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I met Vito Delsante a bit ago, having some beers with a few people.  He was a good guy.  The kind of guy you want to have beers with.  He’s also a great story teller, not only as a writer but in person.  Funny and personable, Vito is a writer you should know.  He’s working, with Rachel Freire, on FCHS, coming soon from AdHouse Books.  We had us a chat.

Adam P. Knave: Let’s start off with a pitch! Tell us all about FHCS!

Vito Delsante: The way we’ve been describing it is “Archie meets 90210″ or “Love & Rockets meets American Pie.”  The hope, and this is a big leap in some cases, is that everyone will recognize the situations presented in the book and, without the benefit of introducing the characters slowly on a monthly basis, they’ll be familiar with the story, if not the individuals.  It’s a really big leap on the part of the readers, like I said, but I feel like it’s all there for them to absorb.

That’s the big picture.  To really sum up FCHS, it’s about a group of friends embarking on their last year of high school and the twists and turns that come with living with people you always see, but never really know.  Ooh, I gotta write that one down…

APK: How do you and Rachel Freire work together?

VD: I’m sure you don’t mean at the store.  We work full script.  I sit down all by my lonesome and hash out the plot.  I run it by Rachel, just to get her initial reactions, input, what have you.  She’s usually ok with what I come up with…I usually look to her (and my wife, Michelle) for input on what the girls would do since I’m fairly unfamiliar with the workings of the female mental process.  I take that plot, and in a separate document, I number one though 30, the number of pages per chapter, and take out all the beats of the plot, so I know what story beats I’m hitting on each page.  I did that for each chapter too…for example, I wrote down June of the starting year to August of the following year, and wrote down events that would happen in that month so I get a spark for what should happen in that month.  For example, in the first volume, June through September, we have the last day of school, a local festival around July 4th, football practice and the first day of school.  These are chapter sparks that lead to the plot, so this is the first step.

After scripting, I hand it off to Rachel and she goes to town.  I’m pretty heavy handed with references, and my script is full of URL’s and movies to watch…keep in mind that there is a 20 year difference between Rachel and me, so she’s not going to get every single idea I give her because it’s taking place when she’s a toddler.  So, I do a little bit of art directing in that respect.  After that, we FTP the art to Chris [Pitzer, publisher of AdHouse Books] and wait for his notes.

APK: How much of a free hand does Rachel have once she has the script for in terms of changing the timing of beats and layout?

VD: As with any artist I work with, I let them draw whatever they want, as long as it’s in the context of what I have set up for them.  My new buzzword is “micro-management.”  I don’t micro-manage the art.  You stifle creativity if you do that.  You have to let the artist be an artist.  Look, if she drew a guy where a girl should be, sure, I’ll say something, but for the most part, Rachel has good instincts, so I trust her.

APK: How does this differ from other projects you’ve worked on and what is, so far, your favorite way to work with an artist?

VD: It’s pretty much standard fare.  I write full-script with the caveat, “If you see something differently, tell me, and show me.”  Nine times out of 10, I’ll go with what the artist comes up with.  But I can’t work Marvel style.  Theoretically, I could, but I’m a bit of a control freak.  A script has to look like a script before it leaves my computer.

I also do rough layouts that are for me only.  It helps when plotting a page because I can see it better.  For example, I once wrote a two page sequence that was Eisner-esque.  It had a burning building with folks trapped in it, etc.  The hero enters in Panel One, top left of the left page, and exits with the rescued on the bottom right of the right side.  I had to draw this out so I could see the zig-zag, right to left eye movement.  And again, I usually keep these for myself, but if an artist gets stuck, I’ll show it to them.

APK: What is it about the High School setting that draws you in, as a writer?

VD: I think that, when you’re there, you’re oblivious to the drama of your own life.  I grew up watching 90210 and Saved By The Bell and all those other teen dramedies, and the thing you never see is the story of your life playing out before you.  We say that someone is full of drama now, but back then, there wasn’t a term for it.  The term “drama queen” wasn’t really around when I was in high school, so the obvious-ness of the situations you find yourself in are lost on you…as an observer.  High school is full of drama and comedy…it’s a virtual gold mine, story wise.

APK: Do you write to music, and if so what?

VD: Yeah, I do.  I write lyrics with arrangements in my head that I have to get actual talented folks to write for me, since I can’t write music.  I don’t think that I write any particular genre or style of music more than any other.  Mostly rock, but I’ve written a country song or two, a couple of punk rock ditties…Scooby-Doo #128 has an opera that was co-written with my friend, Nick Purpura.  I think that the musical…musical theater…is an often ignored art form because the story is told in lyrics and music.  You learn what’s going on by absorbing the music and yeah, there are usually cheesy lyrics, but the transfer of information is just as great as it is in verbal storytelling without music…it’s just harder to retain.

APK: FHCS is being published by AdHouse Books (Diamond code SEP09 0568), and was their Free Comic Book Day offering. How did that come about?

VD: One of the things I tell every writer to do after they hook up with an artist is to make a mini comic.  FCHS was offered online…for free…and still had a struggle finding an audience.  Our biggest fans were other creators who loved Rachel’s art and dug my story.  Rachel and I were really just looking to get more people to the site, and we made a mini comic of what was already online and handed these out…again, for free…at the MoCCA Art Festival a couple of years ago.  One of those found its way to Chris Pitzer.  And let’s be honest here, I handed one to Chris Staros, to NBM, to any and all publisher I could find there…I even handed one to the Minx editors just to get Rachel more work.  Did I think anyone would be interested in publishing the book?  Absolutely not.  I was under the impression that I’d still be doing the online strip and maybe one day, maybe, I’d collect it into one volume.

A few weeks later, I get an e-mail from Pitzer, who assumed we had publishers waiting for us, which we didn’t.  I love AdHouse and their product(s), so for Chris to offer us the chance to publish the book…this was a big deal for me.  An absolute honor.  You can imagine what it was like for Rachel, who was this green but talented artist who had never been seen before we put the strip on The Chemistry Set.  Chris offered us the FCBD issue, and I think he had the same ideas as far as marketing…that we’d use it to introduce folks to a concept they’ve never heard before.  Chris was also the one who offered us the chance to get the book on ComiXology’s iPhone application.
APK: How is it working with ComiXology and their iPhone app.? Does it change the way you think about the comic at all?

VD: They’re a bunch of good guys and they have their heads on straight.  Working with them was pretty easy, actually.  We have this two page sequence that has times, counting down to the end of the school year in Chapter 1 (it was in the FCBD issue).  When I got the test run of FCHS, I noticed that they sequenced it to be two separate pages, instead of one big layout.  I sent them a note, and it was fixed immediately.  I have nothing but high praise for them.

My view on digital comics for next gen phones/smart phones is this: It’s a new toy that folks want to play with and so they’re just looking for content and apps to fill their commutes or pre-movie time.  If we get them reading comics, that’s great.  I just want someone to retrofit the ComiXology app to have a button to pre-order the book.  It’s probably days away, knowing those guys.

APK: What are your plans for the story, moving forward?

VD: Three more volumes, God willing.  The next volume covers October to January and there’s a big tragedy looming over the cast.  In the solicitation, I actually teased it (”Will they all make it?”).   The third volume, February through May, has a musical as it’s centerpiece and if we can get that far in the publishing…if interest is that high that we can actually do all four volumes, then I will have achieved one of the biggest goals in my life.  Seriously.  The fourth book centers around graduation and moving on into the real world, and that one, the whole series for that matter, will end with a very surreal piece that may put the whole thing in a different light, but that’s so far away, it may change…but then again…

APK: You do a lot of publicity for the book, seeming to never stop moving, or releasing something.  What methods of PR have you found the best so far, and what ones would you swear off?

VD: Well, the first thing you have to notice is that I am cheap.  No, not cheap, just…I can’t afford a publicist.  If I could, I wouldn’t solicit for interviews myself or have to send out my own press releases.  After that, I look at the biggest and best tool available to me, the internet.  I have to say that having a Free Comic Book Day comic went a long way to introduce folks to the concept of FCHS, and that, again, was all Chris’ doing.  Going back to what Rachel and I have done, we agreed to have the first 25 pages given for free on ComiXology’s iPhone app, we have a prequel comic strip on Facebook and my site, I’m doing videos on YouTube to promote the book…again, using the tools that I have available to me or the one’s offered to me.  I don’t mind giving something away for free…I wish it were different, but it’s not.  For me, it’s about having the most eyes on my product as possible.

I don’t know that I would swear off any method of PR.  If it works, I’ll try it, but again, I’d rather spend my money making the book the best book it can be, not on a full page ad in Wizard.  If I had the money to throw at an ad, I’d put an ad in Variety or some other trade magazine…something that will get new eyes on the book.

APK: You’ve written for Marvel and DC among many others, working on comics as various as X-Men Unlimited and Scooby-Doo as well as Superman.  If you could write any book out there for someone else, what would it be?

VD: I still want to write Wildcat for DC, but I’m finding that my time might be better spent writing my own version of Wildcat.  I’m getting to the point in my career, as young as it is, where my age is becoming a factor.  Can I really write comics forever?  The time to create something that lasts forever is now, not 10 years from now.  So, if I could write any book out there, I’d write my own.  And everyone would love it.

Go buy FHCS, tell your retailer you want a copy and enjoy it.  You can head to Vito’s site: vitodelsante.com for sample pages, and more!

Adam P. Knave is a writer and editor, living in NY.  His newest novel, Stays Crunchy in Milk, is out now.

So hey, sorry about skipping an update. I had a book release to content with. Every time I have something come out I manage to forget that releases are as much work as the actual creation at times. And, of course, every time I get sideswiped by it, feel dumb, and drop something. This time it was this column. Wooops!

But it also kind of works because it ties into what I wanted to discuss today. Which is, as you might have guessed from the title, ego! Not the Living Planet, though I did read the 90’s Quasar series and that had a lot of Living Planet goodness in it. No, truth be told in the battle of Cool Living Planets I’ve always been more of a Mogo guy myself. Part of that, I admit, is that Ego looks kinda like your crazy drunk uncle. You know the one I mean.

But no I mean ego, self-esteem, that stuff. The crap that warnings are made of. Well I’m here to tell you that you need a large and healthy ego if you’re going to create. You also need a lack of ego to get by. Which is why a lot of people seem to stumble. It’s a timing issue. Let’s take the big ego needs first!

When you’re writing, or drawing or generally creating you need to have an ego as large as the sun. You need to feel that what you’re working on is worth your time. There’s only so much time to go around and most of us, we don’t have much of it free to waste on creating things we think aren’t worth doing. But that means you need to know, to truly know, that you aren’t wasting your time. Now will everything get sold, be a hit, be worth your time in a monetary sense? No. But so long as it is worth for you, creatively, you’re doing all right.

And of course you have to learn to hold that ego in one hand and also hold up critical facilities in another. Because even while you’re a living god shaping worlds and giving birth to the greatest thing since sliced atoms, you need to make sure that it is working and not just ego talking. It’s the slightly harder part. But you still need to like what you’re doing.

A friend of mind, DKM Marlink, said it best the other day: “When you hate everything you create, you’re BEGGING for it to suck. And really getting on my nerves when you respond to my “I really like this!” with “No, it sucks. I don’t know why I even posted it.” [Because you're fishing for compliments and then being ungracious about the ones you get. Duh.])”

I’ll leave her point about taking compliments alone. I don’t feel like dealing with it, but she’s right. Learn to take one. Anyway!

An ego the size of a planet. It’s not a bad thing to have when you’re working. I know the entire time I was working on Stays Crunchy in Milk (buy it now) I kept myself assured it was well worth my time and was, in fact, the best thing I had ever written. I approach every single story that way, every script. If they won’t be better than anything I’ve done before then why I am doing them? My time is worth more than half-assed attempts. Also, as said above, when you feel you’re doing something awesome you have a much better chance of it actually being awesome.

The flip side is knowing when to let go of the ego. This is the “don’t be an ass” principle. When you talk to other people you don’t want to tell them your stuff is crap, that does you no good. But you also need to keep the ego in check. Don’t tell a writer you could write the series he’s working on much better than him. Don’t announce that your new story is the best thing ever written by man or beast. It may be your best, I really hope it is in fact, but too much hype makes people feel wary.

It also makes you sound like an ass. Being polite, acting like a professional and generally not being an ass are conductive to having a career. Yes, we all know people who are asses and have careers. But why would you want to be one? What does it get you? Seriously, if you enjoy being one of those people, I want to know why. How does it enrich your life, and the lives of those near you? Where’s the gain in the behavior?

Every creative industry is secretly very small. They may look huge from the outside but they really aren’t. Word spreads fast. Think before you act and act with grace when at all possible. I’m not saying that you let people walk all over you and never have confrontation. Just that even when things get ugly, be aware of your surroundings and what it can and will cost you.

Because everyone out there is full of ego and they are all creating works they adore. Kicking them repeatedly because it might make you feel taller doesn’t do much in the way of actual good. I would argue it does the opposite. And that’s not going to be worth your time. You have important, major works to create, remember? Don’t waste your time.

Adam has a new book out and he’s overly excited by it. You can read sample chapters, hear what other people think of it and more at adampknave.com if you’d like.