News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by WhompingWindows on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:21AM (#18628351)
Former copy editor here, would not recommend this approach for writing anything non-artistic. Imagine a coder or engineer following this recommendation: no plan, no structure, just throwing ideas willy-nilly. Eventually, you then have to sift through all the ideas, find what's good and what gels, and then re-write to make it coherent, narrative, and logical. You'll probably incur a lot of technical debt and overhead with this approach.

However, if you go into the initial phase with a goal/structure in mind, you're going to be much closer to the final product after your first effort. Many, many writers use outlines/plans. Something that happens a lot in research is that articles are formulaic, they generally have the same sorts of content, so writing them actually becomes easier once familiarity with the structure is obtained.

I would say your approach could be useful for either an artistic format OR for someone who is severely writers' blocked. If you truly have no idea what to write, something is better than nothing. But generally speaking, having a plan/outline is very useful.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by pmoriarty on Friday December 07, 2018 @12:51PM (#18629825)
"Imagine a coder or engineer following this recommendation: no plan, no structure, just throwing ideas willy-nilly."

The only thing writers have in common is that they each have their own way of working.

Some plot meticulously, others don't plot at all. Some want to know where they're going, others prefer discovery and surprise.

Stephen King does not plot because he finds it boring. He does not want to know what's going to happen.

Here's Flannery O'Connor:

"When I started writing that story, I didn't know there was going to be a Ph.D. with a wooden leg in it. I merely found myself one morning writing a description of two women I knew something about, and before I realized it, I had equipped one of them with a daughter with a wooden leg. I brought in the Bible salesman, but I had no idea what I was going to do with him. I didn't know he was going to steal that wooden leg until ten or twelve lines before he did it, but when I found out that this was what was going to happen, I realized it was inevitable."

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/01/21/s...

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by porpoisely on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:34AM (#18628483)
I mostly agree with your points. But coding or programming is as much artistic as it is engineering. It isn't an accident that the historical center of tech is also the center of the drug. Not just performative drugs but also hallucinogenic.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/07/09/hacking-the-brain-sil...

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by ticmasta on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:47AM (#18629168)
>> It isn't an accident that the historical center of tech is also the center of the drug

This assertion is ridiculous; it could most certainly be a coincidence. I'd suggest the numerous locations around the world known for a period of drug experimentation that are not technology hot beds suggests it is.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by mbostleman on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:50AM (#18629200)
I'm not sure about that. When coding, like other comments about writing, I can feel much more relaxed and ultimately more creative when I have a couple of drinks during the process. That doesn't mean that I have "no plan, no structure, just throwing ideas willy-nilly.". Maybe that's what I would do if I was falling over, black out drunk - but I don't think that's the spirit of what we're talking about here - or at least it's not the way I take it. To the contrary, my plans and structures can often come together more easily in the relaxed, somewhat inebriated state that a little alcohol provides.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by reacweb on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:34AM (#18629053)
For coders, it is the equivalent of MVP. The coder gather pieces of code and/or documentation to have something to show. The feedback helps to finalize narrative and make stuff coherent.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by bobjob on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:34AM (#18628477)
But how do you form a plan/outline? -> You do prototyping and prototyping can be done in a chaotic way. And YES, after that you have to clean up that stuff.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by nicky0 on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:25AM (#18628389)
As a coder I do a lot of my best work with a beer or two.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by vishbar on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:30AM (#18628445)
There's definitely a different style of development, in my experience. After a few beers or when very sleep-deprived, I find myself avoiding "analysis paralysis" and just getting something written, even if it's not super elegant. There can definitely be a benefit to doing that, though I wouldn't recommend slamming shots at 9am before the workday starts!
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by sifoobar on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:05AM (#18628763)
There are better, less poisonous and destructive, drugs.

Is it really worth sacrificing your health for? It doesn't even taste nice once you cut through the cultural programming to pretend otherwise.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by SafetyThird on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:14AM (#18628860)
Having a beer or two is not "sacrificing your health". And if liking the taste of alcoholic drinks counts as being "programmed", then so does every other preference and desire human beings have.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by sifoobar on Friday December 07, 2018 @12:38PM (#18629677)
But it is, alcohol is very poisonous; which is why you feel like shit and loose your memory when you overdo it, and why it's so hard to hit just the right amount of poisoning to feel funny without feeling sick.

Drinking poison that tastes like shit doesn't really happen without outside pressure. That's not true of every other preference and desire.

But keep lying to yourself, not my problem.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by danillonunes on Friday December 07, 2018 @06:14PM (#18632561)
Having a beer or two occasionally won’t kill you. But making it a working routine, even with such a small quantity that won’t even make you drunk, will definitely have some impact in your health in the long-term.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by booleandilemma on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:19AM (#18628902)
It doesn't even taste nice

Citation needed. Maybe you just haven’t tried a good beer yet.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by sifoobar on Friday December 07, 2018 @12:26PM (#18629529)
Oh, I've drunk more quality beer than most. Stop for six months and try again if you don't believe me, once the body has detoxed it's going to start putting up a fight. I can't even smell alcohol these days, even at the levels of normal beer; it smells like gasoline.
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by JBReefer on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:31AM (#18629021)
You might not like it, but this is what peak HN looks like
Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by FakeComments on Friday December 07, 2018 @11:26AM (#18628975)
I actually like the taste of some beers.

Your point seems really tied up in your own preferences and discounts other people’s experiences.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by sifoobar on Friday December 07, 2018 @12:27PM (#18629541)
Keep telling yourself that then, it's not really my problem.

Or try quitting for six months and see how the body reacts to alcohol when reintroduced.

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by flyingfences on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:28AM (#18628425)
Gotta hit that Ballmer Peak.

https://www.xkcd.com/323/

Re:“Write Drunk, Edit Sober” Is Bad Advice by onemoresoop on Friday December 07, 2018 @10:36AM (#18628504)
I second that on a POC.