Cormac McCarthy on What Makes Him a Great Writer

[@WriteConscious]

🚀 I would love to help you understand McCarthy’s novels better in my Cormac McCarthy course & book club. On my Substack, you can access the Blood Meridian For Writers Course and McCarthy’s unreleased interview. Click here to join: writeconscious.substack.com 📖Explore over 200 of McCarthy’s favorite books in my free guide to his favorite books Access here: writeconscious.ck.page/e20249... 👕Want to REP some McCarthy streetwear? Go here! writeconscious.com 📚Want to WRITE better? Join my free writing school: www.skool.com/writeconscious 📕My Best Books of All-Time List: writeconscious.ck.page/355619... 🔥Want to READ my wife’s fire poetry? Go here: marigoldeclipse.substack.com 🤔My Favorite Cormac McCarthy Novel: amzn.to/3TVdzCQ Insta: instagram.com/writeconscious

[@plabby7892]

damn dude really knocking it out the park with the tremendous output.

[@eglspl425]

I walked out of a £40,000 marketing job to work brutal hours in a care home at minimum wage. Never been happier, never been producing better writing, never looked back. You're dead on about the maps we are given for our lives being a load of balls.

[@armenf8283]

oof!

[@_breakfast9428]

Wonder if you’ve thought about making a video about subverting your own process. Whether that’s subverting a set writing routine, or subverting the work itself, like challenging our own idea of where the work is about to go, making room for the unconscious to disrupt our plans so we can write something great. I don’t think my thoughts on this topic are fully fleshed out, and what subversion means to each writer in their own context will be different, but I would be interested to hear your take.

[@carrion-vj1yz]

Follow your bliss -Joseph Campbell

[@JorgeVonninger]

I feel you, on moving to desert poetry. I wrote a novel, I wrote a novella, and then attempted to write more but found all were subconscious attempts at confessional writing, writing about how I felt about things I never confessed. I now write daily, a journal of my thoughts etc. But all of which ends up toward confessional poetry. I don’t know how I feel about it, as I always saw myself following the footsteps of Kurt Vonnegut or Kafka, but unfortunately my work in that context fails to land.

[@Justpassingby204]

You can’t force your writing. Work with whatever you truly enjoy writing. Work with what comes naturally

[@JorgeVonninger]

@@Justpassingby204 Thank you for the feedback. I suppose one thing to note would be that I write a lot and have been since 2019. But I haven't released anything, I'm just hording it all on typewritten paper and journals. Most of it is similar to "The Book of Disquiet" in it's essence, very fragmented. I don't think I could call it poetry, but it isn't really a novel either. And then of course I have a couple of conventional novels written, but I can't seem to REALLY finish them due to the need to keep writing new things day in and day out. I work in Architecture so I'm pretty busy.

[@Justpassingby204]

@@JorgeVonninger I prefer focusing on a singular project so 1) I get it done 2) my thoughts are focused on one place. You sound very scattered right now, so I’d prioritize what writing means the most to you. Also, architecture sounds like a lucrative job so at least you have money coming in while you pursue your passion

[@JorgeVonninger]

@@Justpassingby204 good points, and indeed I am scattered, it's probably my biggest weakness as a creative. Thanks for the advice

[@Justpassingby204]

@@JorgeVonninger you’re very welcome. Work on the project you see the most potential in. The one you enjoy. If it’s a psychological, confessional story-so be it. Use your personal experience and the experiences of those around you to craft something organic

[@psychicdriver4229]

Do you think Conrad's Heart of Darkness or Coppola's Apocalypse Now influenced the judge in Blood Meridian?

[@WriteConscious]

In the archive McCarthy does reference Conrad in relation to the Judge and while writing the book Apocalypse Now came out. McCarthy in 1979 was in his screenwriting era also (Cities of the Plain, No Country for Old Men, Gardener's Son, As I lay Dying, etc.) so he obviously saw the movie.

[@psychicdriver4229]

@@WriteConscious I wish coppala and brando were still around to make blood meridian. Thanks very much for that quick reply.

[@andrewschrater2004]

Hmm...desert poetry does sound kind of nice.

[@graebouquet]

do you have an email i can send poetry? would love to hear any thoughts or critiques you may have. love the content bro, you have introduced me to Cormac. has been life changing.

[@howardroark3736]

Man, you’re critical of a “competitive, ambitious mentality” in a lot of these videos, but don’t you think that’s exactly what McCarthy is revealing when he says he didn’t want to do anything unless he could be the best at it? Unless you have a unique definition of being ambitious that doesn’t involve being exceptional in one’s field.

[@antonyreyn]

Is Cormac McCarthy still dead?