As Dusty and Torn a Map as Possible

Slate has a fantastic essay on Cormac McCarthy's writing style and production. The man is a literary legend in a similar way that Terrance Malick or Stanely Kubrick are film ones: He is a master of his own craft with deliberate, hardened prose.

In particular, I love this glimpse into his editing process during the post-production window of his grandest achievement, Blood Meridian:

In drafts, he writes sentences that make the contemporary reader sit up straight in his chair in revelation—“the kid could have shot the judge … His fatal weakness” or “The kid gives his own moral stand”—only to omit them in the next draft. It’s as if McCarthy writes these expository moments only for his own reference, knowing that later he’ll erase them and leave the reader to navigate by as dusty and torn a map as possible.

(Via @michaelpnoga)