Sharing your query with everybody you know and asking for their opinions (which they happily share) is like being pecked to death by ducklings (my new favorite expression). Changing this and that endlessly, without good cause, creates goulash instead of a well-crafted query that works.
Consider the source. Are your advisers writers? Published authors? Experienced editors? Grandma? The butcher, baker, or candlestick maker? Members of your writers’ group? What is their knowledge base? How much do they understand about the purpose of the query? However, before discounting them, pay attention to any comments that are similar. The other suggestions? Leave them by the wayside and re-vise your way back to telling the most important aspects of your story as it revolves around your protagonist.
At some point, stop. Set it aside. Go bowling or begin another project. After a week or so, revisit your query. You’ll discover aspects that you know have value, and others that don’t. Look at the positive aspects of your query confusion. This is forcing you to focus on your story as you condense it down into two paragraphs. Forces you to think about your story as you condense it down ito two paragraphs, approximately 200 words. These 200 words need to tell who the story is about, what do they want, what stands in their way and why, and what is the terrible possibility, the “or else” factor. This forms the basis for your query. If these elements are not in your story, whoopsie! That’s where you need to begin.
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