Cheating?

I don't see how it's cheating. Your idea is still your idea.

satyesu said:

I have serious Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and a couple of times I've accidentally missed meds or took too many, and subsequently got ideas I like a lot. I know Hemingway wrote drunk and Poe possibly on opium, but I feel like using these ideas when my brain chemistry was off is "cheating" because other writers have, you know, normal brains.

P.S. I know I post a lot of weird questions here frequently. Thanks for help and patience.

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I don't know why that would be cheating. I get ideas when I'm washing dishes or walking the dog and my reptile brain function is at the fore (giving the rest of my brain the room and energy to cough up ideas). I've also had ideas come to me in dreams, while on painkillers, while sick.

Now, it would be problematic if you were deliberately (and dangerously) altering your brain chemistry to try and generate those ideas. But there's nothing wrong with using those ideas. For all you know, they would have occurred to you eventually anyway without the "alteration".

I don't see how it's cheating.

Then again since I started putting notes on my phone any kind of idea I get in any kind of "altered" state tend to not be that great so I would recommend double checking any ideas that you think are really fantastic at the time.

satyesu said:

because other writers have, you know, normal brains.

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That seems a bold assertion to make...

Introversion said:

That seems a bold assertion to make...

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A very bold assertion, indeed.

Cheating? No, not unless you outright stole the idea from someone else.

A good idea? Probably not. As others have mentioned, things that look great when you're in an altered state of mind - drunk, high, or half-asleep - sometimes look very different once the brain fog clears.

Besides, as writers, we more or less live in our brains. Entire civilizations are born in there. We have a responsibility to the inhabitants to keep it functioning as healthily as possible.

(Also, in my experience, "normal" does not exist. But I have dragons, griffins, and other so-called impossible beasties crawling through my cerebral cortex, so I'm probably not the best authority on matters of normalcy.)

What is this 'normal' of which thou speaks?

So you're getting ideas from a part of your brain that's not always powered up. Nothing wrong with that. It's up to the rest of your brain to decide if those ideas are worth using.

Hapax Legomenon said:

Then again since I started putting notes on my phone any kind of idea I get in any kind of "altered" state tend to not be that great so I would recommend double checking any ideas that you think are really fantastic at the time.

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Definitely this!

Your brain becomes relaxed when you're drinking, washing dishes, doing drugs, or snuggling in for bed, and when your brain and whole body are in a relaxed state, thoughts that normally would have been suppressed by the stresses and concerns of every day life are able to surface. You're allowed to think more clearly and creatively when you'remind is free of clutter. They're your ideas, you've just given them space to present themselves.

It's not a contest, therefore, nobody's cheating. Humans benefit from the works of those drug-ridden minds, though I don't see those guys did too. They were not a happy folk.

I don't think it's cheating because some other writers have normal brains (whatever those are). We all have our own unique neuro-chemistry that gives us advantages and disadvantages compared to others.

I would be concerned, however, if the temptation to intentionally take your meds wrong in order to ride them to greater creativity, leads you to doing this intentionally. This could be harmful to your health (and ultimately to your creativity as well), just as Hemingway's drinking was.

I have written both drunk and sober. Wouldn't want to try detail work drunk. I don't really notice much difference in the writing. Some of my best poems have come from the influence of a suicidal depression. Can't say I reccomend that either. But you do what you must to make it through.

Right now I am pretty drunk. All it has given me is a few more insights for one character and one line which may or may not be usable. Only your liver can determine if it is worth it. Best line of the day came when I was sober. Right now mostly I am listening to music videos on youtube. And my writing is not progressing. Learn from me, don't copy me.

I'd be warry of deliberately abusing your meds to boost creative output. It's dangerous and unreliable.

If it gave you an advantage in the Tour de France, then yes it's cheating.

But until/unless someone makes doping illegal in writing, then no it isn't. There are enough men from Porlock around that we don't need any more rules,I think!

satyesu said:

I think I may have miscommunicated. Quality of ideas aside, is it unfair to other writers if I utilize a mental state they can't have themselves? (I do like the ideas I had in early evening.)

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That's kinds like, "If my brain functions in ways yours don't, is it unfair if I use those extra brain functions?" or "If I've exercised certain brain muscles more than you have, is it unfair if I use them?"

It's not like there are weight classes for writers

[scary vision of writers as professional wrestlers]

satyesu said:

I think I may have miscommunicated. Quality of ideas aside, is it unfair to other writers if I utilize a mental state they can't have themselves? (I do like the ideas I had in early evening.)

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No it's not cheating to generate ideas and words that way. I would still be warry of deliberately abusing your meds to do it though. Anxiety meds can be addictive even when used properly in the case of some medications, and deliberately taking just one or two too many at a time increases the risk of addiction to those meds.

Writing is not a competitive sport. If you make a good product you win. Everyone can win.

satyesu said:

I think I may have miscommunicated. Quality of ideas aside, is it unfair to other writers if I utilize a mental state they can't have themselves? (I do like the ideas I had in early evening.)

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First off, you are not unique in your mental state. If that's what you believe the key to your creativity is, then know that other people can reach this same (supposedly) enhanced place because their brains work the same way yours does. So you don't have an unfair advantage.

Secondly, beware of elevating altered mindsets to blessed status... especially if it involves drugs to get you there. Play with fire long enough and you will get burned. Play with your brain chemistry, and you may not even realize you're on fire until it's too late.

Seriously, it's possible to be creative and successful without messing around with your meds.

While it is not "cheating" I believe Lilleth1991 is correct. When it comes to medication, it is not good to depend on the side effects of taking more or less than you should. This is coming from some who takes A LOT of medicine. I certainly understand your plight, but just be wary indeed and take your medicine as prescribed. That would be the only thing that I would really worry about. As to ideas, however you get them, as long as they're yours, I guess that's alright. Just be sure and take your pills as they should be taken.

Lillith1991 said:

No it's not cheating to generate ideas and words that way. I would still be warry of deliberately abusing your meds to do it though. Anxiety meds can be addictive even when used properly in the case of some medications, and deliberately taking just one or two too many at a time increases the risk of addiction to those meds.

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This. Writing isn't a like an athletic event.

However, abusing medications or recreational drugs is a bad idea for all kinds of reasons.

I get most of my ideas whilst shoveling shit in the kennel... which is probably a brain-state of nil, since my body performs the work without troubling to consult my brain.

As to purposely overdoing or underdoing your meds... the great ideas you get today may cost you the ability to write at all tomorrow. Not worth it, even if it weren't hazardous.

I'm thinkin', tho, that since you know what being mis-medicated feels like, you can train yourself to pull up that same creative juice without the meds being part of it. Because it's not the meds making it happen -- that ability is already there in your brain.

So how do we bring it out? Consider an idea you have on a 'normal' day. Now think of how that same idea would look to you from a med-up or med-down perspective. There is the very same idea you had on a mis-medicated day, without the tedium of having to recover the rest of your head from that.

Roxxsmom said:

This. Writing isn't a like an athletic event.

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Awwww, I wanted to see pro writer-wrestlers!!

Roxxsmom said:

However, abusing medications or recreational drugs is a bad idea for all kinds of reasons.

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I remember the LSD era. I've known a few folks who fried their brains. Brains are like eggs... once you fry 'em, you never get the chicken back.

satyesu said:

because other writers have, you know, normal brains.
.

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Define normal...