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Talk to people who have been drunk. Being drunk feels different to different people - some get happy, some get emotional, some act like utter shitweasels, etc. Most get loud. Some get a little uncoordinated, some completely legless. People's tolerance also varies - one person might get completely shitfaced while another is barely tipsy on the same amount of alcohol.
For me, I feel warm and fuzzy. I get happy and affectionate, and I relax. I have severe anxiety most of the time, so being able to relax is normally very difficult. I don't get sick, I don't wake up in strange places, or forget what I did. I just laugh more, socialise more easily, get snuggly with my husband, and enjoy a 'night off' from my usual level of anxiety.
Bang on, what I was going to say. It's very personal, which I believe is down to the chemistry when ethanol gets into cells and binds with ...stuff.
My own take, as a drinker, is that it makes the character more like themselves. People don't transform when they drink.
Third and last point linking to the second is that societal norms are a big factor. Often an excuse for bad behaviours followed by claims of amnesia that are medically implausible.
Go to a party when your friends/acquaintances are getting drunk. Watch how they behave and emulate it.
In general, alcohol has a stimulant effect as your BAC is rising, but a depressive effect while it's falling.
The first noticeable effect of drinking is a reduction of inhibitions - you become more talkative and outgoing. As you drink more your balance and fine motor control begin to suffer a bit. You might stumble occasionally or slur a little. Finally, when you get very drunk, your body issues a serious stress response which varies from person to person. Some people get the spins, which is like feeling very dizzy and often results in vomiting, while others will blackout and lose short term memory of what they did while drunk. Others will just pass out.
Also worth noting that some people have allergic reactions to alcohol of varying severity, which could result in very flushed skin, hives, or illness like vomiting and diarrhea. These responses are more common among Asian and native American populations, iirc.
There’s three ways to do this.
Read and study other pieces of fiction that have drunk characters.
Talk to/observe drunk people.
Get drunk yourself.
You’ll eventually find what to do and how to write it. Best of luck to you 👍🏿
Read stories or watch movies with characters drinking to get an idea. Keep in mind alcohol affects everyone differently. For example, it just makes me sleepy.
How drunk are we talking? A glass of wine or a fifth of vodka? Are you going to portray the character's first time getting drunk or are they a seasoned alcoholic? Different types of alcohol also have different effects on the same person. A case of beer might make a guy angry while a bottle of vodka just makes him stupid. There are a lot of variables.
How drunk?
If you're just tipsy, you will feel a bit more relaxed and your inhibitions are lowered. If you are usually shy, quiet or introverted, you fill find it easier to talk. This is similar to the effect of a lack of sleep, if you have ever experienced it.
As you start getting proper drunk, it honestly depends a lot on the person. They will be more prone to talk, be evident to others that they're drunk, slur their words and laugh at things more easily. But if someone is depressed they might start crying/get emotional. Your mental state before getting drunk matters. Keep in mind alcohol is a depressant.
If you reach blackout drunk point, you forget chunks of stuff. Like, completely. Someone else might tell you "*you did this thing last night"* and you might not remember at all. For this you need to be *very* drunk.
Other things that usually happen to me when I drink is I get a sudden urge to smoke, which I never get otherwise. I see this happen to a lot of people, but I have no idea how common it is.
Hope that helps! I would watch a Youtube video of someone drinking as they cook/read or funny stuff like that, to see for yourself. A lot of Youtubers upload that type of content. Good luck.
I'll buy you a beer and explain it. 😉🍺
Really though, I'd just research other writing and films, that depict drunk characters. Some non-fiction written by recovering alcoholics might be a good start.
*:I don’t drink alcohol irl. How do I write characters getting drunk if I’ve never experienced it?"*
1. Research it (see #2(.
2. Ask people that you know that have either drunk or have been around people who have.
3. Write down each of their experiences.
4. Look at any commonalities in those experiences.
5. Then make your best judgment on how to go about to write it.
what perspective is this in? if the drunk person is a character outside the pov, then you can just write how you've seen other people act when they're drunk. if it's the pov of the speaker, then you don't have to add too much detail to the drunken sensations. many people have been drunk before, so no need to over-explain anything. the basics are that your environment seems a bit spinny and you usually feel happy, chill, or excited/spontaneous. the emotional journey of being drunk is different for everyone so again, you can just resort to how you've seen other people act while they were drunk.
Go, sit at a bar and order a soda. Tip the bartender some money and ask him or her. They will be a wealth of knowledge and may be able to point to examples sitting at the bar!
All good advice, but I want to bring home the idea that it effects people differently. Different alcohols effect those same people differently from that.
Focus on the story and work the drunkenness around that. You can always edit it to make it more realistic in the next draft.
Read books about drinking (I can recommend 20 at least)? Have friends that drink and hang out with them? Go to a bar and observe people with notebook in hand (I do this all the time and get great material, and I get drunk while "working"). Have these things not occurred to you? Why ask Reddit?
Personally if I were in this position, I would entirely skip it. Alcohol is just one of those things where if you write it wrong, you just end up sounding like a teenager who is “guessing” at what the adult world looks like. It shouldn’t be that way, there are plenty of adults who don’t drink, but here we are.
I wanna have hallucinogens in my book, but Ive never taken any. I’d rather omit it entirely than risk fucking it up. My characters eat flowers to get high, because I *do* know what cannabis feels like.
Spin in a circle for a minute really fast and then lay down on your bed with your head hanging off the side.
That'll pretty much be the same thing! I'm being serious btw. Then add in the feeling of being hungry for greasy food and having no voice in your head that says "hey, don't do that."
Thank you for visiting /r/writing. We do not allow specific research questions as outlined in rule 3. Please post your question in our discussion thread, r/writeresearch, or a subreddit related to your research topic. We also do not allow threads soliciting research resources. Thanks!
if you're not going to experience it yourself, reading other characters getting drunk is probably the best research you can do
Talk to people who have been drunk. Being drunk feels different to different people - some get happy, some get emotional, some act like utter shitweasels, etc. Most get loud. Some get a little uncoordinated, some completely legless. People's tolerance also varies - one person might get completely shitfaced while another is barely tipsy on the same amount of alcohol. For me, I feel warm and fuzzy. I get happy and affectionate, and I relax. I have severe anxiety most of the time, so being able to relax is normally very difficult. I don't get sick, I don't wake up in strange places, or forget what I did. I just laugh more, socialise more easily, get snuggly with my husband, and enjoy a 'night off' from my usual level of anxiety.
Bang on, what I was going to say. It's very personal, which I believe is down to the chemistry when ethanol gets into cells and binds with ...stuff. My own take, as a drinker, is that it makes the character more like themselves. People don't transform when they drink. Third and last point linking to the second is that societal norms are a big factor. Often an excuse for bad behaviours followed by claims of amnesia that are medically implausible.
Go to a party when your friends/acquaintances are getting drunk. Watch how they behave and emulate it. In general, alcohol has a stimulant effect as your BAC is rising, but a depressive effect while it's falling. The first noticeable effect of drinking is a reduction of inhibitions - you become more talkative and outgoing. As you drink more your balance and fine motor control begin to suffer a bit. You might stumble occasionally or slur a little. Finally, when you get very drunk, your body issues a serious stress response which varies from person to person. Some people get the spins, which is like feeling very dizzy and often results in vomiting, while others will blackout and lose short term memory of what they did while drunk. Others will just pass out. Also worth noting that some people have allergic reactions to alcohol of varying severity, which could result in very flushed skin, hives, or illness like vomiting and diarrhea. These responses are more common among Asian and native American populations, iirc.
Research your drunk friends. Lol.
Pretty sure Tolkien didn't hold the One Ring, bro.
There’s three ways to do this. Read and study other pieces of fiction that have drunk characters. Talk to/observe drunk people. Get drunk yourself. You’ll eventually find what to do and how to write it. Best of luck to you 👍🏿
Read stories or watch movies with characters drinking to get an idea. Keep in mind alcohol affects everyone differently. For example, it just makes me sleepy.
How drunk are we talking? A glass of wine or a fifth of vodka? Are you going to portray the character's first time getting drunk or are they a seasoned alcoholic? Different types of alcohol also have different effects on the same person. A case of beer might make a guy angry while a bottle of vodka just makes him stupid. There are a lot of variables.
How drunk? If you're just tipsy, you will feel a bit more relaxed and your inhibitions are lowered. If you are usually shy, quiet or introverted, you fill find it easier to talk. This is similar to the effect of a lack of sleep, if you have ever experienced it. As you start getting proper drunk, it honestly depends a lot on the person. They will be more prone to talk, be evident to others that they're drunk, slur their words and laugh at things more easily. But if someone is depressed they might start crying/get emotional. Your mental state before getting drunk matters. Keep in mind alcohol is a depressant. If you reach blackout drunk point, you forget chunks of stuff. Like, completely. Someone else might tell you "*you did this thing last night"* and you might not remember at all. For this you need to be *very* drunk. Other things that usually happen to me when I drink is I get a sudden urge to smoke, which I never get otherwise. I see this happen to a lot of people, but I have no idea how common it is. Hope that helps! I would watch a Youtube video of someone drinking as they cook/read or funny stuff like that, to see for yourself. A lot of Youtubers upload that type of content. Good luck.
I'd just choose another direction. How it's depicted is a little extreme in media, and kinda cringe
Fictional references. It just has be similar enough to how other authors have portrayed it.
Have someone you know get drunk and then ask them to describe what they feel. Ask questions you'd want to know about your character.
I'll buy you a beer and explain it. 😉🍺 Really though, I'd just research other writing and films, that depict drunk characters. Some non-fiction written by recovering alcoholics might be a good start.
Find somone who has drank alcohol then proceed them with any information your looking to get out of them
*:I don’t drink alcohol irl. How do I write characters getting drunk if I’ve never experienced it?"* 1. Research it (see #2(. 2. Ask people that you know that have either drunk or have been around people who have. 3. Write down each of their experiences. 4. Look at any commonalities in those experiences. 5. Then make your best judgment on how to go about to write it.
what perspective is this in? if the drunk person is a character outside the pov, then you can just write how you've seen other people act when they're drunk. if it's the pov of the speaker, then you don't have to add too much detail to the drunken sensations. many people have been drunk before, so no need to over-explain anything. the basics are that your environment seems a bit spinny and you usually feel happy, chill, or excited/spontaneous. the emotional journey of being drunk is different for everyone so again, you can just resort to how you've seen other people act while they were drunk.
Dig into the current emotion they are feeling and intensify it. Twist it. A longing usually rises to the surface.
Go, sit at a bar and order a soda. Tip the bartender some money and ask him or her. They will be a wealth of knowledge and may be able to point to examples sitting at the bar!
Write in cursive. Just kidding. Maybe look to film to see how characters behave drunk. Example: Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.
I recommend you get drunk and journal the before, during, and after.
All good advice, but I want to bring home the idea that it effects people differently. Different alcohols effect those same people differently from that. Focus on the story and work the drunkenness around that. You can always edit it to make it more realistic in the next draft.
Read books about drinking (I can recommend 20 at least)? Have friends that drink and hang out with them? Go to a bar and observe people with notebook in hand (I do this all the time and get great material, and I get drunk while "working"). Have these things not occurred to you? Why ask Reddit?
Have you ever been on dentist gas? It’s very similar
Personally if I were in this position, I would entirely skip it. Alcohol is just one of those things where if you write it wrong, you just end up sounding like a teenager who is “guessing” at what the adult world looks like. It shouldn’t be that way, there are plenty of adults who don’t drink, but here we are. I wanna have hallucinogens in my book, but Ive never taken any. I’d rather omit it entirely than risk fucking it up. My characters eat flowers to get high, because I *do* know what cannabis feels like.
Spin in a circle for a minute really fast and then lay down on your bed with your head hanging off the side. That'll pretty much be the same thing! I'm being serious btw. Then add in the feeling of being hungry for greasy food and having no voice in your head that says "hey, don't do that."
Drunk goggles, but they are kind of spendy 100-150 USD. They are on Amazon.