Fictional drugs vs real drugs

I think it depends on how they handle the drugs. If you want the effects to be what they are in the real world, then use the actual things, but you may want to have an effect that does not exist in nature; for that you will need a fictional drug. Then there are the times when authors have extrapolated from existing drugs. For example, William S. Burroughs dreamed up a drug that was derived from Heroin but was more powerful. And I think I read of another derivative by another author.

I have no issue with fictional drugs in fantasy. In fact, I probably prefer them. That way, you can come up with whatever effects you want.

One of my fantasy stories shows made-up drug use quite frequently. It would seem odd to me that any non-Earth world still has heroin etc.... especially the manufactured drugs.

Besides, making up more things is fun.

TKpinkerton said:

What do you think about writers using fictional drugs instead of real drugs in their stories? I mean not just drug abuse but just use in general.
It's something I feel like I see more often in scifi or futuristic stories than fantasy so I think it's a bit more believable there, but do you think they come across as cheesy or a cheap way to have a "cleaner" version of drug use?
Would it be better to just use drugs from real life instead? Excluding a fantasy drug that has an effect not found in any real drug that is.

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LIke any original and interesting part of a milieu I enjoy them in any book, sci-fi, fantasy & contemporary. Why would you think they are a cheap device or don't belong in fantasy? Personally I think it adds realism to any book when they are done well, drugs have been used for all sorts of reasons at every point in history. It's a bit short-sighted to think they wouldn't exist outside of our history.

I enjoy the ones that have effects not seen before and are administered in ways other than ingestion or intravenously. They can be a great device when they fit the story. As far as fantasy goes, I've be put off if crystal meth turned up in a fantasy novel, or the basic heroine or weed. I'd like to think the author could be a little inventive there given that the milieu supports any number of interesting possibilities.

I'm cool with a made-up drug. You have to ask yourself what you want to DO in your story with this drug?

Do you want a specific kind of high? Hallucination? Euphoria? A spiritual experience? What types of side-effects? Addiction?

I say go for it.

In the future, there could be "cleaner" drugs with less side-effects.

I think using made-up drugs only makes sense if it's another world. Frankly I would find it kind of jarring to see heroin show up on another world. At the very least, you'd think they would have a different name for it.

There are some real drugs I would totally buy in a secondary world or a sci-fi setting. Pot, for example. Although I would expect a different name and different slang terms. Same for poppy and some of its derivatives. Heroin I wouldn't buy, because most fantasy worlds aren't advanced enough in their understanding of chemistry to even know what an acetyl group is, much less attach a couple to another molecule on a large scale.


What really matters with any made-up ting is your goal. For example, I would find drugs with no negative side-effects kind of boring and cheating. But even a drug with a massive positive side-effect would be fine as long as there's some balance to it. I often use a fantasy setting for a story because I can't find a real setting that quite fits my plot goals or themes. It seems reasonable to do the same with a drug.

I've got some fake and some real drugs in my fantasy novels (pot and something similar to opium, both by different names). I like leaving it so the effects are identifiable enough to get an idea of what it is, but still put my own twist on it. I have mixed feelings about leaving names the same. On the one hand, smeerp syndrome. On the other, it might be jarring in a completely second world fantasy to see characters talking about smoking some grass. I think it all depends on the feel of your world and your style of writing. If my brain isn't broken and sending completely random signals, Martin has pot/something like it (and laudanum) in ASoIaF, and Richard K. Morgan has a few fictionalized drugs in his Land fit for Heroes trilogy.

CrastersBabies said:

In the future, there could be "cleaner" drugs with less side-effects.

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One of my favorite speculative drug situations was in C. S. Freidman's Coldfire trilogy, set in a far-future human colony on the fringe of the galaxy; drugs were legal and readily available, but came in pills with a paralytic agent that kept you from hurting yourself or others while high. Seemed like a nice, neat solution to a nasty problem.

I side with the "go ahead and make it up" crowd, myself, especially if the story is not set on Earth or an Earth-originated colony. As for whether or not the subject of drugs and addiction comes across as cheesy or somehow unrealistic... that comes down to the writing, not necessarily the idea of inventing fictional drugs, IMHO. I've seen some pretty nasty imaginary substances in fiction that couldn't possibly be seen as glamorous or "cleaner" than real-world stuff. I've also seen some that had me rolling my eyes at how plot-convenient they were.

synthetic drugs have long been gaining traction in the mainstream consciousness, so imagining a designer drug with your preferred effect is perfectly valid, on earth or otherwise.

huxley invented (or repurposed from ancient tradition, actually) the drug soma, which played a prominent role in brave new world.

When I first read the topic, my mind immediately jumped to Phalanxifor, the fictional clinical drug that John Green used to extend Hazel's life in The Fault on Our Stars. But I'm a product of my genre.

For SF/F, my mind turns to George R.R. Martin's ASOIAF, and what he does with drugs. He uses unique names, but they have pretty clear modern analogues, either implicitly or contextually.

e.g.

Milk of the Poppy - opiate derivative
Shade of the Evening - LSD derivative
Sourleaf -- Betel Nuts / Chewing Tobacco
. . . and so on: Sweetsleep, Dreamwine, Wind of Courage.

If I were writing SF/F, that's where I'd go.

Philip K. Dick, who died more than three decades ago, wrote a number of novels involving fictitious drugs that did a variety of interesting things.

Then there is Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where one pill makes you larger, one pill makes you small, which inspired the acid rock group Jefferson Airplane more than four decades ago. Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall.

caw

Seems fine to do in spec fict. I've run across plenty of SF and F where they have made up drugs and herbs that have recreational or medicinal properties that serve the story. Some of them are similar to real-world drugs, some are entirely fanciful but still plausible. And some are completely magical or very futuristic.

Even Star Trek has synthohol, which is a cleaner, happier version of ethanol.

I have a mix of made up and real-world herbs and drugs in my fantasy novel. They're not necessarily cleaner and happier, however.

As Liosse said, make sure you don't have something that can only be manufactured using technology that doesn't exist in your world. Other than that you're free to do what you like.

In a pre-industrial setting most if not all drugs will be naturally occurring plants, like weed and shrooms, or something plant-derived like opium that doesn't require a great deal of processing.

Joe Abercrombie has his chagga, which is a sort of dried mushroom smoked for psychedelic affect, and husk, which is a horribly addictive narcotic made from some sort of dried seeds. And when I say "horribly addictive" he got that part bang on, IMO.

If you're writing SF you can go nuts with the designer drugs. William Gibson had no end of them, from simple speed-analogues to something meth-like but more so, right up to whatever it was Angie was taking that actually re-wired the biosofts in her head.

Chasing the Horizon said:

I think using made-up drugs only makes sense if it's another world. Frankly I would find it kind of jarring to see heroin show up on another world. At the very least, you'd think they would have a different name for it.

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They would have a different name for everything. Don't call a rabbit a smeerp and all that. Though, heroin is probably out for reasons cited by Liosse.


I have a combination of real and made up drugs in my world. Mainly because the mage-created drugs are central to the main plot of the novel I'm planning right now.

For an SF setting, I love the way Culture citizens in Iain M. Banks's books are able to 'gland' drugs in their own bodies to cover a wide range of applications, from the practical (eg Sharp Blue, used by gamers, Calm, used exactly as it sounds) to more recreational concoctions (eg Snap, 'The Culture's favourite breakfast drug')

Uhhh....hello?

Tolkein had the hobbits smoke pipe-weed. A simple name, yet it was clear it was not just tobacco.

Although it has been over 50 years since I read the books, so I may be remembering wrong -- all I know is that my friends in the 60s just assumed it was a drug like marijuana.

Most of the time I wouldn't know whether a drug was real or made-up anyway. I think it's fine to make them up or use ones that currently exist. Or even to leave them out altogether.

Karen Junker said:

Uhhh....hello?

Tolkein had the hobbits smoke pipe-weed. A simple name, yet it was clear it was not just tobacco.

Although it has been over 50 years since I read the books, so I may be remembering wrong -- all I know is that my friends in the 60s just assumed it was a drug like marijuana.

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I'm fairly sure it was just supposed to be tobacco - Tolkein himself was an avid pipe smoker (and not afraid of booze either), but I've not read anywhere that he did drugs. I think some people in the 60s read drugs into everything whether they were there or not.

PeteMC said:

Tolkein himself was an avid pipe smoker (and not afraid of booze either), but I've not read anywhere that he did drugs.

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Spot the contradiction.

Oh you know what I mean

I see nothing wrong with fantasy drugs. Except for paper thin name changes. For one, it allows more freedom as far as effects go. You don't have to worry about getting the effects wrong and alienating your audience. It can also add to your setting and make it more alien. Sometimes real drugs just don't fit in a setting and it can be jarring to see something like meth or crack. Besides, logically, in a radically different world, be it technology or magic, there should be different kinds of drugs.

In one of my stories, I had a drug dealer that dealt encapsulated dark magic potions that contained essentially liquid hatred.

Just for fun though; fantasy races and real drugs:
Elves:cocaine (it's a rich person drug)
Dwarves:marijuana (if alcohol doesn't count)
OrcsCP
Dark elves:crack
Humans:meth (little bit of everything. Also science)

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I thought the hobbits experienced some mild high from smoking, or they got super relaxed or something. I shall now have to track down a Tolkein expert and see what he says.

Also, tobacco is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet.