How do you keep a novel from turning into play-by-play filler? Filler usually comes from poor pacing. Utsudo suggests weaving side plots or small character moments between intense stretches so the pace has tension and release. To judge whether a passage is filler, ask yourself: Is it necessary? Is it tied to foreshadowing? Would cutting it affect the plot? If the answer is no every time, shorten or cut it. To practice pacing, start with short stories and revise drafts after letting them rest.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

If you want to write a gripping story, controlling the pacing is crucial.

Even a tight plot needs breathing room

A tight story makes readers eager to keep going. But imagine a protagonist who kills the boss of the first map and then—without resting, regrouping or even romancing the girl in his party—immediately charges into the next map, looping endlessly until he finally kills the demon king. The end.

Maybe some people would still enjoy it—nonstop slaughter from start to finish is satisfying. But personally, however tight and exciting the plot, sometimes I want a moment to breathe after an intense stretch.

For example, a side quest, keeping a promise to some character, or a little romantic moment. Small scenes woven in fill gaps in the plot or round it out, making an overly taut storyline more flexible.

That’s when your readers finally have time to put down their phone or book to eat or use the bathroom—and the acquisitions editor can finally drink some water (X

How do you practice pacing?

As for mastering pacing, all I can say is write and practice a lot, and go back to revise. Set a finished draft aside for a while and look again; its flaws will become obvious.

Fix those flaws and you’ll gradually improve.

When an editor called my writing “filler”

I used to struggle a lot with pacing. Editors said “the pacing is too slow,” “too much chitchat,” “it’s play-by-play filler.” I looked again and again and felt every scene was necessary. How could it be filler? I didn’t write about eating, drinking or going to the bathroom!

Looking back at my old work now, I get it. That story leaned toward slice-of-life, so it often had everyday conversations and small scenes. Removing them would barely affect the main plot, so the editor considered them obstacles to the story—“unnecessary” and “slowing the pace.”

But today I don’t fully agree with him. Every genre presents things differently depending on its focus, and these come together into a unique style. That story was slice-of-life to begin with, so writing more everyday moments shouldn’t be too much, right?

But I suppose everyone sees it differently, and he was the one funding it. Maybe he believed a tighter pace would sell better. Different positions naturally lead to different views.

Later, though—that is, now—I realized my earlier works didn’t handle pacing well. Sometimes they were too tight and rushed, sometimes too slow. Now I can naturally sense how to handle the next part of the plot. Writing and practicing a lot is the only way.

If you want to deliberately practice pacing in a short time, I think short stories are a good start. Long works take time to write, and the more you mix in, the more complex and difficult they get. But likewise, if you do finish one and then revise it, you’ll improve even more.

Three questions to spot filler

Here’s also a basic idea for identifying filler.

Is this scene necessary? Is it tied to foreshadowing?

Would deleting it affect the plot?

If none of the above apply, I suggest shortening it or just cutting it. That should greatly reduce the chance of writing filler.

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #109: Year-End Self-Reflection
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.