Novelist Cormac McCarthy's tips on how to write a great science paper [pdf]
15 comments
·September 20, 2025kylecazar
amelius
When I read papers I often think: if only the author had the space here to write two sentences instead of one, then perhaps I would immediately understand what they are trying to say.
cyrillite
Sometimes two sentences is the minimum necessary number of sentences, but everybody should be wary of that instinct
marcuskaz
Sorry, but he takes it too far. McCarthy's omission of punctuation makes his books difficult to understand who is saying what, and a challenge to follow especially with dialogue. The Road and No Country for Old Men both do not contain quotation marks for speech, and he omits the common speech tags like "he said" or "she exclaimed" which makes it a challenge to know who is saying what. It is a choice and the art form he's choosing, but is far from writing for clarity.
mariusor
I would assume that his suggestions for clarity in "scientific papers" and his literary style don't overlap all that much to infer the former from the later.
sacredSatan
I agree about clarity, so this is just an aside but that's what makes it a fun experience for me. It's unlike reading anyone else (although I haven't read many authors). I'd say no country for old men was still pretty straightforward, but I had to re-read sentences and whole paragraphs with blood meridian.
The work makes it worth it, makes it that much more rewarding to me personally. It's like choosing to play a difficult videogame, because you know once you overcome it, it'll be great.
marcuskaz
I agree, his literary work is unique, and does take a bit more work to read, and with that it includes additional meaning behind it. For example, in The Road often times it doesn't even matter if its the boy or the man saying it.
However, I wouldn't take his advice on how to write for clarity. I too often found myself rereading paragraph, "wait is this description or dialogue", "who said that" - this is not what you want in scientific papers
kylebenzle
[dead]
paulpauper
Aside: I consider McCarthy's residency at SFI an ideal job
This is a testament to just how multifaceted he was.
sfpotter
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
treetalker
Yet behaving consistently according to well-chosen rules is a path to probable prosperity and, often, greatness.
wintercarver
Would love to read any of the scientific papers that McCarthy supposedly edited diligently, should anyone happen to know of some. Very curious to see what they read like.
aivuk
Not exactly a scientific paper, but he wrote this essay about language: https://nautil.us/the-kekul-problem-236574/
ddawson
Cormac McCarthy was deeply interested in physics and mathematics and was a trustee at the Santa Fe Institute, which has a heritage connected with Los Alamos National Laboratory. I don't know a lot about this side of him, only reading about it after reading his last two novels which do show a mastery of physics that really seemed to mirror his master of bridles and guns and culture in the old west. I don't remember reading that he had actually published any of this himself but he was spoken of as intensely curious about physics.
paulpauper
These are good tips for any non-fiction writing, not only limited to technical papers
"Use minimalism to achieve clarity. While you are writing, ask yourself: is it possible to preserve my original message without that punctuation mark, that word, that sentence, that paragraph or that section?"
This echoes advice I first read in Strunk & White. It remains the most actionable tip for better writing I'm aware of, technical or otherwise.
Aside: I consider McCarthy's residency at SFI an ideal job