Writing Hell and More Cheesy 80's Movie Trivia

Okay, so here’s a quote from another one of my favorite old 80’s movies. Let’s see who gets it first.


“I’m setting bootie twaps.”
“You mean boobie traps.”
“That’s what I said, bootie twaps.”

***
Oh the perils that we writers can be put through when trying to find an agent (as if writing a novel isn’t mental strain enough).

So last night I have this epiphany, if you will, and the query that I’ve been struggling with for nearly a month just came together. The tone, and which details to include, all finally flowed together and that proverbial light bulb clicked on inside my head. I won’t go so far as to say the Angels started to sing my praises, but for a moment it felt like they might be warming up. And then…

It dawned on me that I’ve spent so much time worrying about my query letter that I forgot I still need to revamp my synopsis. And this is what I looked like when that realization hit.

Yep, my hair turned into a mustache and bushy eyebrows. I may have even said rachet frachet more than my fair share of times.

One day, we’ll look back on these days and laugh…right?

It's Okay to Press "Pause"

Yesterday I had a "Oh, come on" moment in regards to my manuscript.

As noted, I've been having a tough time getting the right feel for what to put in the pitch for my query letter. It finally dawned on me, my problem might be a little too much mystery involving one of my characters in the beginning of the book. Because of that mystery, I've been having a near impossible time trying to figure out how to slip him into the query -- and he needs to be there, since he plays a major role in the dilemma the heroine faces when it comes to being with her love interest.

Anyway, here's the part that came as a shock to me when the lightbulb finally went on. The mystery about him in the beginning of the book isn't really necessary. (Part of my problem, being a fan of LOST has turned me into an inadvertent secret keeper in my writing, at times) Sure, it plays as a nice little "Oh my gosh" in the middle of the book as it stands now, but the dilemma would actually be more powerful if the reader new this information earlier on.

*Slaps forehead against desk*

In all honesty, it isn't that hard of a fix to make. It won't involve any sort of major re-write, just a minor reshuffle of info in a couple chapters. Probably about a week, maybe two, in the "fix-it" stage, and it will make it much easier to write him into the pitch, without having to divulge the big twist at the end. I'm just still kind of shocked that after all the read-throughs and numerous revisions, I never realized this before. Probably, because the story reads fine as it is now (otherwise, my betas would have mentioned it to me), but this minor shift would make the telling of the story that much better.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is ... I'm learning another valuable lesson on the road to becoming a published author. Patience - it's one thing to say it, another thing to practice it. I'm learning that sometimes, even when you think you're done, you aren't really done. It's frustrating to realize a need to stop and do one more thing, but in the long run I owe it to myself and the manuscript to give us both the best chance to succeed, right?

Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else, where you've had to stop querying for a short while to fix a situation you didn't realize existed? If so, and it was a MAJOR re-write, did you do it? Or did you put the whole thing on a back burner and complete something new first, before going back to it?