Blood Meridian and the archive

Blood Meridian, of all McCarthy's works, demonstrates most thoroughly, just how much effort goes into each and every sentence of his prose. McCarthy has been called a slow writer. However, when one traces the evolution of a text through examination of his archival material, the first draft of any one book flows freely and comes together quite quickly and he finds himself with a complete manuscript in good time. The thoroughness of the work does not only apply in terms of his research, which is extensive, but also to his unique crafting of language.