Face-Lift 1538

Guess the Plot

A Complicated Plan

1. It's like that movie A Simple Plan, but that was actually a complicated plan, whereas my complicated plan is actually a simple plan.

2. Jessica dies when her car goes over a cliff, but luckily she had purchased an app that let her store her consciousness. Now if she could just find a body to put it into. 

3. It is simple. Just deliver this package to this location at this time and you will get paid. No, no. There is no apocalypse. Really.

4. It was simple, all Jack had to do was take package P along route R (no deviations D allowed) and deliver it to mailbox M before time T. Unfortunately there was a slight accident with a bifurcating quantum wyrmhole that led to him carry package P' down a long, long route of parallel R', R'', R''', etc. Not to mention what relativity did to T.

5. It was supposed to be a simple job. Two hours at most, a small price for a man's freedom. But the plan was all wrong, and things have gone hopelessly sideways. There are too many parts, and somehow also too few, and at least half of them are mislabeled. There are three step 7's and no step 5, and the diagram in step 9 has too many angles to exist in three-dimensional space. Now Chris Hopper is in a race against time to translate the instructions on the final pages from what appear to be multiple dead languages before the cruel god IKEA consumes what little is left of the weekend.

Original Version

Jessica Palmer thought her life couldn’t get worse. [Though it was probably better than Laura Palmer's life.] Her marriage was over. James, the husband she still loved, was with another woman. Jessica was heading into single parenthood with two young daughters, and depression lured her into a sleepy malaise.

 

Then her car veered off a cliff. [Okay, maybe as bad as Laura's]

 

After the accident, Jessica is unable to see, hear, or feel anything. She has no recollection of what happened and can’t seem to stay awake. Terrified, not knowing where she is or in what condition, she fights to regain steady consciousness. In her new state, Jessica cannot rely on sensory stimuli to navigate her dilemma. [realizes]

 

She begins to experience flashes of memory, ultimately coming to a surrealistic understanding: she no longer exists in corporeal form. Jessica will soon [She eventually] remember[s] uploading her consciousness to MindWave, an application that allows the human mind to continue functioning, even after death. Though there is no technology to implant [her consciousness] into a new body, she had opted years ago to store her consciousness with the company. [For only $299, we will store your consciousness. Or, for $499, get the platinum storage unit. But wait, there's more . . . ] [Is this application available at the app store?]

 

As her altered abilities emerge, Jessica recognizes her surroundings. She is in her own house, watching someone else take over her life. James, seemingly not so devastated by his wife’s recent death, has welcomed his new partner Eliza into their home. Horrified by watching her family move on without her, Jessica grapples with who she is. 

 

When she stumbles upon a revelation that changes everything, she must make an impossible choice. [If you've cut the red words, you may now have room to clarify the "revelation."] Could she really take revenge? Decide someone else’s fate, or commit murder? Unsure of how long she will be trapped without a body, Jessica only knows one thing: her death is not the end, but rather a chance to take control. 

 

I am seeking representation for my 101,000-word science fiction novel A Complicated Plan, the first in a planned duology or trilogy. It is similar in tone to [Like] Justin Cronin’s The Ferryman, addressing [it addresses] themes of love and loss while contemplating humanity. After reading about your interests, I believe you would be a good fit for this debut. 

 

Thank you kindly for your time and consideration.

Notes

Presumable the revelation is that she can insert her consciousness into a recently deceased body and burn down her house with James and Eliza in it. Maybe she should try a mannequin first, if she doesn't want to murder someone. Or a shark.

"Unsure of how long she will be trapped without a body . . ."  Does this mean she has reason to believe she will eventually have a body? Is Mind Wave working on that?

Is it explained how her consciousness went from wherever Mind Wave stored it to her house? It's not easy to explain how it's in her house but not in any body or object. Is it just a bunch of zeros and ones floating around? Mind Wave should provide androids. It would cost more, but be worth it.

Anyway, maybe some of this will be helpful.