Uhh... so don't write filler.
Ah. Here.
Bob shot Dave.
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Robert Goodwin was a tall man with black hair and hint of grey at his temples. He didn't look old, but moved in a way that indicated he just had a young face, but years of experience. He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. It was reflex as he smoothly drew his pistol and fired. The bullet was half way there when Bob realized that it wasn't another demon come to assassinate him, but his sister's husband. Bob had only just made up with his sister after years of estrangement.
Behind the man stood his wife, Robert's sister. She watched in horror as she witnessed what transpired before her. There was only one thought in her head.
Bob shot Dave.
Is that filler? Every word was selected to convey information to you. Bob's name is Robert, which contains Rob, which is what Bob is. A robber. He is a criminal who uses weapons. He is tall which indicates he is a certain stereotype that you will make assumptions about. The grey at the temples is to indicate that he is either old, or lived a life where he aged quickly. His youthful face, but older body indicates he's been around a long time.
etc etc etc
Look. Just write 3 times what you need and throw out half. Then carefully pair down everything that is left of all those useless filler words. There are filler words, but you don't need filler chapters. You can pack information into every letter of every word.
But that gets to be overwhelming.
I have HKN and FTS. People like FTS more. Why? The story is easier to read and the reader can 'breathe' while reading it. Letting the reader calm down, have slow periods, is important. You arn't just stuffing information in their heads. You are TELLING A STORY. The reader will suffer fatigue. They will need time to process. Time to think about what happened. Time to pause and day dream.
A slow part of the story doesn't need to be filter. Side plot doesn't mean filler. Filler means 'NOBODY GREW AS A CHARACTER' and 'NO INFORMATION USEFUL TO THE PLOT WAS WRITTEN'. Why would make filler, anyways? I mean, just write more story. If the story is DONE, then it's done, write something else. Don't make a story bigger just for silly word count. I've packed more emotion into 500 words then I ever did in 5000. Silence is communication as well. What is NOT said is just as important as what IS said.
You need to shepherd the reader. Build them up, take them down. Lift them up, level them out, let them have a break, bombard them without mercy. Most important of all, READ THE READER'S MIND SO YOU WRITE ABOUT WHAT HE IS INTERESTED IN.
That last part is hard. It's called "Write for your target audience." DON'T WRITE FOR THE WIDER AUDIENCE. It doesn't exist. There are only different audiences. There is no perfect book, only perfect BOOKS. There is a book that is perfect for a target audience. Turning a perfect book for one audience into a book for a "wider" audience only succeeds in ruining your book. ALWAYS REMEMBER THE AUDIENCE and write the story for what they want to read.
I don't write long descriptions of anything. I get right to the meat of the story. This appeals to certain readers. Other readers love detailed descriptions of characters. They want a beautiful description of all the dresses on all the girls dancing at the ball being held by the prince.
Is that filler?
You act like it is, unless the target audience LOVES CUTE GIRLS IN EUROPEAN-AMBIANCE GOWNS. Then is it filler, or the entire fuckin' point? The descriptions are filler for YOU, but are they filler for your audience? What is your audience? Who are your readers?
You are writing for them. Know what they like, write that. If you can't, get a different audience and write for them.
