: Re: How to write a "functioning" addict protagonist and it not get repetitive? A sub-plot of my story, is that the protagonist is struggling with addiction to alcohol due to past events (which happen

@Pierce369

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This Character won't Appear Drunk

If a character is self medicating with alcohol, they probably aren't getting wild-college-party-blackout-drunk every night. They are drinking enough to calm themselves - to "take the edge off."

If this character is a ways down the path to alcoholism, he will need to drink a LOT to appear intoxicated. And alcoholics often know that appearing drunk all the time is a warning sign to others - he will attempt to look normal, even while slowly killing himself with drink.

I'd look up the symptoms of alcoholism, and show them about this character. A couple off the cuff examples:

He hides his drinking - taking a pull from a flask when no one is looking, or hiding booze in his room
He drinks alone - there's no social function to his intake
High tolerance - when he drinks in a social setting, other characters note that he has had a lot, and he demonstrates that it has barely affected him
Needs a drink to get to sleep
Needs a drink to feel normal

So the technique here is to show him going about his life, and having these things gently intrude on the story. Maybe he has to stop at a liquor store on the way home because he's out of booze. When it's closed, he's distressed. He needs his nightcap to get to sleep.

Slowly let these events become more and more intrusive, and eventually it is obvious - both to the other characters and to your reader - that this guy is an alcoholic.

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