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Liquor in Literary
Many characters in books, especially urban fantasy, spend a lot of time in bars. Fantasy characters gather at the pub. Science fiction characters trade exotic liquors, or figure out how to moonshine with extra parts from the ship’s engine. One of the stock mystery characters is the noir detective who never climbs out of the bottle until it is empty.
Ms. Sarah Gailey wrote an article from Barnes & Noble Reads focusing on Hagrid’s drinking problem in the Harry Potter series.
Substance abuse, impacting nearly 1/3 of all Americans and even higher in some demographics, is mirrored from reality to literary works where many people problem-solve by creating a thought experiment. What would have happened if someone confronted X sooner? What hints did they give which their friends should have seen?
Have you ever created a character with a substance abuse problem? Did you mean to create the character with a drinking problem or did it evolve? What has driven them to their issue?
Hagrid’s backstory gives insight to why he might need to self-medicate his depression through numbness. Ms. Gailey breaks down a character study for him. Found out more at – The Literary Art of Drunken Secret-Telling by Sarah Gailey (May 2, 2017 at 1:00 pm): (UPDATE: Link broken as of 10/16/2023 – so 6 years later)
Do you think too much drinking is shown in TV, Movies, and Books, or too little, or does it appropriately match rates in reality? Comment below about drinking and/or substance abuse in your present WIP, present read, or present video series binge.