I think you're lacking the depth of experience to be much of an author yet and should focus on living for a while. Try heroin, take another crack at the novel while you're getting clean
this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
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Lol. Don't suggest heroin tho!
I admittedly thought something similar when I saw this post (not to suggest heroin tho!). I thought, "write what you know!" I'm all for ppl learning to write better, but in a world/economy of hyper-fictionalized junk, I would like yo see more stories about people's actual experiences and less like unconnected fiction. To me, miscellaneous fiction is like cotton candy -- it tastes sweet, but it's empty.
PS - stay away from opiates. Addiction is a supreme waste of time.
Rich people do get addicted to drugs.
The unrealistic part is the fanily being killed because they can't pay.
Why can't they pay? I thought they were rich? And a drug dealer isnt going to kill the only people who could conceivably pay him.
I'm assuming they can't pay because the family cut them off. OP will need to come up with an explanation for the family refusing to help. Just being an addict would not be enough in a normal functional family, but it would depend on the protagonists past (mis)behaviour or maybe the family is very much against drugs for religious reasons.
OP is suggesting the rich family can't pay. So unless its a typo it doesn't really make a lot of sense.
Rich family WON'T pay is more realistic imo
OP is using they/them to refer to the junkie. I see what you mean, but I'm not sure it's the family that will get killed or just the junkie.
Ahhh. Now I'm rereading it, that kind of makes sense.
A more believable story might be blackmail/extortion. Why kill the source of income?
Elon Musk uses so much ketamine he ruined his bladder. He's also a nazi pedophile, but that isn't related
Bro narcotics are probably the most reliable thing that kills rich people
Elon Musk is still alive tho
Define "alive". Seems like his brain was replaced with whatever the fuck Grok is.
Yeah his drugs of choice are of the "talked to Sauron and tweak out on the internet" schedule that you have to take a lot of to get any organ damage. But maybe we'll get lucky and somebody will lace his shit one day.
While we all wish he would die early, unfortuntely we don't actually know how heavy his usage is. We hype any percieved ailment to the moon like Trump's usually non-lethal skin cancer. Hard to catch something late when these bastards have doctors on retainer.
Rich people absolutely get addicted to drugs. They just have sufficient resources that it doesn't affect their lives as detrimentally in many cases. Elon is up to his eyeballs in ketamine on a given day.
Have you ever watched the news? We have many highly publicized examples of rich people being addicted to drugs.
For fiction, I like the approach they took on the tv show House. Maybe not rich but certainly privileged enough to get away with an addiction that would have ruined anyone else’s life.
But maybe a good approach to your story is to imagine an unusual dealer:: a wealthy person is not visiting the neighborhood crack house. For example Michael Jackson’s addiction was fed by an actual doctor authorized to write prescriptions so his drugs were “legal”
so much for "do no harm". that "doctor" should have their licence taken away
Elon is addicted to ketamine.
Not to mention all the celebrities who have OD'd throughout the ages.
If they were some kind of nepobaby and just given everything in life without having to work for it, it would be fairly realistic that they may not have the ability to make money of their own quickly enough to satisfy their dealer.
I grew up a middle class kid in the rich suburbs. That's so realistic and common it's practically cliche.
The only realistic part is the rich parents not making the kid out when it really came down to it. You don't hear about it more because Rich parents get their kids out of drug issues and DUIs like the rest of us run errands on a Tuesday night.
Take a look at the Reiner story. Being rich and famous doesn't stop drugs from ruining families.
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The thing about rich people is, that Ehen you have the money to buy all the drugs you want, you can do quite a lot of them until it starts to affect you financially.
Just think about how much cocaine rich people like to snort.
Look at RFK. Shipped off to private schools and spent plenty of that time getting kicked out and transferred to other private schools because he was a dick and on drugs.
This story makes no sense. Why would a dealer front merchandise? The only time that ever happens in real life is if the dealer is male, the buyer is female, and they find the dealer finds them attractive. But that's rare because both dealers and customers are usually male.
Also, which drugs?
Lastly, it's extremely unlikely that a low-level dealer is going to seek "revenge" on a customer. They're usually not gang members; just regular everyday people like you and me who are desperate to make some extra cash. If a customer screws you, you cut your losses and refuse to sell to them anymore. After all, you're running an illegal business. Laying low is going to be your #1 priority; last thing you're going to do is get the police's attention with a revenge plot.
You need to spend more time in the real world before you write a story about things that happen out there.
Depending how good you know your dealer it's not uncommon to get something upfront. Just like in legal businesses
Never kill someone who owes you money - that’s terrible business. Kill for revenge or to send a message…
Probably makes more sense to kill their dog or something like that. Hint that there's more where that came from.
Yeah, the message is "pay this guy or he'll kill you". How is that not clear?
They have another name for criminals that lend you money and just ask you pay it back over time with some interest tacked on. They're called banks.
Drug addiction can happen among rich families, yes. Coke is common among them because it tends to be an expensive party drug.
As Noel_Skum mentioned, the dealer likely wouldn't kill the guy who owed them. Some much more likely ways the dealer would act:
- Kidnap the debtor and ask for a ransom from the family
- Get info on the family in order to kidnap some relative
- Steal from the family home (likely convincing the debtor to do that, as they likely know where mom's jewels are, etc)
- The two make a plot to kill the parents so the child can inherit the entire fortune and pay off the debt.
All of these have happened in real life
There are plenty of rich addicts. Charlie Sheen and Whitney Houston spring to mind. Anna Nicole Smith was a literal billionaire.
"Tough love" is also a real thing. Families throw addicts out all the time. the idea is that if things get bad enough the addict will "hit bottom" and seek help.
The idea of a dealer killing a customer is the part that makes little sense. The dealer wouldn't give an addict drugs without cash up front. Dealers know exactly how unreliable addicts are.
How about the addict tries to steal from the dealer and the dealer kills them in self defense?
You might want to look up the case of Carrol O'Connor. Famous actor, his son died after an overdose. O'Connor called the son's dealer a murderer and the dealer tried to sue him for defamation of character.
I would point out the way drug dealers kill their customers is unintentionally via overdose or bad drugs.
Also, if you're a parent, and you lost your only child to a drug dealer due to an overdose, that's really all you need to want to hunt down and kill the dealer.
A parent with nothing left to lose could be about as dangerous as it gets.
I’m with this guy. Drug dealers killing valuable clients is incredibly rare. ODs are common. It feels more natural. Even the cartels make people work off debt. Dead man can’t pay either.
I mean...
Exhibit A: Succession...
Literally every episode has drugs...
Its not a show about bussiness... its just parties, drugs, famiky therapy, a board meeting coup-attempt in between, more parties, and DRUGS
Yes, they do. I haven't heard about a human being that would consume drugs and will not gain an addiction to them over time.
That's a very strong assertion. How would you, personally, describe addiction?
Mental addiction I can describe as an internal reminder that recalls you how good you felt when you consumed drugs. Yes, you can ignore but it acts like Google alerts showing on your phone frequently and annoying you with phrases like "eat it, come on" or "you will feel so good, take them and relax".
Physical addiction is worse since your body got so adapted to drugs that it refuses to properly function. Metaphorically, not only you have constant Google alerts telling you to consume drugs, your phone literally starts lagging, glitching and etc. So drugs for you are as issential as an inhaler for asthmatic.
Your mental addiction definition is a lot broader than mine. I'd hardly say I'm addicted to roller coasters, but I do occasionally think about booking a vacation that includes an amusement park.
I would suggest: they got push to the edge by the whole situation and off themselves. The loved one then take the dealer as a responsable.
A lot of kids who grow up rich grow up bored, seeking ways to not be bored. When you can afford pretty much anything and you’re surrounded by people who promise to give you something new and exciting, it’s easy to get addicted.
To drugs. To booze. Sex. To adrenaline. And people are willing to provide all of it.
The unrealistic part is the drug dealer killing his user. It’s business. Killing your customers coz they got cut off is bad for business. Especially when the families are wealthy enough to buy their own justice.
Before it ever gets that far, though, the family probably pays off the drug dealer and lets them know there’s no more money there. The dealer might not cut them off, but they’re certainly not trusting that the addict is “good for it.”
Even if the dealer was that stupid, to let that debt large enough… there’s other ways they can pay. Access. Contacts. Information. Dirt.
Dealer shouldn't plan to kill them, just threaten them, then accidentally kill them in a scuffle
Yes, 100%. Fancy rehab clinics are there literally for this reason. The Betty Ford Clinic was a punchline for a long time as being a brand-name Hollywood-friendly rehab that specialized in keeping their client list quiet. The kids of wealthy people can and do get addicted to drugs - cocaine in college would be an easy one.
I agree that it's entirely unrealistic that a dealer would kill a family over money. A dealer would sooner blackmail the family, or threaten to harm the kid via "some associates." If the dealer kills the family....how would they get money? The point of leveraging fear to get paid is that 1) someone needs to remain alive and afraid of something worse so they have a reason to pay someone to stop things getting worse, and 2) sending a message that other people will see that someone needs to get paid or there will be consequences. Plus, any drug-addicted 20-something will crumple up and be totally useless in this situation, rather than get sober AND get revenge.
Just throwing an idea out there - let's say 20-something guy has a younger sister So we have 20, Dealer, and Sister for your setup. Maybe Loved One is a family member with skills the parents don't have. 20 owes a ton of money to Dealer. 20 goes to Dealer's place trying to score something and is already messed up and Dealer is about to throw them out, but 20's phone rings. It's Sister sending a message. Dealer gets interested, steals 20's phone, and starts to run a scam on Sister. Dealer get Sister into way deeper shit. Parents are useless and have no idea what to do, but cut off money to both of them. 20 goes looking for Sister, who is found dead from an OD. Or ODs and goes to a hospital, but is pregnant with Dealer's baby, or mangled in a car accident where Dealer was driving and Dealer was fine - whatever you want (please don't get too misogynistic with it). 20/Loved One goes after Dealer for revenge, but it makes more sense for 20 at minimum because we're invested in 20. You can only add Loved One if you introduce them as somehow "better" than 20, and more skilled.
Simply getting cut off from money is a pretty trite reason to get revenge because it will seem like it's only about money, not the emotional connection with the family. When you add the Sister as the catalyst, 20 will feel guilt over being the way that Dealer gets their hooks into a family member, the parents will be helpless, so 20 or someone else will feel the need to act since no one else can. Though, this might be a very done to death plot.
More realistic might be the addict does something stupid out of desperation like try to rob his dealer and is killed in the process.
They tend to be pretty miserable and can afford them so my gut feeling is that they are actually more likely.
Rich folks despise their drug addict children and cut them off out of shame (the real spoiler is that these parents create the addiction). So the one who gets revenge should be the black sheep of the family who tried their best to keep the addict around.
Why wouldn't they?
I have one example of a rich person who was addicted to drugs.
He was a gifted child so his parents treated him like he knew how to raise himself. They also probably weren't terribly interested in raising a child, so they basically abandoned him. He was cared for, but not by them.
Best example of this: I mentioned that I still remembered my mom teaching me how to tie my shoes. He remembered the maid teaching him.
Because no one would stop him, he started drinking in his early teens, and moved onto drugs soon after.
Regarding murdering because of money, I'd recommend making it a home invasion gone wrong. Addicted kid gets cut off from family, can't pay drug dealer, can't get drugs. Tells drug dealer he knows where the family keeps a lot of money. Like "won the lottery" money. Drug dealer tells someone else who convinces them to go after it. Hilarity ensues.
It wouldn't work for reasons you're not asking about.
1: you have to have a VERY close relationship with a dealer to go into any sort of debt with them.
2: Maybe if he first got the money from a loan shark first, but even then they will rarely go after family, and usually it's if they can't find you first. And they have ways of finding you, especially if you belong to a prominent family. Your foot print on your area is much bigger than most people think it is.
And also there's a ton of stories about rich people falling down the adiction rabbit hole.
You'd be better off having the family pay and the person is killed anyways.
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