The TK Filler
While scene writing, or any kind of writing, at times you’ll know you need to write something, but nothing comes to mind. We don’t want to pause writing mid-stream, and we don’t just want to leave a blank. Enter: TK. From Wikipedia —
“To come” is a printing and journalism reference, commonly abbreviated to “TK”. It is used to signify that additional material will be added at a later date.
I use this all over my first draft. If there’s an emotional reaction that I know I need but the tone isn’t coming to mind, I’ll write TK_his_heart_beat or TK_he_smiled. If suddenly I discover I need to research what the environment looks like, I’ll add TK_setting. Or maybe a new character showed up while writing and you don’t want to name him yet, TK_name. And on and on. Each of these frees up the mind to stay in the writing headspace, while still looking out for my future self.