I get that a lot of people hate filler. Many consider it a waste of time and wish that the story would get a move on. Some shows even choose the most inappropriate times to use filler (looking at you, Steven Universe), using it a pivotal plot points. Despite many people's hatred towards filler, I often gravitate towards it because it means I have complete creative freedom when writing. However, I completely understand the hatred towards such a thing and want to put it in a place that wouldn't destroy the story's pacing. So my question is this: At what point in a story would it be most appropriate to use filler?
"Filler", as it were, is necessary in a story because it can be used to pace a story. It slows down the story, yes, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be exhausting to read a story that's so quickly paced that there's something important going on every single page. In my opinion, "filler" should be interspersed with the main meat of the story to help the pacing, and help readers to get to know the characters, settings, lore, etc. Think of it like the side dishes of a main course. If the main part of the story is, let's say, a big juicy steak, you can only have so much steak before you start to get sick of it. You need some potatoes, or vegetables, or maybe even some pasta, too. Food metaphors aside, there is such thing as bad filler. If you've ever read a story where the plot completely grinds to a halt right after the main action has taken place, before finally picking up steam several chapters later, that is bad filler. It all comes down to how well you integrate it into the story. It's difficult to master, but once you do, it makes all the difference between a badly paced story and a good one.
