With most of the querying out of the way, I’m now focusing on two things: getting the podcast up and running, and fine-tuning the western outline.
There’s not much to say about the podcast, except it just hasn’t been a priority. I could have spent more time on it, but opted to get the queries out, which was very time-consuming. It’s looking more likely now to be a February launch. Stay tuned for more details.
Regarding the outline rewrite, although I had a pretty solid outline already done, it still needs a lot of work. Up first: tightening things up. There are just too many scenes.
Using the existing outline, I’m now figuring out ways to move story details and plot points around so everything moves along faster.
For example: the earlier draft didn’t really introduce the villain until around page 17 (he’d been lurking around in the shadows up until then). I’ve since moved things around and now he shows up around page 4, which also includes a follow-up scene to show just what kind of a bad guy he is.
There was also the decision whether or not two scenes could be combined into one. I’ve gone back and forth on this. Scene 1 advances the story/continues to set things in motion, while Scene 2 provides some backstory about the connection between the hero and the villain. Although each has merit on their own, I’ll probably remain undecided up until the end.
Happy to say I’m still enjoying the whole thing.
-Movie of the Moment Two-fer!: THE OTHER GUYS (2010) I don’t really care for a lot of Will Ferrell’s films, but this caught me totally off-guard. It was actually funny and had a good story. Surprisingly entertaining.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011) Another clever film from Woody Allen. Probably doesn’t hurt that I love Paris too. Kind of wish he’d write characters other than those from the upper classes.
Maximum Z 
How important do you consider the bad guy proofing scene? I’ve always hated them, even when I was a kid. I understand you’ve got to sell the threat, but those scenes usually strike me as cheesy.
I think it’s pretty important because you want to establish them as a formidable foe. It also depends on how you portray it. Compare Darth Vader snapping a guy’s neck to just about every Bond villain offing somebody in a cartoony way. It’s easy to veer into cheesy territory, but could be avoided if you approach it from a new/different angle.