By Neal Wooten
I started a comic strip ten years ago and it has continued to grow in popularity, especially the Spanish version Pancho el Pit Bull. The largest publisher of Spanish books has published five books in South America and this year they will release them in Spain. And a production company is currently working on making it into an animated series.
From the time I graduated high school (in 1983), I dreamed of being a syndicated cartoonist with a daily strip in hundreds of newspapers. I pictured my comic strip right alongside Peanuts and Cathy. It turns out, however, this is not an easy thing to do. Who knew? But I continued to try and continued to rack up rejections.
One thing really sticks with me from that time. An editor for Universal Syndicate said this in an interview. (Paraphrasing) “We get so many submissions where people say they have the next Calvin and Hobbs. We’re not looking for the next Calvin and Hobbs. We’re looking for the next original cartoon no one’s ever heard of.”
It’s the same in the literary world. After the success of the Harry Potter books and movies, publishers and agents began being bombarded with manuscripts about boy wizards. I still get hundreds of them every year. It’s human nature I suppose. We all think maybe, just maybe, lightning will strike twice in the same place, even though, deep down, we know that’s not how lightning works.
As a writer and/or artist, you have to stop thinking that way. It doesn’t matter how clever and creative your idea of four turtles who are exposed to radiation and grow larger while studying to be martial arts heroes is, it’s been done. It can’t be redone. Forget about a big purple dinosaur or an elf who hides from kids as it gets close to Christmas. Even if you created something before the famous version, it doesn’t matter. You will never be seen as being original, and that will always be important.
One of the rules in writing is to stay away from clichés. As the saying goes, “Avoid clichés like the plague.” (Note: this is talking about in your narrative. If you have a character that spouts them, then cliché away.) And why is this a rule? Because clichés are phrases that have been uttered so many times, everyone knows them, and everyone has heard them. In other words, you cannot get less original than that. That’s why, in an industry that prizes originality, clichés are a buzzkill.
So, if you’re thinking your idea or creation won’t be successful because it hasn’t been done, reprogram your brain. Be glad that it hasn’t been done. Stop believing that someone needs to pave the road ahead of you. Because I promise you, the road to success is never paved. It might be graveled. It might be a dirt road. It might not even exist yet. Take that original idea and forge ahead anyway. Make your own road. Be original.
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Neal Wooten is a contributor to the Huff Post, columnist for the Mountain Valley News, author, artist, and standup comic. His new true-crime memoir, With the Devil’s Help (Pegasus Crime/Simon and Schuster), is being made into a miniseries. He is also the creator of the cartoon, Pancho el Pit Bull, which is being made into an animated series in South America.