Advice from IR Approved Author John Altamura: “Be persistent. Be confident. Accept rejection. Learn from others.”

Seven Years in Chicago: A Journey of Growth | Part I: Survival: Received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.

Following find an interview with author John Altamura:

1. What is the name of the book and when was it published?
   Seven Years in Chicago: A Journey of Growth | Part I: Survival was published in 2024.
2. What’s the book’s first line?
   “It started out just like any other day.”
3. What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch.”
   Seven Years in Chicago is a character-driven novel about grief, identity, and survival in the aftermath of 9/11. After losing the woman he loves in the World Trade Center attacks, Jack Almanti spirals into guilt, addiction, and emotional isolation. The story follows his journey from New Jersey to upstate New York and eventually to Chicago, tracing the long and uneven process of learning how to live again when the future he imagined no longer exists.
4. What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
   This is a complicated answer. Much of Survival, and the six planned subsequent books in the series, is informed by people I have met and experiences I have encountered. The events of 9/11 had a profound impact on me. I lived in central New Jersey before and after the attacks, and the emotional tone of the book draws directly from that period.

   One woman I briefly knew lost her boyfriend, a New York City police officer, in the attacks. I witnessed the devastation that followed and the long struggle she faced afterward. While this book is not really about 9/11 itself, it is about what comes after. It is about the aftermath and the journey people take to build something meaningful from the remnants of shattered lives.

5. What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
   Many novels approach this era from a cosmopolitan perspective or a historical vantage point. While political events are referenced in Seven Years in Chicago, they remain largely in the background. This story is about people, about the lives that were quietly altered, and about the way time, in all its brutality, governs who we become before and after a defining moment.

    

6. What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who, real or fictional, would you say the character reminds you of?
   Jack is largely inspired by me, though I blended in elements of other fictional characters. He could be described as a cross between Holden Caulfield and Del Griffith. He is a man with a big heart, someone readers instinctively root for, but he is often his own worst enemy.
7. When did you first decide to become an author?
   I have always been a writer. In 2000, I made my first serious attempt at storytelling by writing a screenplay titled Affirmation. I wrote it during the same period in New Jersey portrayed in this book, roughly between 2001 and 2002.

   Around that time, Anthony Bruno, who sadly passed away, became an important early influence. Beyond his work as the novelist who adapted Se7en, Anthony had a profound impact on me personally. He introduced me to Aikido and shared many of the hard, unromantic truths about what it actually takes to succeed as a writer. Discipline, patience, resilience, and the ability to endure rejection without losing belief in the work were central lessons.

   At that stage of my life, I did not yet have the experience needed to write characters with the depth and emotional weight I was aiming for. Those lessons stayed with me. I have been writing ever since, growing in craft, perspective, and endurance, until I was finally ready to tell this story.

8. Is this the first book you’ve written?
   Yes. However, the first edition of the book differed slightly from the current version. I went through a significant developmental editing process that helped strengthen and refine the narrative. Travis T.W. Moran was instrumental in helping polish areas that needed improvement.
9. What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
   I am currently devoted to my book full time. I was fortunate to make solid financial investments earlier in my career. I also pursued a master’s degree in cybersecurity in 2020 after years working in communications and marketing, though I was ultimately unable to break into the field due to a lack of hands-on experience. Today, I consider myself a full-time author, investor, and stay-at-home dad.
10. How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
    I wrote seven books in the Seven Years in Chicago series over the course of two years. While Survival is the only published volume so far, the treatments for the remaining six books are currently in development.
11. What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
    The best part is creative freedom. The hardest part is visibility. I am not a conventional author profile, but I believe there is a niche audience for my work. I truly believe a strong story can sell itself, but getting noticed remains the biggest challenge at this stage.
12. What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
    Be persistent. Be confident. Accept rejection. Learn from others. Criticism can be difficult to hear, but it is essential for growth.
13. Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
    It would depend on the fit. I believe this story has the potential to resonate deeply with readers, and any partnership would need to respect the integrity of the work.
14. Is there something in particular that motivates you? Fame or fortune?
    Not really. I felt there was a story that needed to be told. While fame or fortune might come someday, this project was largely about proving to myself that I could see it through.
15. Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
    With my journalistic background, I admire writers such as Mitch Albom and Joan Didion. I would also point to F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger as major influences.
16. Which book do you wish you could have written?
    Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.