A Little Dab Will Do You: Marijuana and Literary Composition by Tim W. Brown

8/14/2019 A Little Dab Will Do You: Marijuana and Literary Composition by Tim W. Brown

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A Little Dab Will Do You

By Tim W. Brown

I wrote the better part of two novels under the influence of marijuana. However, I would

never claim that marijuana inspired me to write. I never experienced any sort of drug-induced

epiphany during which an idea or image occurred out of thin air. Nor have the words come

tumbling out of my head in an inspired frenzy à la Jack Kerouac, who, spurred by Benzedrine,

wrote nonstop for several days at a time. Indeed, I distrust stream-of-consciousness composition.

I believe that writing should be a conscious act; otherwise, trash is the result.

While writing my first novel in the late 1980s, I began my attempts to explain the

relationship of marijuana to literary composition. Knowing of my predilection for pot, friends and

acquaintances asked me if I wrote better while high. No, I answered, marijuana does not make

you write better. Early in my writing career I learned that when I smoked pot and wrote with no

particular topic in mind, the results were embarrassing. I would jot down a number of profound

impressions that unfortunately withered when exposed to the next morning’s sober light.

Thoughts were disjointed, images were blurry, handwriting was illegible.

Next, my interrogators asked, “If you don’t write better when stoned, then do you write

worse?” The answer was also no, for the writing I produced was reasonably good. And you don’t

have to take my word for it—both novels were later accepted for publication, circumstances

which furnished third-party confirmation of the high opinion I held of my work.

The final question asked of me wondered whether there was any benefit at all to be gained

from smoking pot while writing. I believed that there was, and it had to do with the nature of

prose writing.

I’ve always considered prose writing to be task-oriented. Especially in regard to extended

prose pieces like novels, it’s a genre demanding the long view. This characteristic distinguishes

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prose from poetry writing, which truly does require a flash of inspiration that could come, in other

writers’ hands, I suppose, from smoking marijuana. Occasionally, I write poems, but the

experience is markedly different from writing prose. I tell people I can only write a poem “when it

rises from my lap,” meaning the spirit of poetry lies in spontaneity. Prose, in contrast, is defined

by drudgery—sitting at a desk all day, every day, sometimes for years, grinding out a single work.

Novel writing assumes above every other art form the longest delay in gratification. The poet can

write a poem over a period of two or three weeks and have confidence it will be published in a

journal within a year. The novelist starting a new project recognizes that he could be more than

five years away from seeing his book published.

What to do then to sustain interest? What to do to make the same story and characters

appear fresh to their creator day-in and day-out? Smoke marijuana, naturally. I determined that

the algebra was really very simple: pot consumption makes the writing chore more fun, just as it

makes mindless chores like washing the dishes, clipping the hedges or vacuuming the rug (or

pleasant pastimes like conversing and listening to music) more fun. Of course, since writing

requires more brain power than these tasks, care should be taken not to consume too much pot to

the point of debilitation. Like hair care products, a little dab will do you.

In the 1990s, my theory about the relationship between marijuana and writing expanded.

The fun aspect continued to hold sway when a glib explanation was required. But it did not

sufficiently explain how the experience was made more fun. Where did the sense of fun originate?

I thought more carefully about the subject while working on my second novel.

One hint lay in my interpersonal behavior when I am high. Simply put, the drug makes me

much more outgoing. By nature I am shy and taciturn. I often must repeat myself to be heard, and

I usually don’t speak to other people unless I’m spoken to first. However, after smoking

marijuana, I metamorphose into a social butterfly. I exchange pleasantries with people in

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elevators, I joke with other shoppers in line at the grocery store, and I strike up conversations on

the train platform. My self-consciousness disappears, as though it were exhaled along with

marijuana smoke.

Like alcohol, marijuana is known to lower a user’s inhibitions. Lowered inhibitions lead

stoned people to utter pseudo-profound thoughts without embarrassment and to giggle

hysterically during what the straight world considers inappropriate times. Similarly, writers under

the influence are more likely to take chances with writing than straight writers, because their self-

censoring mechanism is disabled. They dare to be outrageous, unpredictable, innovative, whereas

others remain timid, stiff, formulaic. Marijuana does not put ideas in one’s mind; rather, it frees

the mind to pursue ideas.

Specifically, marijuana inclines the writer to improvise with the ideas at hand. This insight

did not occur to me until my wife worked at The Second City, home of the famed sketch comedy

troupe. The Second City is known as a greenhouse for comedians; alumni include Mike Nichols,

Elaine May, Joan Rivers, John Belushi, Bill Murray, John Candy, Martin Short, and many others.

Exposure to the culture of The Second City provided me with examples of the improviser’s art

which paralleled my own experiences as a writer.

Much of the philosophy behind improvisation originated with Viola Spolin, who for many

years offered acting workshops centered around improvising games. Games she devised continue

to be played on stage at The Second City, with a live audience watching and participating. During

a typical improvised scene, cast members ask audience members for words, ideas or images from

which a comic scene is improvised. Usually, the actors follow a prepared plot line and plug in

audience suggestions at key points. Thus, from night to night, the story is the same but the details

differ. In the case of the “Improv Set” occurring after the formal show, skits are made up wholly

from scratch based on audience suggestions. Gifted improvisers are able to combine seemingly

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unrelated materials into a funny, coherent comedy skit. The most promising improvised skits are

then revised and eventually incorporated into a new revue.

If you substitute the words “writer” for “actor” and “novel” for “skit,” then you have a

pretty good description of my writing process. I start with general ideas of plot, character and

setting. These provide a skeleton which I flesh out with details arrived at through my day-to-day

writing routine. Smoking marijuana causes my mind to wander far afield. Words appear on the

computer screen in a free-associative process where disparate elements that my mind seizes upon

drop into place, resulting in unexpected plot turns, quirky characters, and settings off the beaten

path. Next, I revise my work. Ironing out the problems in my writing is as difficult as ironing a

mile-high stack of shirts. Marijuana removes some of the drudgery from this chore.

I should emphasize that I know where I am going with a piece of writing at every single

moment; I simply arrive there in roundabout fashion. The writing choices I make are conscious, if

not exactly deliberate. Throughout the process I am fabulously entertained: I laugh with gusto at a

funny passage, smile from pride at a clever phrase, or bug my eyes in surprise at an unexpected

dose of truth. In short, the fun I experience while writing stems from flexing the imagination,

which I believe is unchained by smoking marijuana.

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A Little Dab Will Do You: Marijuana and Literary Composition by Tim W. Brown

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