Coffee? It would color the blanks nicely and, then, it wouldn’t really be blank anymore. Just stained.

All right, in all seriousness, holes and blank spots in our stories are not always easy to fill. Sand isn’t going to do the trick. No, not coffee either. However, I will use those visual pictures (and others) to help you grasp these writing tools. Ready? Let’s consider five ways we can fill the blanks in your book! 

# 1 – Dot, Dot, Dot

Connect the scenes on either side of the blank spot with a divider. Think of it like a bridge. On one side is the first scene and on the other is the second. What happened on the bridge isn’t memorable, but it was necessary to get from scene to scene. Readers assume what happened in between, if you don’t tell them. Let their imagination go! You don’t have to do all the work.

# 2 – Coffee, er, Conversation

Conversations (like coffee) give flavor to the book. Not all of them are necessarily about the story goal, hero, or villain. Sometimes, your characters are just normal people wondering if bananas would taste better with cheese.

# 3 – Quick Narrative

Think of these little blurbs like stickers. Colorful, artistic, and sticky, they pull bits of the story together and cover the blank space.

Throw in a quick snippet about what the characters did, how they got where they are, who joined them, or whatever else helps you stick two scenes together to make one long, engaging picture. If there are pets involved, now is a good time to tell what the dog is doing in the background. It doesn’t mean much, but without it the dog wouldn’t seem to exist, you know what I mean?

You could also throw in a random snippet about the types of trees in the forest or describe some tool at a ridiculous length, just for fun.

# 4 – Sand, er, Random Necessity

There are actions humans are prone to do out of necessity. For instance, they need to eat and drink to live. 

Can your characters sneeze, cough, change clothes, tie their shoes (for the hundredth time), get something in their eye, sing, put up their hair, fiddle with an object…?

Like sand, there are millions of everyday things to choose from. While not exactly driving the story plot, these actions do fill up holes.

So, when do you add these grains of sand? It’s called “random” for a reason. It doesn’t have to make sense or line up perfectly. Fill in the hole.

# 5 –  Moments with God

The blank spot may be there for you to show how the character connects with God. Whether that’s reading the Word, spending time in prayer, journaling their prayers, singing or dancing, even sitting quietly to perceive the Spirit’s voice.

These moments are a tool we often don’t use enough, though we are trying to incorporate them. Think of it like salt. It adds flavor and promotes healing. Yet, we begin with a skimpy measurement to avoid super salty food. If you don’t have enough, however, the food doesn’t taste good either. A healthy balance is required.

To find the balance, you taste test. Does the character connect a lot with God in the beginning, and then not so much in the middle or end? Add salt. Does the character only connect with God a few times in the story? Add salt.

Unlike cooking, you can take salt away and add more. The more you taste test, the more adept you will become at knowing how much salt is needed in each portion of the story.

Bridges, coffee, stickers, sand, and salt. What do they have in common? Writing.

I hope these tools will help you to fill in the blanks and create an engaging story for the glory of God! 

Blessed writing, friend!