Write Drunk, Edit Sober by Heather Haven

~ Heather Haven

A lot of people think Ernest Hemingway wrote that. He didn’t. It is often attributed to him, but this brilliant writer wouldn’t have done anything as self-destructive as being smashed out of his gourd when writing, at least not long-term. For Whom the Bell Tolls does not refer to last call at your local pub.

It isn’t that Hemingway didn’t imbibe. One of my favorite cocktails is named the Hemingway Daiquiri. And it’s quite nummy. Hemingway was a man who prided himself on being a man’s man. He drove an ambulance in the middle of a war.  He was a big game hunter. He got into brawls. He was a womanizer. He drank, yessiree Bob. Hemingway was a man of the 20th Century. But he also liked cats, so in my opinion, he had a few redeeming 21st-century qualities. I’m with Mark Twain on this thought: “If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”

But back to writers boozing it up while on duty. I don’t think so, colorful as it sounds. When I’m writing, I’m trying to find words to form into sentences. It becomes very basic. Most of the time, they don’t even have to be pretty words. They just have to make sense. This is something I can barely do while slurping down my morning latte, much less a martini. I strain my brain to try to come up with the word for that latch thingy-hooky that’s at the top of a whatchamacallit to keep, you know, the lid on. Or the name of who’s-a-biddy, the assistant front desk manager in Chapter Six. You know, the one with the long, dark hair.

So if Hemingway didn’t say the quote, “write drunk, edit sober,” who did? They have no idea. One possibility is humorist Peter De Vries. He wrote a character named Gowan McGland. The character, McGland, gave an interview and said, “Sometimes I write drunk and revise sober, and sometimes I write sober and revise drunk. But you have to have both elements in creation — the Apollonian and the Dionysian, or spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline.”

Now doesn’t that sound exactly like what a sober writer would pen of a fictional character while trying to give him color?

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Published by Heather Haven

Author of 18 novels and counting. Married 44 years and counting. Animal lover.

10 thoughts on “Write Drunk, Edit Sober by Heather Haven”

  1. Someone once gave me a fridge magnet with the legend “Write drunk, edit sober.” It has pride of place on my refrigerator door and gets a lot of comments from our visitors.

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  3. Fun post! Loved your Twain quote on cats.! And the quote from Peter de Vries, which makes so much more sense than the quote attributed to Hemingway. And thanks for confessing that you sometimes can’t recall a character’s name. Me, too!

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  4. Fun post! Loved your Twain quote on cats.! And the quote from Peter de Vries, which makes so much more sense than the quote attributed to Hemingway. And thanks for confessing that you sometimes can’t recall a character’s name. Me, too!

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    1. Kathy, we’re in this together, this wonderful crazy thing called writing. Thanks for letting me know you sometimes can’t recall a character’s name, especially a supporting character.

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    1. You’ve made my day, Paty. At heart, I am an Erma Bombeck wannabe. It just seems natural to me. and my toast always falls jelly side down.

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  6. Heather, your posts always give me a LOL moment, and then I’m ready to face the day. I too had heard Hemingway was the source for that quote, but it does sound too sloppy for him, or for any other writer who’s any good. But I like the translation–spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline. You did here something I also do–analyze a cliche or saying to get to its core, and get an idea of how it developed and proved so useful as to become a cliche. Good post.

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