Lots of times, or well maybe back in the day more, you hear about certain people’s writing being like other writers on various chemical substances. He writes like Aimee Bender on acid. It’s like Jonathan Safran Foer on steroids. But when you think about it, those actual circumstances would be insufferable. Who wants to hang out with a tripping Tim O’Brien, or Marilynne Robinson on a roid rage?
Not me. I’d much rather write like Chuck Palahniuk on quaaludes, say, or Tom Wolfe on little to no sleep.