Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

Established writers rarely mention the hard times they faced early in their careers. We don't think of William Faulkner as a night watchman or T.S. Eliot as a banker--but both writers had those jobs.The hardest part about writing is believing that you are a novelist/poet/journalist even though you haven't been published yet.

Today we have a very special guest, Woody Wilson--the man who wrote the Rex Morgan M.D. comic strip story you see above.

For more than 15 years, Wilson written the iconic comic strips, Rex Morgan, M.D. and Judge Parker, but he struggled to become a newspaper comic strip writer--just as hard as any starving artist.

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson's mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.

Jason Boog: 

How did you become involved writing comic strip scripts?  

Woody Wilson: 
In 1978, I met the late Jim Andrews, editor and founder of Universal Press Syndicate. I was living in San Francisco and had been toying with the idea of writing a comic strip. Continue reading...

I knew absolutely nothing about it. Mr. Andrews came into the art gallery where I worked on Fisherman's Wharf and we talked for hours about comics.

At the end of the evening he gave me the name of an artist who needed a writer. Over the months, the artist and I created a strip (that went nowhere) and, after a year, we parted company. 

In 1980, I moved to Arizona to work for the evening newspaper in Phoenix and put the comic on the back burner. A year later, I read a story about Dr. Nick Dallis in the Arizona Republic (where I was working). 

Dr. Dallis was the creator and writer of Rex Morgan, M.D., Judge Parker and Apartment 3-G.  What I wanted was an artist to continue working on my comic strip concept so I called him up and made an appointment. I went to his house, he looked at my portfolio, we spent the evening talking about comics and he said he would make some inquiries about finding me a new collaborator.

Two days later Nick called and offered me a job as his assistant, which I immediately accepted. Nick and I worked together for eight years until he was diagnosed with cancer in 1990.

In 1991, Nick passed away and I succeeded him on Rex Morgan, MD and Judge Parker. I wanted to write Apartment 3-G, too, but 3-G's artist, Alex Kotzky (now dead) wanted to try his hand at writing the strip, so Nick arranged for him to take over the scripting. As it turns out, it was a blessing I didn't end up writing 3-G; two comics is plenty.

Jason Boog:
Any advice for young writers looking to get involved with writing for newspaper comic strips?
 
Woody Wilson:
Yes, find a good collaborator (which is not easy) and never, ever give up. And if you write gags, keep practicing. If you're good at writing dialogue, try to work on being conversational. 

Listen to how people talk and work on character development. But the best advice I can give anyone is to keep at it for however long it takes; perseverance is what pays off in syndication.

Click here to read the Woody Wilson archive.

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