Writing 101: Continuity
I remember very distinctly editing one of my very early manuscripts, only the second or third one I'd ever written. I sent the main character off in one scene, and this was a fantasy book so she was really gone and unreachable at that point. Then I noticed that I had her sitting with someone else just a few scenes later, because I had messed it up. Continuity is so important, you have to edit your book just for that at least once -- and stop getting bogged down in the minutia of looking for out-of-place commas.
For Every Action...
Continuity is one of the most important elements of any book, and too often I see it ignored. There are many ways in which you can screw up continuity, and I know because I've made most of these mistakes myself:
Injury: Authors injure their main characters all the time. We've all been hurt and had accidents, so we can identify. It's also a good way to make the character vulnerable. Drawing sympathy can make a character seem more likable. But if you injure your character in a scene, that character has to stay injured. If it's a break, they'll be injured for weeks. Sprains heal quicker. Look up the injuries you're giving them, know what that's all about, and make sure your time line is correct. Don't give someone a broken foot and have them dancing in a ballroom the very next weekend. Pregnancy: People get pregnant, and so do characters in books. Please remember that they're pregnant. I've read books where a character got pregnant, carried on totally normally for 7 chapters and suddenly an infant appears. Yeah, like I'm going to believe that. I want symptoms, I want big bellies, I want to see that character curtail their normal activities and start eating all the time because that's what happens. Hatred: If two characters have a falling out on page 56, I'm going to be terribly confused if they suddenly have a pleasant conversation on page 61. Make sure you keep track of relationships and feelings. If one character does something awful to another, I expect there to be some animosity. Relationships are fluid, and they change. Your story must reflect those changes. Appearance: People change their appearance all the time, or something happens and life changes it for them. If your character cuts her hair, receives a deep wound that leaves a scar or loses a bunch of weight you've got to continue to reflect and address these changes through the story. If I know she's cut off all her hair and 20 pages later she's wearing a ponytail, I'm confused.
I get tangled up in logistics like the above all the time...so that means you have to edit all your stories very carefully for nit-pickers like me. Make sure your stories have continuity. Keep track of your own changes, because your readers certainly will.
For Every Action...
Continuity is one of the most important elements of any book, and too often I see it ignored. There are many ways in which you can screw up continuity, and I know because I've made most of these mistakes myself:
Injury: Authors injure their main characters all the time. We've all been hurt and had accidents, so we can identify. It's also a good way to make the character vulnerable. Drawing sympathy can make a character seem more likable. But if you injure your character in a scene, that character has to stay injured. If it's a break, they'll be injured for weeks. Sprains heal quicker. Look up the injuries you're giving them, know what that's all about, and make sure your time line is correct. Don't give someone a broken foot and have them dancing in a ballroom the very next weekend. Pregnancy: People get pregnant, and so do characters in books. Please remember that they're pregnant. I've read books where a character got pregnant, carried on totally normally for 7 chapters and suddenly an infant appears. Yeah, like I'm going to believe that. I want symptoms, I want big bellies, I want to see that character curtail their normal activities and start eating all the time because that's what happens. Hatred: If two characters have a falling out on page 56, I'm going to be terribly confused if they suddenly have a pleasant conversation on page 61. Make sure you keep track of relationships and feelings. If one character does something awful to another, I expect there to be some animosity. Relationships are fluid, and they change. Your story must reflect those changes. Appearance: People change their appearance all the time, or something happens and life changes it for them. If your character cuts her hair, receives a deep wound that leaves a scar or loses a bunch of weight you've got to continue to reflect and address these changes through the story. If I know she's cut off all her hair and 20 pages later she's wearing a ponytail, I'm confused.
I get tangled up in logistics like the above all the time...so that means you have to edit all your stories very carefully for nit-pickers like me. Make sure your stories have continuity. Keep track of your own changes, because your readers certainly will.
No comments have been added yet.
