Ernest Hemingway’s famous advice was to “write drunk, edit sober”. (The phrase is often restated as ‘write drunk, edit sober.’) Quote Investig a tor tracked down the phrase, which debuted in Peter De Vries’ 1964 novel “Reuben, Reuben.” You may opt-out by. No supporting citation was offered for the fanciful ascription: 10, I like what Hemingway said: Dear Quote Investigator: “Alcohol loosens the tongue” is an old saying that some authors treat with reverence. In the last ten years, he has helped ghostwrite, edit, and coauthor more than 300 business books, including his McGraw-Hill bestseller, "How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett"—now in five languages, including Chinese. In 1984 a journalist revealed that the first had been transformed into a newsroom adage. But the last five or six months I have had an illness that has limited my drinking. But the rat-arsed aren’t capable of writing. He presented two statements: “write drunk and revise sober” and “write sober and revise drunk”; however, De Vries’s character was simply describing his own divergent behaviors and not offering guidance; hence, … What do you think? Ernest Hemingway? “There are those who argue that ‘writing drunk’ is a mental state allowing carefree application of words to paper and not a physical state of intoxication,” says Stansbury. I suggest you do the same. Writers don't have to do their own editing, nor should they. (Verified on paper), 1995, Half Crazy: A Novel by J. M. McDonell, Quote Page 101, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Massachusetts. Multiple literary luminaries did imbibe while writing. The ascriptions to Hemingway, Joyce, and Fitzgerald are unsupported. (On more than one occasion I have heard the excuse, “I was drinking and then one thing led to another.”). Emphasis added to excerpts by QI: 1, He remembered something he had told a New York journalist in an interview about his “working habits,” a dull subject about which people remained curiously interested in the case of writers and artists. I never thought I could write without the bottle. by Blake Morrison, (Accessed theguardian.com September 21, 2016), 2015, More Fool Me: A Memoir by Stephen Fry, Section: Unexpected Diversion Ahead, Unnumbered Page, The Overlook Press, New York. The fact that a website on the Internet gave you the quote is no defense at all. ‘I can write drunk, but must revise sober,’ F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to have told his editor, Maxwell Perkins. James Joyce? The thing is, it’s not true. Below are additional selected citations in chronological order. “Write drunk, edit sober” was Hemingway’s decree. >: forgetting than all the waters of lethe. I always keep my whiskey within reach; so many ideas that I can’t remember in the morning pop into my head. Alcohol and writing certainly have a reputation as bedfellows, with famed authors David Foster Wallace, Edgar Allan Poe, Truman Capote, and Hemingway himself, being heavy drinkers. In his writing. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego, his MBA from San Diego State University, and has completed certificate programs at the Harvard Business School. The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in the 1964 novel “Reuben, Reuben” by the humorist Peter De Vries which included a character named Gowan McGland whose behaviors and eccentricities were partially modeled on the celebrated Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. “Write drunk; edit sober” is Hemingway’s much-quoted advice. (Verified on microfilm), 1984 December 3, The Sacramento Bee, Section: Scene, Drying Out by Don Stanley, Quote Page B03, Sacramento, California. “Write it so it sounds nice and let the goddamned editor clean it up if you can trust him not to make a balls out of it.” In 1996 an Associated Press article reported on the gift of a large collection to the University of South Carolina by an English professor at the school named Matthew Bruccoli. “Write drunk – edit sober”. ), Every Word She Writes Is a Lie, Including “And” and “The”, Do All the Good You Can; In All the Ways You Can, Dr. Mardy's Dictionary of Metaphorical Quotations, 1964, Reuben, Reuben by Peter De Vries, Chapter 21, Quote Page 242, Chapter 30, Published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Massachusetts. One editing client of mine quoted Oprah Winfrey; the problem was, when I did a fact check, Oprah was quoting Mahatma Gandhi. “I have absolutely no idea of what I meant,” he admitted. (Verified with scans), 1995 July 18, Usenet discussion message, Newsgroup: rec.arts.books, From: Katherine Catmull @bga.com, Subject: Re: booze and lit. ‘I can write drunk, but must revise sober,’ F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to have told his editor, Maxwell Perkins. EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Michigan Economic Development Corporation BrandVoice. The patron then addressed the mechanic harshly with a French phrase that later became famous in English: “You are all a génération perdue”, i.e., “a lost generation”. Back home, I followed part one of Joyce’s dictum to write drunk and edit sober. He was famous for both writing and drinking, so it makes a lot of sense. For some, writing a blog post or article is a daunting task. The myth of the heavy drinking writer is partially true but their talent is arguably despite … A mechanic was unable to rapidly repair the vehicle, and Stein complained to the patron, i.e., the boss. This is often misattributed to Ernest Hemingway. He never wrote this or practiced this. You are a lost generation.”, “You are,” she insisted. The collection included a galley proof of the acclaimed novel “The Great Gatsby” and numerous additional items all linked to F. Scott Fitzgerald. There's a quote that's often attributed to Hemingway: “Write drunk, edit sober.” The truth is that these are not actually Hemingway's words — thanks, Internet! A former Associated Press sportswriter, he has visited forty-one major league ball parks and has three to go before he “touches ‘em all.” In 1966 a columnist in “The Writer” was impressed by the nascent dual adages crafted by De Vries and reprinted them in the magazine while crediting the humorist’s vivid character Gowan McGland: 4, “Sometimes l write drunk and revise sober,” he had said, “and sometimes l write sober and revise drunk. Liberation becomes stupor. Tweet in haste, repent at leisure, as I have learned. Gowan McGland? Henry DeVries, M.B.A., cofounder and CEO of Indie Books International, speaks to thousands of business people each year on how to persuade with a story. However, there was one sentence that even Faulkner found impenetrable: 2, He read it, reread it, then began to laugh. The best way to attract high-paying clients is to write and to speak. This instance of the adage used “edit” instead of “revise”: 5. Peter De Vries? Or so I’m told. So it doesn’t matter. Charles Bukowski was another author whose process of composition has been associated with alcohol. But you have to have both elements in creation — the Apollonian and the Dionysian, or spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline.”, In 1984 a journalist at “The Sacramento Bee” in Sacramento, California described the advice he received years ago when he entered the profession. To err is human, but don’t count on forgiveness for your writing. He also said: what else? Trouble is, Hemingway never actually said that. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. In his writing and speaking he shares, in humorous ways, pragmatic strategies that can double sales results and achieve marketing returns of 400% to 2,000%. Image Notes: Person writing in a notebook from StockSnap at Pixabay. The first sentence in this excerpt was a question posed by the interviewer: 6. “Most importantly, don’t forget the second part of the advice – edit sober. For full disclosure, in the early days of writing for Forbes.com I made the mistake of using only one Internet source to fact check a column. Or maybe I write like I’m drunk when I’m sober. Hemingway was asked about heavy alcohol consumption while writing, and he presented a strong denial. Perhaps, you may even begin sounding like a human being through your writing, flawed, but authentic.”. The translator was impressed by Faulkner’s mastery of the intricacies of his own novels particularly “The Sound and the Fury”. (Verified on paper), 1999, Conversations with William Faulkner, Edited by M. Thomas Inge, (Collection of William Faulkner interviews from miscellaneous publications), Series: Literary Conversations Series, Chapter: The Faulkner I Knew by Maurice Edgar Coindreau, (Reprinted from “The Time of William Faulkner: A French View of Modern American Fiction”, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Caroline, 1971), Start Page 18, Quote Page 21, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi. But the resultant lubricated poetry and prose may require a red pencil. Despite the quote being misattributed to him, the famous author apparently never said, “Write drunk, edit sober.” And if he did say it, he certainly didn’t practice what he preached. “You see, I usually write at night. In today’s world of tools like spell check and Internet reference checks, there are no longer any excuses for typos and incorrect facts from creatives. … Continue reading "The Science Behind Writing … In particular, he explained the creation of a well-turned phrase by suggesting that the originator was probably drunk.