Every scene in your story must be a magical cookie scene.

If you don’t have any interest in writing a scene, then that scene DOES NOT NEED TO BE WRITTEN. Toss the idea out the window and go back to the drawing board.

But SOOZ, that’s easier said than done!! If I toss out the idea, I have no way of getting my characters from Point A to Point B.

Ah, but you do, my dear friends. You do, and I will show you how to coax out hidden magical cookies in your story.

→ QUICK! Write down why want to write THIS STORY -- the spark that set your brain and heart on fire. And here, I’ll do this exercise right alongside you for a WIP of mine called The Executioners Three.

• What made me want to write this story:
  • I love the romance. It has so much chemistry, and I can feel it.
  • I love teen sleuths a là Nancy Drew or Veronica Mars.
  • I love the fall! The winds, the leaves, the cooling temperatures!

Now I’m going to get more specific…

→ QUICK! Write down the scenes that go along with your inspiration. No scene ideas? What about all those fleeting images or little clips of story that you can’t wait to write? For example…

• I imagine:
  • almost kisses between my leads
  • confusion over why best friends are suddenly attracted to each other
  • creepy scenes where the readers knows more than the heroine (like that the murderer is near)
  • fall scenes in colorful forests or on leaf-strewn roads
  • more almost kisses!

Those scene snippets are my magical cookie scenes. I don’t want to forget the almost-kisses or the creepy murder scenes when I draft because they are what I’m most looking forward to writing.

Before we move on, I’ll give you a second, more complex example for those of you with bigger plots/characters/worlds.

• What made me want to write Truthwitch:
  • Epic friendship FTW
  • I love the possible romances!
  • Ships and pirates = always awesome
  • I love the badassery and fight scenes
  • Magic!
  • Monsters!
  • I really love the possible romances
• I imagine:
  • witty banter between my heroines
  • epic fight scenes with magic and monsters
  • sexy pirates on sexy ships in turquoise waters
  • scary bad guys
  • angry tension between characters
  • slow-burning romance and "almost" moments
  • coming to terms with magic
  • going into battle
  • MORE epic fights

(For those of you that have read the book, you can tell me if I succeeded in sticking to my cookies!) 

Now, all of the magical cookies that you've listed are going to become very important because they are how you’ll know what to write next.

 

Section 1: For Plotters

If you are a “plotter,” read on. If not, skim ahead.

If you are an outliner, then you might have no trouble knowing what to write next because it’s on your outline. Or maybe the next scene is one you just know has to happen to keep the plot moving (remember getting from Point A to Point B above?).

But here’s the test to give yourself each time you face the next scene:

1. Do you want to write this scene? Like, is there a burning need inside your gut to pour it out?
   • Yes? GREAT. Write the freaking scene now.
   • No? Go to question 2…
2. Are you just being lazy and/or letting fear keep you from sitting at the keyboard?
   • Yes? GREAT. Then just sit down and write.
   • Not sure? Then try sitting at a computer. If the words flow, then you were just being lazy/scared. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone.
   • No? You’ve tried to write and nothing wants to come? It all feels like drivel? Then you have a problem.

If you got to the end of that quiz and the answer was, “Then you have a problem,” have no fear! I’m going to help you with that problem. And it all boils down to the Magical Cookies.

First though, LET GO OF YOUR OUTLINE. Step away from it (and everything else you’d planned, from character to setting) and grab your list of magical cookies.

Now move to section 2.
 

Section 2: For Pantsers
(or people who “have a problem” in section 1)

Either you have reached a point in your high-energy pantsing where you don’t know what comes next or you’ve reached a point in your outline where what you’ve planned feels wrong.

So get your list of magical cookies. I want you to stare hard at that list and I want you to THINK. If you’re like me, you’ll grab a pen and start mind-mapping in your notebook (or in Scapple, which is my latest obsession).

Here is an example: I was trying to figure out what should come next in Truthwitch. I had planned on having a ball scene, but I had ZERO DESIRE TO WRITE IT. None, none, none…

So I turned up my  music -- the music that first sparked this entire story -- and I asked myself, What would make me want to write the next scene? This is what I actually wrote:

And that was it. Seriously. That was all it took and suddenly the scene’s screenplay exploded out of me.

Those are the bones of the scene, and when I sat at my computer, the words flew. All because I had found my magical cookie: the sexual tension.

(Again, for those of you who have now read Truthwitch, you can tell me if the magical cookies succeeded!)

Of course, it’s not always so easy as that dance scene. The ideas don’t always come so quickly or so vividly. And those times are when I’ll have to look at pictures, listen to music REALLY LOUDLY, or browse through Wikipedia links until something clicks.

But I never abandon my list of magical cookies. Because more often than not, the answer will be on that list–and then a Pinterest image will help expand the answer into a full scene. Or an epic playlist will help bring a magical cookie idea to vivid life.

And of course, when that spark finally ignites into a full scene idea, you can bet I have a notebook or computer handy so I can scribble down the ideas and scene-screenplay as quickly as possible.

Now, I want to return to my earlier made-up complaint from you: But SOOZ, if I toss out the idea, I have no way of getting my characters from Point A to Point B!

And here’s what I say: Sometimes -- or most of the time, in my case -- the reader does NOT need to see how a character got from Point A to Point B. If Point B is a magical cookie but the stuff needed to get a character there is not magical or cookie-shaped, then DON’T WRITE THAT IN-BETWEEN STUFF. Write a quick transition and then drop us right into the Point B magical cookie scene.

Only give us the magical cookies. Always. If you don’t love writing the scene, you can bet the reader won’t love reading it.

If you still absolutely have to have the in-between stuff, then turn that in-between stuff into a magical cookie. Find something that gives it heart and makes you want to write it. Maybe it’s just a matter of inserting the love interest into the scene (as it was in my instance with Truthwitch) or maybe it’s something a bit more complicated. But if you think about it long enough and hard enough–and you don’t forget the parts of the story that excite you–you’ll find the answer. We all do. Eventually, at least.