I read a blog today that considered Ernest Hemingway's infamous quote 'Write Drunk and Edit Sober'. And it got me thinking about interpretations. I know we all look and see things in different ways, we wouldn't have half as interesting conversations if we didn't; but I didn't even need to get the the end of the article to have my mind made up. And to talk about it. (Notice what I'm doing now?)
While I usually agree with said writer, this time I had to oppose.
He seemed to take the 'ism' very literally. I know that Hemingway was addicted to alcohol and in some ways he possibly was being relatively literal. But I don't know, I just don't see it. It seems to revert a rather resonate (for me anyway) and turn it into a boring everyday sentence. And I feel that sticking to the meaning as meant word for word doesn't quite do Hemingway any justice. Like... at all. I don't like that.
Maybe it's just me being a romantic. Maybe it's just me being naive. Maybe it's just me in general. But while you can argue the misperception and allusion to addiction, perhaps you'll take a small moment to consider this.
What if Hemingway wasn't referring to alcohol at all?
What if the "Write Drunk" element of the saying was referring, not in fact to being drunk or under the influence or being intoxicated by any form of drug - be it alcohol or otherwise. What if he was actually referring the the carelessness of feeling drunk? What if he was referring to the giddy, mindless feeling that you experience when you have been drinking? That 'I'll do what I want because I want to and there's nothing you can do about it" feeling. What if he was actually trying to say was 'Write whatever you want because you can. Because no one will see this but you.' Because really, what's the harm in popping a ill-timed joke, or some little 'ism' that may be a little risky or something a little more risqué than you'd usual write? At the end of the day. A first draft is only a first draft.
Perhaps in fact, discarding the fact the Hemingway did suffer from addition (though I have read that he rarely, if ever, wrote under the influence), he really did just mean, write what ever you want and then cut it out with a clear and sensible head. That if you tried, you might find that that ill-timed joke wasn't quite so 'ill-timed' after all. Because that's what imagination is for isn't it? To enjoy and to go a little wild with. To frolic with until you read it back and think 'Oy, I really wrote that?'
Write first and edit after.
Am I wrong to be so hopeful? So 'romantic' as it were?
Am I being naive?
I hope not because, personally I couldn't think of better advice.
