Filler vs. Plot Points in Novels
Jenelle Hekman
Good writing has ups and downs throughout the telling of the story. The plot, whether romance, adventure, horror, or mystery, is propelled forward through action beats with quiet portions in between. Writing good filler without boring yourself or your readers can be challenging, and without proper drive, it can cause natural writer’s block. Writing a good plot is essential, and so is writing good filler.
Action moves a plot forward.
Likewise, filler should move your plot forward. Filler allows readers to get a glimpse of your characters’ personalities when they aren’t pushing forward in the plot. Plot points are your roadmap for your prose. These are where action should occur as your protagonist and side characters move forward in their objective against the antagonist. This keeps your reader hooked and engaged in the storytelling. But the pauses in between action beats are where filler occurs.
Filler is where the reader can learn about your characters.
Writing something where the characters aren’t actively fighting the antagonist may be challenging. Still, these scenes are where a reader can piece together the personalities of the characters you present. Most of your readers won’t have solved a crime as a private detective or battled dragons and sorcerers. Filler scenes are where your reader can feel connected to your characters, and you can naturally incorporate your worldbuilding, but be cautious of worldbuilding. Filler can look like conversations or descriptions of movements, but the goal is for your readers to have a complete picture by the time they finish the novel.
Plot will go up and down throughout the course of your novel, and as the author, it’s your job to know where action and filler will fall. If there’s too much action, your readers won’t get to know your characters or world. Too much filler makes your readers wonder what the novel’s point and direction are. A good novel has a balance of both.
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