Q Is it credible to imagine a severely alcoholic character who loses hours or days at a time and has no recollection of what she did, including a murder of passion?
A Chronic alcoholics often have memory lapses from alcoholic blackouts or one of the various alcoholic encephalopathies. Encephalopathy is a big word meaning brain damage or dysfunction.
Delirium tremens (DTs) is one type of alcoholic encephalopathy. It typically occurs during alcohol withdrawal. The person will become confused and might forget who she is, where she is, and when severe she might talk nonsense and understand little of what is said to her. She could become delusional and think she’s Jesus, Napoleon, or maybe even Bill Gates. She might hallucinate. The famous pink elephant is an example. Often these hallucinations are tactile in that the victims feel things crawling on them. People who have lost this degree of contact with reality can be dangerous to themselves and others. She might see another character as a monster coming to harm her and protect herself by killing her “assailant.” She might remember none of this.
Alcoholic blackouts are similar. Here the brain does not register what is going on. What data gets through is chaotic and of little use in reconstructing what happened while she was out. This type most often occurs during intoxication rather than during withdrawal. She might talk to people, drive her car, go to a party, or kill someone and have no recollection of the events.
There are other types of encephalopathies associated with alcohol, but they are more complex, and I think either DTs or an alcoholic blackout will work well for you.
One other point to consider is that severe alcoholics are constantly intoxicated or withdrawing. There isn’t much in between. When they are drinking, they are becoming increasingly intoxicated. When they pass out and sleep all day, they are undergoing withdrawal. That’s why many wake up nervous and short-tempered. As soon as they get up they reach for the hair of the dog to dampen the withdrawal symptoms, and then they’re off and running. Another twenty-four-hour binge. Tough life. Tough to treat.