'Write drunk; edit sober' - Hemingway

I don't drink while I write,edit or brainstorm. I really don't drink,period.


My mind is quite odd all on its own and I write every day without fail. I've been doing it so long that it's almost like I am on autopilot. At a certain time,I am always at my computer. I don't need alcohol or any other enhancer to write.

I'm also a pantser so the editing side of my brain remains quiet until I've finished the novel. When I'm done,it takes over. It's very nice to have the creative and analytical sides of my writing knowing their lanes. There is no way I could write and edit at the same time. I'd never get anything finished!

If I did drink and write,it would be gibberish and useless. It's impossible for me to write and be lit up at the same time.

There is some neuroscience research that suggests that there is a kernel of truth to "Write drunk; edit sober." The technical term is Transient Hypofrontality. Basically, it means that, in order to do creative work, we have to put the brakes on our judgment center (frontal lobes). When we edit, we need to re-engage the judgment center.

I have a whole blog post about it here.

To me, writing is high-order intellectual activity. Why would I want to use a central nervous system depressant while engaging that level of my intellect? I have no trouble releasing any inhibitions (or my judgement center) through my imagination, so that aspect of ethanol-use has no unique advantage for me.

Of course we can write, and write well, after imbibing. But I just don't feel the need to do it. And the likelihood that the quality of MY writing may be less than when sober is enough to keep me away from it. I said this in another thread:

The enemy of excellence isn't bad. That enemy is "good."

We all should find our own comfort zones with things like this. What's stated above is my comfort zone. Being that Hemmingway had a problem with alcohol, I wouldn't suggest anyone use his words about alcohol and writing as a good plan (unless they have a similar problem and want to use him as an alcohol-dependent mentor).

Hmm... I don't know where that quote comes from, because Hemingway was always adamant about NOT drinking while writing, despite his heavy drinking/alcoholism. If he did say it I bet it's metaphorical. It doesn't really matter to the discussion, just had to note it.

To the actual question... I can't write at all with even the smallest bit of alcohol. I need to really really focus and I cant get into that headspace under any influence. Sometimes reading my stuff after a drink or two helps ne because I feel more distanced, but I can't actually edit or work on it.

Though if the quote is metaphorical... well that's something else entirely!

So writing is like a mullet haircut: Business in front, party in the back. You write like it was a party, you edit like it was a business.

Once in a blue moon I have written when slightly intoxicated, and once it was a short story (humorous) that got published. Ideas can flow when drunk, but just ideas. You jot them down so you don't forget them, because otherwise you will surely forget them. It's the breaking down of inhibitions. But the piling up of pages for a novel or a screenplay is done first thing in the morning, sober. But, there have been some great great writers who drank while writing and produced great stuff. Of course we will never know exactly how drunk they were, and was it a glass of wine while writing, and then when they finished writing for the day, a bottle of booze, or the other way around.

James D. Macdonald said:

So writing is like a mullet haircut: Business in front, party in the back. You write like it was a party, you edit like it was a business.

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But it's best to cut both front and back with a sharp clipper.

It's a matter of shutting off the internal editor. Writing with a slight distraction keeps you from over thinking. Remember the movie, Bull Durham, when Nuke starts pitching wearing a garter belt under his uniform and how Annie tells him to breathe out his eyelids? It was intended to distract him just enough that he didn't over think.
It keeps your brain occupied to have a bit of a distraction so you can shush that editor when it tries to come out too early in the process. I think some people can do that naturally, others depend on something to help them. Lack of sleep or a bit of alcohol might be just those distractions.Editing, however, no eyelid breathing, no garter belt, no distractions.


"The rose goes in front, big guy."

Coop720 said:

This cropped up in another thread of mine so I thought it would be an interesting discussion point.

Do you ever use any thing that puts you 'under the influence' to write?

For me alcohol or sleep deprivation sometimes brings out a much more passionate writer (sometimes for the best).

Any stories/tips for opening up that third eye?

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Well, I don't know if this counts, but I love to eat popcorn while I write.

Also, Hemingway had the disease of alcoholism. It probably wasn't pretty.

I couldn't write if I shut off the editor while doing so.

Scarlet - wasn't meaning to argue with you. I did say "a lot" of people, knowing that there are exceptions.

I guess it depends on how we define drunk. To me, drunk is when my speach slurs my vision blurs, and my thoughts become incoherent. I doubt I'd even be able to type, much less write.

Nevertheless, a drink or two does help me unwind and relax. And I do write better relaxed. It also shuts off that intrusive editor who seems oh so concerned with typos and grammar in those beginning stages.

NeuroFizz said:

The enemy of excellence isn't bad. That enemy is "good."

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I have never under the quote, "the enemy of excellence is good." that always struck me as one of those non-sensensical motivational quotes lousy managers put on their wall.

seun said:

Yep, count me in, too. I fall asleep, promising myself I'll remember the ideas the next day. I rarely do.

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Voice recorder. Works for songs too. Just start rambling, clean it up in the morning.

Hemingway seldom got drunk before starting to write. Like much of Hemingway's advice, too many take everything he said literally.

A drunk is just a drunk, not a writer. Good writing that comes while drunk is not because of the alcohol, it's despite the alcohol. Drunks are only creative in their own minds. To outside observers, they're just drunks.

If you want to get drunk, get drunk, but don't make excuses for it.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I guess it depends on how we define drunk. To me, drunk is when my speach slurs my vision blurs, and my thoughts become incoherent. I doubt I'd even be able to type, much less write.

Nevertheless, a drink or two does help me unwind and relax. And I do write better relaxed. It also shuts off that intrusive editor who seems oh so concerned with typos and grammar in those beginning stages.

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Everything the Ferret said.

Is everybody using the same dictionary definition of 'drunk' here? '...losing control of one's faculties or behaviour.'

I find it hard to believe anybody could write much while genuinely 'drunk'.

I suspect, but please correct me if I'm wrong- that most folk may mean they were on their own, concentrating and writing while having a little swig now and then... and over a space of time they began to feel a little merry, but were so absorbed in the writing that the words continued to flow unabated and perhaps a little less inhibited. Eventually the call of sleep took over.

Now, has anybody got literally 'drunk' and then written something worthwile that they didn't need to edit the next morning?

Anytime I've been drunk - in the accepted sense of being sloshed and not fully 'with it' - I just wanted to sleep and the thought of typing on a keyboard in front of a bright monitor was the last thing on my mind.

I did actually post here once when a wee bit merry -but had the sense to delete it before hitting 'save'.

hmmm, studies say a glass or two of red wine a day is good for you (antioxidants) and my Doctor tells me I really should have a 'bone' beer a couple a times a week (source of calcium, fends off osteo)... so yeah, I agree that 'drinking' and drunk are two completely different things. So I took the OP's question to be one more closely identified with significantly altering the state of mind... and not one shot of single malt before bed!

=)

Captcha said:

So I can see the connection with drinking - anything to shut up the conscious, analytical part of my brain. I'll have a couple glasses of wine over an evening of writing sometimes, but drunk wouldn't work for me. It would be too far out of control.

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One word: meditation. Practiced over years, you gain the ability to plunge into that creative side of your mind at will and shut off the noisy, nosy, analytical, judgmental editor. A caveat: you should meditate for its own sake, not in order to write.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I have never under the quote, "the enemy of excellence is good." that always struck me as one of those non-sensensical motivational quotes lousy managers put on their wall.

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There is a difference between putting it on a wall and practicing it. I can write stories that are just good, or I can try to make them better than just good by studying and practicing the craft of writing. It probably won't make a difference in dollars, but it will make a difference in my view of my own writing scholarship. I post it here because I hope all writers will strive for writing excellence, not writing that is good. If you take pride in writing that is mediocre but passable, that's fine. I'm trying to go beyond that. If that makes me a lousy manager-type, so be it. I thought we all post here to try to get others to reach their full potential, not just a passable potential.

In short, good enough...isn't.

I've written absolute shedloads while under the influence of mania and it was my best work yet. And you know what? I miss it. I miss the productivity and the joy of it.

I've tried to write drunk before. Not a good idea. Trying to type/scribble when you can't really keep your eyes open? Yeah, didn't really do the trick for me. Then again, I'm a sleepy drunk. It doesn't really open up the creative part of my brain. I just get slightly more talkative for about half an hour, then pass out.

Ah - I see now what you're trying to ascertain - what differing environments folk find helps stimulate their creativity, but opening with Hemingway's quote didn't exactly help keep the thread on its intended track.

Coop720 said:

Great discussion, guys.

This wasn't exclusively about alcohol to those who asked and as Bufty and Leah said, I was referring to being 'drunk' as in being captivated or under the influence of something, that could be excitedness or depression etc.

I have written some of my best poetry absolutely trashed, but it always requires a ... clean-up haha.

I usually get my best ideas at work on the night-shift!

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I have a single beer, and I can pretty much count writing out. I feel dazed and sleepy and I just don't wanna at that point.

I DO however, work "under the influence" of coffee, because chronic insomnia means I'm freakin' tired a lot and I sometimes need a cup in the morning to be able to keep my eyes tacked open.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I have never under the quote, "the enemy of excellence is good." that always struck me as one of those non-sensensical motivational quotes lousy managers put on their wall.

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The phrase is "Perfect is the enemy of good." That makes more sense, doesn't it?