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Cormac McCarthy's Writing Tips | WRITING ADVICE FROM FAMOUS AUTHORS
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Күн бұрынWhat do you make of Cormac McCarthy's writing advice? These are all writing tips from Cormac McCarthy taken from interviews/articles etc.
As usual, I've chosen some interesting writing tips from famous authors and given you my opinion on them, let me know if you agree with me, Cormac McCarthy, or neither of us!
Whatever kind of stories you write, I think it's useful to look at other writers and see what we can learn from them.
Some of the most useful advice about writing I've ever come across was from famous writers I hadn't read beforehand.
Let me know what you make of Cormac McCarthy's tips in the comments!
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:32 The worst characters
2:48 Driven by what?
4:30 Are you driven nuts?
6:00 Minimalism
8:46 The ugly truth
10:46 How confident do you feel?
12:19 Failed stories
13:34 Life and death
14:35 The best things
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@KierenWestwoodWriting 11 ай бұрын
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@kempiro 2 жыл бұрын
I think McCarthy is reaching in his works toward oral tradition. I think that's why he tries to do away with punctuation that one only *sees*, and leaves in the ones we *hear*. He gets rid of everything but "pause" and "double pause," so to speak. It's a style, but it has the air of an ethic with him.
@wbbooth Жыл бұрын
Well said. And the nature of the prose itself evokes an almost biblical tone, that combined with that oral tradition/campfire parable feeling, evokes something so primal, and so American. I agree with the popular assertion that he is the greatest living American author.
@chrisroberts8974 3 жыл бұрын
I like the point about having more to the villainous characters than just evil. Humanising them. Make the reader identify with the villain rather than the protagonist. Great vid mate.
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
Thanks mate :) Yeah, I didn't necessarily agree with everything he said but that one i definitely do. Ultimate good versus ultimate evil I think is a really old-fashioned idea these days.
@dacrewordsmith 3 жыл бұрын
Timestamps! I really enjoyed Cormac's disgruntled writer vibe... putting in the work (and juggling other things... like acquiring food) is key! Point 7 is great - Every word is progress! Thanks for your ongoing series, Kieren! I enjoy your ongoing pursuit of writing.
@Kendojin 3 жыл бұрын
Tip#3 really struck me... I'm terrified of writing. I don't even know why it scares me. Maybe failure, maybe finding out I can't do it. I don't know. But I don't care. I have stories inside me, that I often feel I need to get out. It's killing me the longer they stay inside. I have to do it. And I'll do it scared. Loving your channel, by the way. I don't know why you do the channel, or why you're driven to do it, but I pray you never stop! Your honesty, and down-to-earth-ness, is really refreshing
@Kendojin 3 жыл бұрын
I have to continue the point XD But really, there's so many really smart people that say "This is the answer! And you have to do it this way!" and I think they just do that to sell books/seminars. It makes the advice cleaner and more straight forward, but also very closed. I don't think they even believe it. I think they Know that there's a lot of room for style, but then it makes the advice too wishy-washy... It's not sellable if it's wishy-washy. You really do deliver the advice in such a way that is clear, direct, and still remaining very open. There's a few others I've found that are like you, in trying to help people unlock their own style... But often they can be too clinical about it, too academic. So I dunno. All that's to say thank you. I've been watching your videos the last week, but I subscribed, and you've earned my trust!
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
@@Kendojin Thank you, this is exactly how I hope my channel comes across. It took me a long time to figure out what kind of content to make. I felt hesitant to give advice at first, but I figured if I made sure to always state that I can only give my opinion and what works for me, then it would be alright. I agree with you on prescriptive advice, I think it’s wrong to tell people there’s a correct and only way to do things. If that advice works for them, then it leads people to think they can’t waver from it, and if it doesn’t, it leads them to think they’re incapable or doing something wrong. I often feel like my skill level falls short of my story ideas, or that I’m not where I want to be with writing, but as long as I keep working on it, I’ll improve and get closer to that. I’m scared too, every time I publish a video that contains one of my stories, but you just have to push past it I guess. Just don’t stop ☺️ I really appreciate you subscribing, and I’m intending to keep making these for a good long time!
@wbbooth Жыл бұрын
The lack of punctuation forces you not just to read, but decode the text. For me it creates a feeling of mandatory closeness to the subject material, which is often so gruesome you want to read it from between the finger gaps of the hands covering your eyes. Instead of just seeing a dead body, you are forced to approach and autopsy it without proper medical training. There is this initial phase of grappling with the text, where you feel like there are things you are missing and that confuse you. You double back and read things again to make sure. Then once you get into sync with how the story communicates, the language almost pulls you into a fugue state of understanding that is hard to articulate, but the prose is hypnotically beautiful and creates a visceral sense of "being there" that I don't often read anywhere else. I don't know if that's why McCarthy chooses to punctuate the way he does, but that's the reason I love it.
@someokiedude9549 Жыл бұрын
A friend of mine said this, and I agree with his sentiment. I think every writer should read McCarthy at least once. You don't have to like him, but I do think that writers should read him and consider his words and why he chose them. It makes me self conscious as a writer, but I still hold the sentiment.
@KierenWestwoodWriting Жыл бұрын
As a fan of his work, I agree of course. I think an important lesson all writers could learn from is that breaking rules is an option. With McCarthy, it's almost like the rule never existed in the first place.
@bluegregory6239 6 ай бұрын
@@KierenWestwoodWriting "If the rule you followed led you to this, of what use was the rule?"
@TrinityUser 3 ай бұрын
I agree with the few other comments about death being necessary. It's best to consider that 'death' as figurative. The character must succeed or their social life is dead, their chance to live their childhood dream is dead, their greatest love will escape from them and they'll die alone with no one to mourn them. As long as the stakes feel like life or death, that's a great conflict. Cheers, Kieran. Love what you're doing.
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 ай бұрын
Thanks! Appreciate you being here. I'm not sure why I didn't see that angle, as a few others have pointed out. It just didn't occur to me, but I think you're all absolutely right!
@Feejakka 2 жыл бұрын
Really enjoying your vids, Kieren. The advice these authors give is really valuable and your commentary fleshes it out well. Also, some of it is totally fresh to me, which is cool considering how many videos I’ve watched and articles I’ve read about writing. You’ve gained a subscriber :)
@KierenWestwoodWriting 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much Fiona! I really appreciate that. I'm glad my stuff can be useful to writers. My aim is to kind fill in the gaps in commonly given writing advice, and talk about the things that are hard to define but still useful.
@discoveringthei 6 ай бұрын
I think you misunderstood life and death. Take the movie Before Sunrise, it's literally two people walking and talking and falling in love with each other. The narrative still hangs on several forms of life and death stakes, are they soulmates, will they fall in love, will they end up together. Life and death extends to so many things. I wrote a short story about two men unable to sleep after their women had children, they meet in the hospital and decide to run across the street to a bar and have a drink, and they discuss fatherhood and the legacy their father's left them and the fear of what they will do to their children in their life. No one dies. And yet life and death are the driving force of the narrative.
@JoeyPaulOnline 3 жыл бұрын
I agree that every story has some part of life in it, but it doesn't have to be death and destruction to be valid as a story. Loving these as usual!
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I agree with you on that. Maybe it's becasue of the type of stories he writes, but there are a world of stories out there that are full of excitement and drama and entertainment that have nothing to do with life and death 😊 Thanks Joey
@bluegregory6239 6 ай бұрын
"...but it doesn't have to be death and destruction to be valid as a story." Fair enough, but if you are a fan of Mr. McCarthy, death and destruction are constants that one will come to expect His first book I ever read was 'Blood Meridian' in 1994, so that may have influenced this comment.
@tdm-wo7om 2 жыл бұрын
To put in the life and death quote into context, he was justipising of the existential struggles of Ahab in Moby Dick against the more cosmpolitan romances of the likes of Henry James. He was interested with survival through brutal circumstances.
@henrytheworst Күн бұрын
I love that McCarthy wrote in Spanish. There’s a tiny Mexican restaurant in Santa Fe that only does takeout and the owner is the only cashier. She knows but doesn’t speak English on purpose, forcing you to use your Spanish. Maybe it took you out of the story but taking you out of your comfort zone seems to be his intention
@Voice.of.the.Fire.Ministries 3 жыл бұрын
Again, another brilliant video. I just love watching your videos. I don’t know why but every time I watch, it inspires me. Would you do a whole video on resistance in writing? I’m fighting it, and can’t pass it. I’d very much appreciate it.
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
I'd love to but I'm not sure how I'd fill out a series. It does get easier though. The key to it for me was to try to actively turn off my judgement of what I was doing and to just keep going. Emily St John Mandel also has a good tip of 'allow yourself to write badly'. What you're writing may not be bad at all, but removing that self-judgement can help you develop. Writing is all about the distance you travel, at least for me it is. How long you spend doing it, how many stories or words you get down. It's a slow process of improvement, but I often find when I look back, I've come further than I think. Keep going with it and don't judge yourself and things might loosen up. Also, I don't know if it's the same with everyone, but for me I don't think there's a resistance-free version of wrting. I always feel it too.
@Voice.of.the.Fire.Ministries 3 жыл бұрын
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Thanks a lot for this. So just write, without worrying about messing up? I just want to finish something and one day become a published author.
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
I totally get that. The way I look at it is that we're all still learning, all writers should be continuously learning, either by seeking out ways to improve or just keeping on writing and gaining experience. So, if that's the case, sadly we probably won't spend all that much time feeling like we're great at what we do, because there's always something we want to get better at or improve and we're likely to see that more than the stuff we've already improved!. If you write a story and it takes a while to finish, then you'll be a slightly different writer at the end of it, you might now phrase things differently, or approach things in another way, and that's always something that's moving. Since the line by line stuff in your writing is open to change like that , my advice (for what it's worth) would be to focus on the heart of your story and what excites you about it. The thing that inspired you to start writing it in the first place. Thnk about that as you're writing instead of the quality of what you're putting out. That way, your intention will remain consistent, so when you finish that first draft, you can go back through and use your new knowledge and experience to improve bits that you think might need it, but the story itself will still feel like your story. Every published author has been through this, the way to beat it is absolutely just to keep going I think 😊
@Voice.of.the.Fire.Ministries 3 жыл бұрын
@@KierenWestwoodWriting I guess a part of me is thinking if I do finish, it will end up being rubbish. It’s also hard for me to turn off the editing part of my brain.
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
@@Voice.of.the.Fire.Ministries The thing is, it might be! BUT that's where you use that editing side of your brain. A rubbish first draft doesn't mean the end product will be rubbish. Every novel for sale today will have been through multiple drafts until they were fit to be read :)
@valdeswright8069 Жыл бұрын
Appreciate the breakdown. Life and death and interesting cannot be separated in the life and death quote. Although every story may echo human life, for a story to be interesting it must deal with life AND death. The proof is in the puddin. Look at your own stories or your favorite stories, everyone of the interesting ones deals with the vagaries, aspirations, heartbreaks of life juxtaposed against the certainty and surprise of death.
@jpage9564 Жыл бұрын
I enjoyed the video and got quite a bit of useful information out of it. I agree with Matt Markus regarding false modesty vs overconfidence though- McCarthy saying he always knew he could write is not overconfidence- the popularity of his work with both critics and the public backs that statement up. I would also prefer that he use more punctuation, but once I'm immersed in the story it's easy enough to differentiate between the narrative and dialogue.
@wheelerking8380 11 ай бұрын
you’re certainly right, you can’t come up with original stories because you say you can’t…..correctamundo sir, Correctamundo!!!!
@theresakidd 3 ай бұрын
I don’t think he meant life and death the way you thought he did. Romance is easily described as a life or death story of the main characters love life. Coming of Age stories are life or death of childhood innocence. And the list goes on. If the stakes aren’t high enough to be life or death then the thing that keeps people reading, tension, just isn’t there.
@madguitar1086 2 жыл бұрын
It’s not privilege to only understand your language. Would a Portuguese reader be privileged because they became exasperated at untranslated English in a Portuguese novel?
@gregahunt 10 ай бұрын
italicized dialogue! did you read elena says by claudia pineiro? italicized AND no indents or separation from the paragraph
@AwakeArise 3 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the video. I’m not getting anywhere with my writing at the moment 😮💨 no fresh ideas coming to me and not writing anything I like 😬
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
I've certainly felt like that a time or two. Seems like you've been a bit stuck for a while now. Question: Are you reading much? It's probably not the same for everyone, but I find that once I start reading something that I enjoy, I feel far more likely to come up with ideas.
@AwakeArise 3 жыл бұрын
@@KierenWestwoodWriting I’m still reading a lot. But I’ve realised I can only really write the start of stories. I have no idea what I’m doing past the first few chapters
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
That’s how I feel with novels. I find it a lot more fun writing shorter stuff these days. There’s a lot of satisfaction in it.
@mattmarkus4868 2 жыл бұрын
11:45 all he said was he never doubted his ability to write. It doesn't sound the least bit overconfident to me. And the alternative is false modesty which is a bore.
@t0dd000 Жыл бұрын
His punctuation: personally, I don't care for it, but I think his driving point that we tend to overindulge is correct. I just think he is underindulging. Obsessively so. But now, it's his signature. So, meh. His untranslated Spanish: it's so bizarre. So strange. I don't understand why he does this. Fortunately, you can go online and just download a comprehensive translation of those passages. But ... why? Cormac? Why?
@KierenWestwoodWriting Жыл бұрын
Yeah, I agree with you, especially on the untranslated Spanish, not a clue on that.
@valdeswright8069 Жыл бұрын
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Perhaps he does it for those of us who are bilingual, and would be taken out of the story by an immediate translation.
@someokiedude9549 Жыл бұрын
This is probably going to sound really smug, so I apologize in advance, but reality doesn't have subtitles. That said, McCarthy isn't for everyone. That is certain.
@t0dd000 Жыл бұрын
Why do we write? I think the driver is that humans are storytelling machines. And some of us enjoy the process more than others.
@happychimp1077 Жыл бұрын
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@dansheppard2965 9 ай бұрын
Of all the famous writers' advice you've featured here, Cormac McCarthy's advice leaves me most disinclined to read him. It seems a bit "that guy"-ish. Maybe his writing is less annoying than the advice?
@KierenWestwoodWriting 9 ай бұрын
I can understand that, his writing definitely had a strong character that readers will either be okay with or definitely won’t. Some books demonstrate this more intensely than others, too. I’m used to his style by now, but I started with The Road and No Country for Old Men which are, in my opinion, more palatable, if I’d started with Blood Meridian for example, I’m not sure how I’d have fared.
@antoniamcgregor3285 3 жыл бұрын
I love this guy I need to read the road after watching the film its actually a good film viggo is so heartbreaking in that film he's so skinny but damn is he superb in it 😔😫
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
The film is great I agree, it’s really close to the book as well. I’ve heard he basically ate nothing for months leading up to filming, method acting 😲
@antoniamcgregor3285 3 жыл бұрын
@@KierenWestwoodWriting yeah I think all he had was like coffee and an apple that's how christian bale got thin 😫
@KierenWestwoodWriting 3 жыл бұрын
@@antoniamcgregor3285 oh wow… I wouldn’t last a day on that! 😖
@theresakidd 3 ай бұрын
Yeah but if you make your villains too realistic the cancel culture will get you.
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