Writing About Drugs

  • Saul Hudson

    Saul Hudson (355)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    28
    Location:
    Canada
    I checked and there was no topic about it....there's one about Mental Disorders so I thought they're should be one about this especially because so many stories have an element of drugs in them but not many really portray them realistically.

    So discuss the and post the stories you`ve written about drugs and common mistakes you`ve made/you`ve seen.
    Please do not encourage or suggest that other members of this community partake in illegal or unsafe activities. This thread WILL BE LOCKED if that continues to happen.
    February 5th, 2011 at 02:44am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    36
    Location:
    United States
    I've recently started writing about marijuana (recent meaning the last year or so). I started smoking it, so I started writing it into a lot more of my stories, especially since my characters (Panic and FBR fandom) smoke.

    Snow and Ice was never finished but it had to do with distribution of cocaine and crystal meth and drug turf wars. Ryan does cocaine.

    Conversations on a Thursday Afternoon is pretty much about Brendon and Ryan talking and smoking.

    Confusion is the Strongest Emotion is really long so it's not the most strongly focused on thing, but Brendon smokes weed and Ryan really dislikes it, so it causes some friction.

    Supermodels Don't Wear Underwear has a "circle" scene with Ryan's first time smoking.

    & We Die of Broken Things Like Hearts vaguely deals with cocaine addiction/withdrawal. It's not the focus and the withdrawal symptoms are never stated as such. I included irritability, fatigue, hunger, and paranoia.

    A Year and an Ocean of Distance is probably my first "smoking" fic where I actually went into details about it.

    The End of Days is about a boy who is raped about being drugged, so I guess it would technically count. He has to deal with feeling heavy and blurriness and things like that having to do with drug (and also being raped, of course).

    Down the Rabbit Hole involves marijuana as well as powdering pain killers to snort them.

    Manic deals with side effects from properly taken prescription drugs.

    Stories of mine with marijuana use that isn't really focused on: Something Like It, The Boy with the Protest Sign, Can I Keep You In My Sights?, 9 Months is a Long Time, Coming Up the Stairs to Our Room, Go Ask Alice.

    Stories of mine with mentions of other drug use that isn't the extreme focus:
    Little Boy Lost (heroine), The Complex Kids (cocaine and marijuana).

    I also have countless stories dealing with cigarettes and alcohol, but I don't think that's what we're getting at with this thread. tehe
    ---

    It's easiest for me to write marijuana usage because I do it so I can relate back to that. For the story with cocaine withdrawal I did some research, but since it was the intense focus, I didn't do extreme research. For Snow & Ice I did no research except watching a few movies, which was probably a mistake.

    One thing I hate seeing is someone ash a joint like they would a cigarette. You don't do it in the same way. I don't even ash joints. I just blow the ash off.
    ---

    I remembered a mistake I used to do was that I thought a joint and a blunt were the same thing and I used the terms interchangeably.
    February 5th, 2011 at 03:34am
  • purple haze.

    purple haze. (220)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    But I've also started writing about marijuana etc when I've started writing about it.
    There's loads of pieces unfinished with a drug influence I haven't finished yet, and I only have Wires on here, and that's about an unnamed substance, but I was thinking of heroin when I wrote it. It's original fiction. It focuses on the mindset of the person, and not really the experience or the actual drug than anything else, whereas others I'm in process of writing (focusing on ketamine mainly) it's mainly the experience.

    I think before people tackle it, they need to reseach, or have some experience (although I won't encourage it, it just gives it authenticity)
    February 5th, 2011 at 11:31pm
  • HisBeautifulDisaster

    HisBeautifulDisaster (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    31
    Location:
    United States
    I've always had this thing about writing about cocaine or heroin use for some strange reason. I do a lot of research before I do write it but I feel like I'm never doing it justice. Especially when the character comes down or is going through withdrawals.
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:29pm
  • Jinxeh

    Jinxeh (805)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    35
    Location:
    United States
    I've been working on a story in my spare time (called as such because "book" seems presumptuous, at such a stage) in which several of the main characters are heavy drug addicts. The main characters are siblings, though the brother tends to rely more heavily on cocaine (with a rumor of heroin) while his sister dabbles, but overall finds refuge in alcohol. The alcohol is something I have more experience with, but besides marijuana and prescription pills I don't really know a lot about drugs.

    Writing that story has been challenging because of it, but I'm getting a lot of help via one of my co-workers / friend, who is a recovered drug addict and has had a lot of experience with the drugs I'm writing about, and also rehab. He truly doesn't mind when I want to pick his brain a little more, because I usually take him out for dinner. XD And I've done quite a bit of research on the subject (and I still do, constantly).

    --

    Though I haven't mentioned it in the story itself, I have said through his Formspring profile that Jackie Flores, a character from No Man's Land, has dabbled in "hard" drugs before. I don't think it's something that will ever factor into the story, though; he only talked about it because he was asked.
    February 9th, 2011 at 10:43pm
  • Ayana Sioux

    Ayana Sioux (1175)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    29
    Location:
    United States
    I'm writing a story called Dream Life and in it the main character and his best friend become drug dealers. If only I can get down the recipe for coke, I'd be all good.
    February 9th, 2011 at 11:03pm
  • chai latte

    chai latte (225)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    United States
    ^ There's not really a "recipe" for coke. It's obtained from the coco plant and then goes through a somewhat complicated synthesis process that no local drug dealer, even a big shot, is going to understand or attempt. There is, however, a recipe for crack, if that's what you meant.

    I write about drugs in almost all my stories. In fact, they're usually the primary focus of or at least a heavy influence on most of my writing. I've said this a lot on here, but drugs are all I've been around my entire life, so it comes naturally. I honestly have trouble not writing about drug use because where I'm from, it'd be a lot more difficult to find someone who doesn't do drugs than someone who does.

    The main drug story I'm working on right now is a currently unposted one called Until the Execution's Over, which, in addition to many other drugs, focuses mostly on a fictional drug colloquially called "emmy" and how it destroys a young boy's life. Emmy is based loosely on heroin and ecstasy, which are my two favorite drugs to write about if drug use is going to be the main plot of the story.

    The most common mistake I see is just flat-out inaccurate depiction of the actual high and comedown of a particular drug. Or, sometimes you can tell people have researched it, but then they go too over-the-top trying to make it realistic. Marijuana doesn't make you hallucinate, and even on things like mushrooms and acid, you're not going to see polka dot elephants flying through the sky. And alcohol isn't the only drug you get a hangover from. After spending a night blowing coke or rolling ills, you're going to feel like shit the next day unless you do more.

    Inaccurate drug portrayal drives me up the freakin' wall.
    February 10th, 2011 at 01:53am
  • turducken

    turducken (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    28
    Location:
    Canada
    ^ I think that's what pisses me off the most. When people write about being high on pot and the craziest crap happens to them, and they see the most random things like I read one once, where the guy saw a bunch of purple penguins.
    That doesn't happen.
    >.>
    February 10th, 2011 at 11:59pm
  • chai latte

    chai latte (225)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    United States
    ^ I know, right? A tiny bit of inaccuracy with hard drugs-- I'll let that slide. But when I read a story where someone smokes one joint and suddenly they're hallucinating and can't quit laughing, I want to rip my hair out. Like, I'm pretty sure if bud did that, so many people wouldn't be smoking it for relaxation or to help them sleep. I mean, it's so easy to look up a few articles about a person's drug experience, and once you read about someone else's experience, it's pretty difficult to get it wrong.

    ---

    For the record, Erowid is a great site if anyone is planning on writing about drugs. It has fairly in-depth descriptions of almost every drug out there, including symptoms of both the high, comedown, and hangover, and it also has a huge archive of people's experience with whatever drug you're researching, written by the person themselves. It could also be good inspiration. I've gotten quite a few story ideas after reading people's own accounts of their drug use.
    February 11th, 2011 at 12:39am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    36
    Location:
    United States
    ^
    Thanks for the link. That's really helpful.
    February 11th, 2011 at 12:42am
  • Ayana Sioux

    Ayana Sioux (1175)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    29
    Location:
    United States
    smoker's delight.:
    ^ There's not really a "recipe" for coke. It's obtained from the coco plant and then goes through a somewhat complicated synthesis process that no local drug dealer, even a big shot, is going to understand or attempt. There is, however, a recipe for crack, if that's what you meant.

    I write about drugs in almost all my stories. In fact, they're usually the primary focus of or at least a heavy influence on most of my writing. I've said this a lot on here, but drugs are all I've been around my entire life, so it comes naturally. I honestly have trouble not writing about drug use because where I'm from, it'd be a lot more difficult to find someone who doesn't do drugs than someone who does.

    The main drug story I'm working on right now is a currently unposted one called Until the Execution's Over, which, in addition to many other drugs, focuses mostly on a fictional drug colloquially called "emmy" and how it destroys a young boy's life. Emmy is based loosely on heroin and ecstasy, which are my two favorite drugs to write about if drug use is going to be the main plot of the story.

    The most common mistake I see is just flat-out inaccurate depiction of the actual high and comedown of a particular drug. Or, sometimes you can tell people have researched it, but then they go too over-the-top trying to make it realistic. Marijuana doesn't make you hallucinate, and even on things like mushrooms and acid, you're not going to see polka dot elephants flying through the sky. And alcohol isn't the only drug you get a hangover from. After spending a night blowing coke or rolling ills, you're going to feel like shit the next day unless you do more.

    Inaccurate drug portrayal drives me up the freakin' wall.
    Damn, I know that. I meant to say crack, my bad.

    And I know what you mean with the high thing. I see people high on all kinds of shit everyday and the way some people describe it makes no damn sense at all whatsoever. Maybe they should stop researching so much and actually go out and witness a person that is high.
    February 11th, 2011 at 03:45am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    36
    Location:
    United States
    ^
    I don't think that randomly walking around trying to find people who do hardcore drugs is exactly a safe suggestion, especially for a site that is predominantly made up of teenagers. And not every person has the same high either.
    February 11th, 2011 at 03:50am
  • Ayana Sioux

    Ayana Sioux (1175)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    29
    Location:
    United States
    dru never knew.:
    ^
    I don't think that randomly walking around trying to find people who do hardcore drugs is exactly a safe suggestion, especially for a site that is predominantly made up of teenagers. And not every person has the same high either.
    Who said anything about extreme drugs? I've been around people who've popped pills and smoked weed, they weren't trying to shot up the school or something.

    You can pick one high and go with that. That's what I do. I see stoners so much, a lot of the highs just run all together in one big category of highs. They just come out looking the same eventually. Most of them look like they're tired and their souls have left their bodies. When you talk to them, things go in one ear and out the other. And they're much more quieter too. For some people they act crazy and say crazy shit. They start speaking the truth or what's on their mind. From what I've seen, it's either or.

    I'll never forget the time this one kid told me about the time he took two pills of some kind of shit and he passed out during lunch. He also sat down randomly in the hallway going to lunch saying "I can't make it". I thought that was the funniest thing ever. I'ma have to use that one day. The same guy said he put acid on his finger before and he saw colors flashing behind people all the time.

    Then I knew this other guy who tried ecstasy and he said anytime someone touched him even a little bit, it felt really good, like a tingly like feelings. Then he had to get it pumped out of his stomach or some shit like that because he was addicted... no, I think it was detox.

    I've known someone who's been through that too.

    Okay, it's too much.
    February 11th, 2011 at 04:02am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    36
    Location:
    United States
    ^
    I wouldn't say one high is going to be enough of a study. I smoke pot. The high I get from pot is not going to be good research for someone who wants to write about PCP.
    February 11th, 2011 at 04:47am
  • chai latte

    chai latte (225)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    United States
    ^ I was just about to say something similar. The highs of, for example, weed, cocaine, ecstasy, or ketamine, all of which I've done, are going to vary greatly. The high you get off one drug is not going to be the high you get off another drug, even if it's a similar substance. I mean, even the high of a hallucinogen like boomers is completely different from the high of acid. which is completely different from the high of 2cb, another hallucinogen, and so on.

    Which reminds me-- it's really irritating how in a lot of stories, apparently every single drug is a psychedelic. In almost every drug story I've read, the character is trippin' balls and hallucinating off whatever drug they took, even if it's like, coke or heroin. That's another mistake I see a lot.
    February 11th, 2011 at 05:19am
  • Saul Hudson

    Saul Hudson (355)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    28
    Location:
    Canada
    smoker's delight.:
    ^ I was just about to say something similar. The highs of, for example, weed, cocaine, ecstasy, or ketamine, all of which I've done, are going to vary greatly. The high you get off one drug is not going to be the high you get off another drug, even if it's a similar substance. I mean, even the high of a hallucinogen like boomers is completely different from the high of acid. which is completely different from the high of 2cb, another hallucinogen, and so on.

    Which reminds me-- it's really irritating how in a lot of stories, apparently every single drug is a psychedelic. In almost every drug story I've read, the character is trippin' balls and hallucinating off whatever drug they took, even if it's like, coke or heroin. That's another mistake I see a lot.
    They are very diffferent the highs I agree (again I speak from expierence 'cause I've done them) and I agree. It is very annoying especially when people write heroin as a psychedelic. It doesn't really make you see shit Grr that's something that really bothers me, 'cause I've done it so I really need to correct it, or I feel the need to correct it.

    --

    On a slightly different note.

    Fix It a little oneshot I wrote about how tempting heroin can be once your addicted to it.
    February 11th, 2011 at 05:36am
  • Jinxeh

    Jinxeh (805)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    35
    Location:
    United States
    turducken.:
    ^ I think that's what pisses me off the most. When people write about being high on pot and the craziest crap happens to them, and they see the most random things like I read one once, where the guy saw a bunch of purple penguins.
    That doesn't happen.
    >.>
    Unless it's also laced with something else.
    ayanasioux:
    Who said anything about extreme drugs? I've been around people who've popped pills and smoked weed, they weren't trying to shot up the school or something.
    I think it's more of a safety thing in general, y'know. Like, you just don't tell minors to go out and observe people on drugs, no matter what the drug is; you don't want to get anyone on this site in trouble, be it you or the person who is legally responsible for it (Dujo). In general, you should really be careful what you say on this thread. You can argue, "It's just Mibba, it's not like the police are reading this thread," but why take the chance at all?

    It's okay to discuss drugs in this thread, how it affects fiction, the highs and lows and what does what, but it would probably be for the best if you (general "you," by the way) didn't encourage others to see what illegal drugs are like firsthand, or actively seek out others who are on said drugs so you might observe them. I have a feeling that a lot of the sex-themed threads on Mibba that have been deleted were gotten rid of for reasons similar to this; there are a lot of minors on this site, and you really should be careful about what you say, even if you are one of those minors - for your own safety as much as for the safety of everyone else.
    February 11th, 2011 at 09:28am
  • Jonne Aaron.

    Jonne Aaron. (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    28
    Location:
    Australia
    The only one, from memory, that I've written was a Waycest in which Gerard was high on coke and had been drinking and ended up extremely ill. It was just a short little piece, nothing major, but yeah.

    I do want to do more on the drug theme though. I was thinking of doing one involving prescription abuse and maybe another few involving cocaine.
    February 11th, 2011 at 11:38am
  • Ayana Sioux

    Ayana Sioux (1175)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    29
    Location:
    United States
    smoker's delight.:
    ^ I was just about to say something similar. The highs of, for example, weed, cocaine, ecstasy, or ketamine, all of which I've done, are going to vary greatly. The high you get off one drug is not going to be the high you get off another drug, even if it's a similar substance. I mean, even the high of a hallucinogen like boomers is completely different from the high of acid. which is completely different from the high of 2cb, another hallucinogen, and so on.

    Which reminds me-- it's really irritating how in a lot of stories, apparently every single drug is a psychedelic. In almost every drug story I've read, the character is trippin' balls and hallucinating off whatever drug they took, even if it's like, coke or heroin. That's another mistake I see a lot.
    I wasn't referring to every drug there is running into one high. I was talking about the same drug for everyone with that high.

    And if they want to do a story on drugs, I don't think they should if they don't know much about how someone acts while under the influence. I've went over this in the things I hate in stories thread.
    February 11th, 2011 at 12:46pm
  • Audrey T

    Audrey T (6730)

    :
    Admin
    Gender:
    Age:
    35
    Location:
    United States
    An addendum has been made to the first post of this thread. Please read before continue to discuss this topic:

    Please DO NOT encourage or suggest that members of this community partake in illegal or unsafe activities. This thread WILL BE LOCKED if that continues to happen.
    February 11th, 2011 at 01:52pm