Author Interview: Conrad Altmann
Tell me a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you write?
My name is Conrad Altmann. I’m an immigrant living in Romania with my wife and two daughters. My primary career is as a corporate graphic designer, but I’m slowly transitioning to one that focuses more on supporting indie authors, as well as establishing myself as one as well. I generally write science fiction, and while I haven’t published enough to have a specific specialization or sub-genre, I try to focus less on space opera and more on near-future speculative scenarios. I also dabble in short form and a bit of urban fantasy.
What’s your favourite genre? Is it the same as the one you write in?
I’d have to say mundane science fiction. That’s speculative future with current or reasonably extrapolated technology (The Martian and Ministry for the Future are good examples). I think while the two novels that I’ve written so far are technically within a timeframe that would fit mundane science fiction, the inclusion of aliens automatically excludes them.
What do you do for inspiration?
Since spring has just begun, I hope to be outside in the mountains hiking and botanizing when I can, and tending my garden when I can’t escape the neighborhood. But through the winter and evenings, I read. There’s not much better way to be inspired to write than to immerse yourself in other authors’ imaginations.
How do you approach building your worlds?
I like to start in a place that’s real. Something central to anchor the world. Even if it’s in an imaginary place, the setting of a small travel agency with bureaucratic woes in a run-down part of town is something that many can picture in their minds. Just because the travel posters advertise Enceladus or Titan doesn’t make the setting less real. I love to go crazy with world building after than though, adding details about other aspects that likely will never make it into the story. But they’re there if I need to draw on them.
What comes first? Characters or plot?
For me characters come first. I need to get to know somebody before I can be fully immersed into their story. Character building is like world building but inward, and just as complex. Once I have characters to varying degrees of complexity and connection, I try to imagine a scenario that they could be in to spark a storyline.
What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
I’m still trying to… in my current WIP, a main character has to have a “rally the troops” speech, but it’s not in her character to really be a leader. I feel like this point in her story is what solidifies her as the person she’s meant to be, so I’m nervous that I won’t do her justice.
What’s your favourite/least favourite thing about the writing process?
I love the rush that comes from the initial outpouring of an idea, even if it doesn’t make sense in post, it’s a special kind of high.
Editing. I feel like re-reading something I wrote over and over is like forcing myself to listen to my own recorded voice. But I do recognize the need for it, so I just need to buckle down and do it.
Are you able to share any short snippets from the cutting room floor?
I feel like I’m really conservative with my writing (in the plot). If I don’t think a scene fits, I won’t even attempt to write it the first time. Anything that gets left out of a story is a part of world building that wasn’t really relevant to detail in the story (though I’m still learning to be selective sometimes). For example, I created a whole calendar and time system for the non-humans in my novels that corresponded to a different math system than ours (octal). I also wanted to have a way to section time in a way that didn’t directly relate to humanity or Earth (minutes, hours, days, months, etc.) Almost any aspect of how we observe time is cultural or specific to the unique way that Earth orbits the sun. That wouldn’t make sense for non-humans, and since they didn’t have a home planet, I couldn’t use that either. I did detail it all in a post here: https://conradaltmann.com/system-universal-su/, but I only made passing reference to it in the story.
What is your absolute favourite piece of your own writing? Could be a short scene, a bit of dialogue, a character or even the tiniest piece of worldbuilding.
I think I’d have to say the interaction that the three siblings have with their deceased father through his memories (Exolegacy) would be my favorite. I ran the gamut of emotion myself as I had each of them relive parts of their father’s past, giving them a perspective that they had only guessed at before then. It was cathartic as both a father and a son myself.
What are you promoting at the moment?
Metanoeia is my most recent novel. It’s the prequel to Exolegacy and takes place fifty years in the past. The story centers on a grad student as he makes a discovery that shifts humanity’s place in the universe. That student becomes the father who dies just prior to the onset of the events of Exolegacy. The second point-of-view character in the story is that of the astrogator of an alien ark headed to Earth. Generations have believed that Earth was their second chance, but their only images of the planet were from so long ago that they never realized it was occupied.
If you’d like to be featured in an author interview, just contact me.
