At every magazine or publishing house, there’s always an editor or two with a knack for titles. But even so, rarely does one come in a flash of divine inspiration. There are iterations and themes and the same words written over and over. Here is a glimpse of what James Salter’s process was like with his novel Light Years (a book both Jhumpa Lahiri and Porochista Khakpour wrote about this week). Salter seems so close at points, circling back to light and years, sometimes on the same page but not always the same line, ranking his favorites and weighing the opinions of others.

Image courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center. Click to enlarge.

Image courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center. Click to enlarge.

Image courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center. Click to enlarge.

Image courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center. Click to enlarge.

The Salter archives reside with the Harry Ransom Center, in Austin Texas.