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Friday, March 24, 2023

Author Advice with Kim Catanzarite #SciFi #Thriller #AuthorAdvice


Hello, everyone. Kim Catanzarite, author of Bright Blue Planet, Book 3 in The Jovian Universe series here. Not everyone knows this, but I am also an editor of thirty years, and today I want to share some tips on editing your novel. 

First things first: yes, you do need an editor. Most people need more than one. I know they’re expensive. That is true. But that’s because editing skills are not easy to come by. And neither is good editing advice. If you can find an editor who helps you take your book to a higher, bright and shining level, you must hold on to them as if your life depends on it. Because your writing career most certainly does. 

Why can’t I just have my friend do it?

Bottom line, you need professional help (not amateur help) to successfully whip your book into shape. Of course you need early readers and they can be amateurs (your friends, siblings, aunts, grandparents, and writing colleagues can and should beta read for you), but they can only take you and your book so far. Trust me. There’s way too much involved when it comes to the beta relationship, and most (if not all) of your friends and writing acquaintances simply don’t have the depth of knowledge. They worry about hurting your feelings, and they don’t know how to fix problems—most of the time they read right over the problem anyway. 

In addition to the professional editor’s higher skill level, you need the “you’re not paying me to worry about your feelings or tell you you’re great” bluntness editors provide. Yes, seeing all of your mistakes marked up in Track Changes and Comment-blurb color hurts at first, but at least you know only one person saw those errors, and now your book will be much stronger for it. You know what hurts a lot more? Bad reviews written by random readers who are out for blood because you “made” them slog through three hundred pages that didn’t quite add up. How could you!

There are two kinds of editors that self-publishers need and benefit from. The Content Editor lets you know how you’ve done building the story structure, growing the characters, ramping up the pacing, fashioning the twists and turns, and making the most of the emotion. In general terms, she concentrates on the big-picture parts. The story parts. She points out where you’ve gone wrong and provides suggestions for changes that will help you get it right in your next revision. 

The Copyeditor, on the other hand, comes into play when all of the content issues are nailed down, and the manuscript is deemed complete. The story is written, and it’s time to take a close look at the writing. Grammar, syntax, spelling, style, and formatting are addressed and corrected, leaving behind asmooth, polished, blissful reading experience. A good copyeditor will work with what he finds on the page, leaving his own voice and personality out of it. 

Copyediting is a skill that takes most editors years of experience and practice to master. Everybody needs this type of editor because it’s almost impossible to catch all of your own mistakes. The brain is an amazing and mysterious thing, especially when it comes to writing and editing—the writer you is not an editor and the editor you cannot clearly see something it actually wrote. Just doesn’t work. 

So, do yourself and your book a favor and invest in the editorial professionals that you need to not only avoid those mean reviewers but to bask in the confidence of having created a high-quality product you can be proud of. 


Bright Blue Planet
The Jovian Universe 
Book Three
Kim Catanzarite

Genre: Sci-fi Thriller
Publisher: Forster Publishing
Date of Publication: March 1, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-7359522-4-6
ASIN: B0BT2ZKJRS
Word Count: 65,000
Cover Artist: Damonza

Tagline: At a time when humans and clones begin to clash, two men—one Jovian, the other, human—struggle to navigate the new world order and their own families within it.

Book Description: 

Continuing the story that began with They Will Be Coming for Us and Jovian Son, Bright Blue Planet, Book 3 in The Jovian Universe, takes readers behind the scenes of the otherworldly Jovian family, revealing their most startling secrets. 

Former three-term President of the United States, Evander Peterman, does his best to uphold the promise he made his human mother, Svetlana, to protect ordinary humans from the stronger, more-intelligent race of clones the powerful Jovian family has created.
 
Fran Vasquez, former FBI agent and current head of the Jovians’ security squad at Starbright International, not only works with clones and hybrids but recently hired his young, struggling son, who immediately creates tension between members of the squad.
 
Meanwhile, Caroline, matriarch of the Jovians, may be at odds with her husband, Edmund, who abruptly left Earth for no known reason. She doesn’t seem to care that humans and clones aren't getting along—and suggests something much more menacing looms on Earth’s horizon.  

As the story unfolds, Evander and Fran must do their best to navigate not only the rising world order but their own families as well.


Excerpt 2:

Down the corridor, someone shouted, “Hey, no! I didn’t mean—stop!” Sounded like Max’s voice. High-pitched in a panic.  

The scraping whine of a chair against the floor followed.

A scuffle in the break room?

Fran ran the rest of the way down the hall. He arrived to the thud of a punch making contact, and his son thrown sideways before bouncing across the floor like tossed dice. The kid shot up with fire in his eyes, his hand dabbing a bloody lip and his chest heaving.

A group of clones stood by, mouths closed.

Fran couldn’t tell which one of them had thrown the punch.

Max dropped into a chair, head down.

It took every cell in Fran’s body to keep his voice to a low roar. “What the hell is going on here?”

The group of individuals present, all of them members of the security squad, gathered in a loose circle. Several stepped back.

Consuela spoke first: “Just a disagreement, sir. Between Leonard and … Max.”

“Why is my son bleeding?” He pushed past Consuela and Andre, and stopped in front of Max, who continued to stare at the ground, hunched in a humiliated way.

“Somebody better start talking,” Fran said.  

Leonard, the most military of all the squad and the highest ranking, stepped out of the circle of uniform-clad employees. Diligent, careful, mature, Leonard was at least a foot taller than Max. Fifty pounds more solid too. One of the early clones, he’d received his DNA from Leo—his sandy hair, pale skin, and slate-gray eyes made that much obvious. He would have had a normal American-guy build, like Leo’s, had he not spent the past two decades eating egg whites and lifting barbells in his free time. Leo, the husband of Miranda, headed Startbright’s department of security. He was Fran’s boss, in other words.

Leonard stepped forward and without hesitating, said, “He was complaining about the job, sir.”

“And?”

“We don’t do that at Starbright.”

“Okay. So, I don’t understand,” Fran said. “You hit him?”

“Yes, sir.” Leonard perfected his already snapped-to soldier’s stance: chest puffed to barrel size, boots together, arms straight as fence posts. The guy was a senior officer. It didn’t make sense that he would throw a punch—or even a slap someone.

Jovians never resort to violence.

“Everyone but Leonard and Max get out of here,” Fran said. “Go find something to do.”  

“Yes, sir,” they responded in unison before scattering like billiard balls.

Fran lingered on the fact that no Starbright employee on record had ever hit another employee. Period. Not even accidentally … or in self-defense. If a threatening individual accosted you, you were to take them to the ground and apprehend them using forceful but nonviolent measures.

That’s the way it was, the way it always had been as far as the Jovians were concerned.

How did Max always find a way to screw up?

Fran rubbed his forehead as he unearthed the commanding attitude he once dispensed to cocky FBI recruits: “You just punched your boss’s kid, Leonard, so I’m gonna need to see you in my office immediately.”

Leonard shook his head, his chin looking more square than usual. “You’re not my boss, sir.”

This gave Fran’s face a reason to contort in a befuddled and infuriated way. “Excuse me?”

“Sir, you’re not my—"

“You better believe I am,” Fran exclaimed, determined not to hear the statement twice. “I’ve been your boss for the past eight years.”

“I take orders from the Jovians—”

“What’s gotten into you?” Spit flew from Fran’s mouth. He pointed to the room’s exit. “Get to my office before you say something really stupid.”

The clone turned and left without another word.

Fran stared after him, perplexed. Clones were obedient. Difficult to rile. They had a shallow depth of emotion perfectly suited for this line of work. No one wanted their security staff punching, shooting, or otherwise going off because they were spooked, afraid, or angry. So how did Leonard end up so pissed that he broke rule number one and hit Max?



About the Author:

Kim Catanzarite is the author of the award-winning Jovian Universe sci-fi thriller series. She is a freelance writer and editor for publishers and independent authors, and she teaches copyediting for Writer’s Digest University. Her Self-Publishing 101 blog discusses the ins and outs of indie life as well as all things writing craft. When she’s not writing or editing, Kim enjoys hiking, drawing, and talking to her cats. She lives on the east coast USA with her husband and daughter. 

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