubt, or remorse. This is very true when I'm drawing or painting.

Other recreational drugs too, huh? Well, let's say that for about a year I shared a decent studio with about half a dozen other artists. We often slept there and spent our days covered in oil paint and charcoal. I avoid hard psychedelics like LSD or shrooms, because my way of thinking described above seems a little too close to something else. I always feared a drug like that could blur the line between constantly creating other realities and losing myself to other realities. So, no, I avoid those types of harder drugs. Pot and artwork actually works very well for me, usually opening me up to bigger, bolder decisions. It also helped me burn through some of my larger woodcuts and the fine details, which if you're familiar, requires the artist to personally cut every line into a block of wood in order to later create the image. Close friends of mine tried dropping acid and created some amazing photography as a result. Shrooms though, that pretty much put our studio on its ass for a night. Those who took them accomplished little more than sprawling out naked on the studio floor apologizing to the scrapped sculptures. Maybe one day I'll try LSD and if I do, I'll undoubtedly try painting and sketching before writing. I can't imagine trying to write with something so mind-bending, honestly.

I think being under the influence and then writing is a literal sin, that should be punishable by death, but only hard drugs like weed, beer, or cloves. The soft stuff like coke and lsd should be just a fine and a stern warning.

Well, drinking and using drugs probably aren't good for anyone, for any reason. On the other hand, I've rarely written anything over the past few years without having first had a drink or two in me, and personally, I like my writing. My conclusion? Do what's natural for you. It's doubtful if you typically drink that your going to be as, "normal," as you would be without drinking a bit, and feeling all together, "well," usually helps people to do most everything better than they would otherwise. On the other hand, should drinking be an occasional or nearly alien activity for you it's best to avoid it altogether when approaching an otherwise natural activity, such as writing might be among text based role players or authors.

I've never found anything wrong with a good buzz in and of itself, but my avoidance of alcohol has to do with the worry that I'd have a terrible headache even from a drink. Absent that, I don't see the problem with a drink a day, and neither does the medical community, ironically.

And, in a sense, it does seem to reduce my inhibition a bit. Writers need that lack of inhibition to put down what they're really thinking, and if they can't achieve it naturally, it might need a little help. Alcohol is, for better or for worse (Hemingway) one of the ways to bring down the inhibitions and allow one greater voice. A commenter said that more of themselves bled into the writing -- I'm not sure I'd consider this a bad thing.

When I end up drinking, I'm normally not in the right space to write. And I'm not sure if I should experiment with writing while drunk, for personal reasons. Already had enough awkward online interactions for my liking because of that.

Other than that, I've got nothing to add to the discussion, but I'll stick around and spectate. Carry on.

I have a separate word document for this purpose, from which I extract interesting and weird ideas when I am sober. I never attempt to write something sensible while intoxicated.

Turtlicious said
I think being under the influence and then writing is a literal sin, that should be punishable by death, but only hard drugs like weed, beer, or cloves. The soft stuff like coke and lsd should be just a fine and a stern warning.

Fun fact: They never discovered an LD-50 for LSD (the dose that kills up to half of a control group). It's theoretically impossible to overdose on LSD, and as far as addictive substances go, it's one of the least. So go nuts.

Toxicology class was awesome.

As for writing under the influence, never tried it. Usually I only drink in social settings or if I am playing a video game.

I usually have a drink or two of scotch our bourbon when I'm writing. I tend to overthink things a lot normally so it helps me just go with the narrative rather than getting stuck on points regularly. That said I've writen while drinking more as well, it does tend to get a little odd at times but the results are usually fine after a litte sober proofing.

I can't write on coke. I've tried. My inability to sit still only got way worse.....go figure.

Xanax, Vicodin...like writing drunk, I think.

Can't focus enough to write on X.

Shroom caps, same deal.

Pot and alcohol I can write under the influence of, but I actually enjoy plotting under their influence more than writing under their influence. Poor Siri having to take plot notes from an intoxicated me so I don't forget them. ^_^

Rarely. I tend to get less coherent and more sporadic. It often means I have to rewrite my post in the morning. If I drink by myself, I play games or watch movies instead. Or start calling people I haven't seen in ages telling them we should totally hang out.

Some of you may remember what I look like when I post after taking certain prescription meds.

Alcohol though, definitely can help. If your brain is a machine then alcohol is grease. It's not like you want it EVERYWHERE, or TOO too much. But use it right and gears turn a little more smoothly. I get a lot done when I'm the right level of buzzed. The real downside is that then, I can't run out for tacos, and that's a pretty serious problem.

mdk said
Some of you may remember what I look like when I post after taking certain prescription meds.Alcohol though, definitely can help. If your brain is a machine then alcohol is grease. It's not like you want it EVERYWHERE, or TOO too much. But use it right and gears turn a little more smoothly. I get a lot done when I'm the right level of buzzed. The real downside is that then, I can't run out for tacos, and that's a pretty serious problem.

It's a depressant. It makes you care less, and so you end up writing more, as it represses what would normally inhibit you.

Alcohol: Mother Nature's way of making anyone brave. Maybe not so much capable or intelligent, but certainly brave.

I've never done a lot of writing on pot, but I'm eager to see what goes. The problem is adjusting the intake so I'm not all chonged out before I even write. But I can see a little bit of a brownie and some of the right music and I'll be gold.

I can't ever imagine writing on Xanax; during the period I was using it (along with a real cocktail of other drugs, including pill-form dilaudid and percocet) I was not doing any creative writing. Suffice it to say, when I was getting spiked with dilaudid intravenously, I was so goddamn high I couldn't even think of writing.

I wrote when I was tripping on LSD before, and ecstasy as well. With Acid, when you trip hard enough it's hard to follow your own writing let alone even trying to use a damn keyboard. It's pretty miserable. With Ecstasy though you can type just fine and no matter what your satisfied with the outcome of what you wrote haha or that was my experience. Weed is an easy drug to do shit on. Alcohol just makes you dumb as shit so... There's my two cents

I've written drunk(mostly just RP replies) and most have actually been pretty decent.

This came to mind:


With the writings being the web.
You get the idea.