How Cormac McCarthy Would Edit your Novel

If Cormac McCarthy had edited your novel, how would he have done it? We know a lot about Cormac McCarthy's editing process as he edited multiple of his friend's books. In today's video, I will pull together what we know from how McCarthy edited other's works and combine it with his own revision process!
Want to READ Blood Meridian and The Orchard Keeper with a group? Go here
writeconscious...
Want to LEARN about 144 of Cormac McCarthy's favorite books and authors for free? Go here
writeconscious...
Want to WEAR Cormac McCarthy streetwear? Go here
writeconscious...

[@TheLordTravis]

I was stoked to see a new upload. You should definitely check out Harold Lamb, Moorcock, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. Their works are truly captivating, but they don’t get much attention on TH-cam because they’re pulp author’s from the 1920’s - 30’s era. They’re sort of sorcery works though pretty relevant today specially with their wordage. It would be awesome to see more people appreciating their stories. If you’re up for it, I’m sure you could create a banger video about those old word wizards.

[@jeffreymeyer1191]

I remember reading Moorcock in the 80’s. He’s great.

[@justinluther2924]

I've been reading a lot of Howard and Moorcock lately. Pulp done right, for sure.

[@CINEMARTYR]

I love the idea of “write conscious” conceptually - it’s not enough to be “awake” coming out of a tired stupor, no, you have to be engaged and active and here. Fully conscious.

[@TrueBlueAndrew]

I just Bought Blood Meridian yesterday.

[@WriteConscious]

Good luck and have fun reading it!

[@FrancisGo.]

Good man. ❤️

[@UnfunkyUFO19]

I just bought it yesterday as well! Will be my fourth McCarthy novel.

[@docjaramillo]

@@WriteConscious I’m a science guy. I sucked at English. Writing an essay was the most difficult/frustrating (hard on the GPA) thing I’ve had to do in my long academic career. That being said, Blood Meridian open my eyes to the power of fiction. I hope you enjoy the vistas and imagination

[@TheTruthIsOutThurr]

Still grieving over the bear.

[@segaboy9894]

I love this channel... Blood Meridian is SO CLOSE in my queue. I can't wait to read it but I don't want to skip ahead in my log. Can't wait for SKOOL to start!

[@jeffreymeyer1191]

You’re inspiring me to go back to writing. I’ve written two books both of which need to be cut down. My first novel is unreadable and the main character is too passive. The genius is in knowing how to distill and knowing what is good. “There are no heroes” is a genius distillation.
One tip I’ve found helpful is learning how to summarize areas that are necessary but boring when presented as a scene.

[@tedwunderlich2741]

I have a novel that is literally half the size of what it was before-without losing anything-which tells me all of what I cut (100k words, it was 210k before) was just amateur clunk.
You can definitely do it, and your book will probably be light years better for it

[@personanongrata987]

"... circle-jerking on Nietzschean philosophy ..."
I'm stealing that.
--

[@Hikesoup]

Just finished the audio book of BM and the written word. Excited to read it again soon.

[@Chriscorpr]

Ian, have you seen the Infinite Jest movie trailer. You should do an analysis on it. Great channel!

[@WriteConscious]

That isn't a real trailer. It is a fan made trailer for a movie that is never coming out. It also doesn't look good and thank god they aren't making it. Why does Hal look like a 30 year old DFW??

[@justinluther2924]

That really quick comment on our modern world creating more outliers (with reference to Child of God) is interesting. I've had that thought before but have never read Child of God through that lens.

[@christianvchacon]

Good stuff, Ian!

[@blossom357]

See, here's the thing. I don't want to write this 100,000 to 500,000 word monstrosity. I -prefer- the idea of writing (and reading) novellas. But the common wisdom you hear about publishing is while it can't be as long as that, it also needs to be around 80,000 words. I can see why people do write these monsters if they're under the impression readers don't want short and snappy works.

[@tomjones1974]

If submitting manuscipts and kindle are not going to work, what is the new way you believe we should be sharing our work?

[@mattheww797]

Are you submitting your manuscripts to an agent?

[@davidash2727]

Read read read the Russians, Melville Melville Faulkner. Dost...Shakespeare KJBible...

[@lottoguy6457]

Just don’t write like them.

[@michaelchurch1324]

How do we get 50K people writing consciously when traditional publishing has done such a bad job of stewarding literary culture that few people read consciously?
There probably are 50K people in the English-speaking world who have the talent to be great writers, but there aren't enough readers to support 50K serious writers. I hate that the world's this way-I hate broadcast culture in general-but I don't think there's enough solid readership in the world, especially in today's crapflood era where discovery mechanisms are either pay-to-play or (as in trade) grovel-to-play, to give that many people a real audience. I'd love to be wrong, though.

[@salustianoberrios405]

Where can I find your work? I sent you an instagram message, btw.