“When I started writing novels I stopped writing anything else. Never wrote no poetry.”
Cormac McCarthy, January 26, 1977
Considered by many to be the greatest living author, Cormac McCarthy has written some of the most critically acclaimed novels in the history of American literature – chief among these is his Pulitzer Prize wining work, The Road, and his epic western, Blood Meridian, which was recognized as one of the greatest works in American literature. Unfortunately, because of McCarthy’s aversion to the public spotlight and because he is yet write a book that pulls back the curtain and reveal the cogs like Stephen King’s On Writing, there is not a wealth of information on Cormac McCarthy’s writing process. However, from a collection of his letters and from the occasional interview, like his appearance on Oprah, we can gather a rough sketch of how his books came to life.
Cormac doesn’t follow an outline, plot, or schedule
“I just sit down and write whatever is interesting…”
McCarthy
In his interview with Oprah, McCarthy stated that he doesn’t write methodically or with a schedule. Instead, he recited a Faulkner quip about writing only when the inspiration hits you to imply that he writes without a formal schedule. That isn’t to say that McCarthy is lackadaisical about his art. As he stated later in the interview, “You have to take it seriously. You have to treat it as the work that you do.” In another interview with David Kushner of Rolling Stone, McCarthy reveals that he has been writing five novels at one time as of late. In a fashion reminiscent of Thoreau’s Walking, McCarthy said that he simply takes a walk between work on each novel to shift gears into that project’s frame of mind.
Even more surprising is the lack of a formal outline or plot. Using a method sometimes described as being a “pantser,” McCarthy doesn’t begin the process with a complete outline. In fact, when he started The Road, McCarthy had no idea how it was going to end. As he told Oprah, “You can’t plot things out. You just have to trust in wherever in comes from.” [1] McCarthy attempted to describe that process further in his Kushner interview, stating, “I just sit down and write whatever is interesting. If you’re writing mystery stories or something, you might want to have an outline, because it all has to have a logic and fall into place and have a beginning, a middle and an end. But if you’re writing a novel, the best things just sort of come out of the blue. It’s a subconscious process. You don’t really know what you’re doing most of the time.”
This sort of inspiration-based writing also comes with the struggle of deciding what you should be working on at any given time. So, if you’re the type of writer that struggles getting started, know that McCarthy isn’t immune to that either. In one of his letters to book collector and bibliographer, J. Howard Woolmer, McCarthy wrote, “I have 2 or 3 novels that I have notes and a few sections for but I don’t know which one to hone in on. Probably the most difficult one…” This sort of loose framework also allows McCarthy to pause one project mid-way through to start a new one as the inspiration hits him. In another of the Woolmer letters from 1973, McCarthy wrote that “The new book [Child of God] is on the fall lists and will be out, I am told, in December. It is not the longer book that I was writing, but a shorter one which intruded itself in the middle of writing the other one.”
None of this is to say that McCarthy is passive about the work of writing. Quite the opposite, McCarthy spends a considerable amount of time and energy making sure that the stories he publishes are in their purest form through extensive research on the front end and editing on the back end. In a letter responding to a question from Woolmer about whether he actually visited the places he’d described, McCarthy wrote, “I spent several years in the country described. I’ve taken the train to Mochos a couple of times and it is a great trip…” In another letter, McCarthy mentioned that he had spent three weeks in Argentina researching whales with a marine biologist friend for a screenplay, “Whales and Men,” that is yet to be produced.
As for his self-revision, McCarthy writes, then rewrites. As he told Woolmer in 1979, roughly six years prior to Blood Meridian being published, “I’m working on a western [Blood Meridian] – based loosely on historical events in Mexico in 1849 – illustrated with about 2 dozen period prints – woodcuts mostly. The book is essentially finished (300 pp) but needs to be completely rewritten…”
Cormac McCarthy’s writing process is built on spontaneity
“Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever.”
Cormac McCarthy – The Road
Another key tidbit from the Oprah interview is McCarthy’s description of how the inspiration for The Road came to be. As Cormac explains, he and his son were staying at a hotel in El Paso, Texas. Around two or three a.m., McCarthy stood and looked out the window into motionless town. Although he could see little activity, he could hear the lonesome sound of the trains running in the distance. He was struck with an image of what El Paso might look like in the future. He pictured fires burning on the hills and everything in ruins. He thought about his son. Fast forward two years and McCarthy had a realization that the vision he had that night in El Paso wasn’t just a passing thought – it was another book and it was about that man and that boy.
“You always have this image of the perfect thing, which you can never achieve, which you can never stop trying to achieve…”
Cormac McCarthy
Ultimately, Cormac McCarthy’s writing process is applicable to any pursuit. In a response to being asked whether he’s passionate about writing, McCarthy stated: “You always have this image of the perfect thing, which you can never achieve, which you can never stop trying to achieve, but I think at the core of it there’s this image that you have – this interior image of something that is absolutely perfect and that’s your signpost and your guide. You’ll never get there but without you won’t get anywhere.” And, as McCarthy advised Kushner on life itself: “There is for a man two things in life that are very important, head and shoulders above everything else,” he says. “Find work you like, and find someone to live with you like. Very few people get both.” Sounds like McCarthy found both.
[1] “Wherever it comes from” was labeled “The Muse” by Steven Pressfield in his acclaimed how-to book, The War of Art.