We are all familiar with the myth/image of the drinking creative type who finds inspiration in inebriation. On that thought:
I am an amateur songwriter. I’m not very good at it, but its a harmless hobby.
I have found that if I have been drinking, I can come up with some neat melodies and/or chord combinations. I cannot, however, come up with any lyrics whatsoever.
My brother, on the other hand, is a writer (books, articles, fiction and nonfiction), and a damned good one at that. He has found that having precisely three drinks prior to sitting down at the keyboard helps his creativity. Any more than three and he can’t write for anything.
There are several very good writers on this board, and I am interested in your thoughts on the matter.
(BTW- Mods, I put this in IMHO because its a poll and speaks more to process rather than an artistic work/genre/etc. If it is better suited to CS, please move and accept my apologies.)
Well, I wouldn’t consider myself a good writer. More of a crap writer, but I have found that drinking doesn’t help me do ANYTHING better. Just makes me dizzy and sick. So I write (and do everything else, really) stone cold sober.
I know this is directed at writers, but I’m kicking in my .02 just for the helluvit. Back in my R & R days, playing bass/keyboards, I couldn’t write an effing thing sober. Booze, pot, ludes, coke, whatever, relaxed my brain, and let my mind wander enough to come up with some pretty creative stuff.
I’m not so much of a writer (although I have won a few awards for some essays) but I’ve always found that either beer (no liquor) or sleep deprivation helps my creative talents immensely. I can’t explain it, but I just can’t draw unless I’m drunk or dead tired. I’ve done some of my best work when I haven’t slept in almost 50 hours.
Creative writing has to be done sober, or I lose the plot so to speak. The meaning gets lost in the haze, rhyming gets rather interesting and when I read it sober it makes no sense whatsoever.
Academic writing, however, is another story. My last week of university I had less than 10 hours of sleep, was packing for an international move, and 24 units to study for and 7 or so dissertations to write. During this time (and many test prep get togethers) several bottles of wine were drunk. Seemed to loosen the old braincells just enough to get them working.
Did the trick. Graduated with a 3.575 GPA (For non-US educated peeps around here I believe this is equivalent to a First Degree).
anywho… I actually write (music) better when I am on some kind of energy booster… caffine or ephedrine…
I found that out when I went to my gym, and it was closed after some sort of mailbox scare(some creepy guy put like 20 letters in wearing rubber gloves during the anthrax scare)
so I went home, started playing the guitar and wrote three songs, with lyrics…
which was always really hard for me… (the lyric part)
Mr P doesn’t drink at all. Most professional writers I know will certainly drink a lot socially but nobody I know who makes a living at it, uses alcohol to help them write.
I do my best writing while using my drug of choice…caffeine. I only drink alcohol socially, so I’m not really in a position to be writing while under the influence and anyway, after 2 or 3 drinks I’m ready to sneak off and fall asleep.
Hooray for caffeine! I do my best writing wired after a pot of coffee or after returning from McDonalds. My kids have played at the playplace all morning and I have drained countless medium Cokes.
Drinking was all right for letting the mind wander and pick up ideas, but having a stable marriage and a supportive wife made me a lot more productive.
I don’t drink often, and never have had the urge to write while unsober (most afraid to throw up on the keyboard, ya know) but I’m with XJETGIRLX on the lack of sleep thing. Put off sleep long enough and you get a lot of ideas for writing! Though not all of them are sane enough to write about. I’m in a rut so I might not sleep for a while after Christmas to see if that helps me come up with something.
It helps greatly when you have a sleep disorder or two ::
After the first 24 hours or so, you kind of get into a ‘zone’. You pretty much forget about physical requirements for sustenance, except for maybe small bits of food and water. For some reason I feel more ‘grounded’ than when I try to get normal sleep. I feel half-dead tired all day long, so it doesn’t bother me all that much. After a couple days, though, I usually give in and sleep for a day or so.
I think that lack of sleep kind of opens up the visually-wired parts of your brain, the parts that supply images for dreams, memories, etc. and helps when you’re trying to ‘see’ something on paper or canvas that isn’t there yet. Once you can see it on the blank paper, all you have to do is trace it out.
I only drink with a meal or at a social event, so it never occurred to me to have a drink before or while writing. I think it would interfere, actually.
Drinking… not so much. One beer or so can get the juices flowing but I don’t usually have pen and paper handy because when I go out drinking I go out and get more drunk than just a beer or two (more like a pitcher and a half to get a really good buzz going)
Pot helps sometimes…
But lack of sleep is the absolute best. The nights I can’t sleep I write the most.
I’m underage, but I agree with “lack of sleep”. Being Chinese and a high school student, it seems, usually equals “5 hours of sleep or less per day” for years on end.
Also, I found out I tend to write best when under pressure. Most of my “A” compositions were hastily scribbled out at midnight the day before they were due. Or maybe it’s just the strangeness of the teachers around here.
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