The Continuity Struggle

I consider myself to be a type A person, but sometimes I call this into question while editing my manuscript. The culprit? Continuity.

It’s easy to get lost in the fantasy world. Less easy to make the fantasy world logically consistent.

As a reader, my favorite books are the ones that allow me to reasonably suspend my disbelief so I can enjoy the world, the characters, and the plot as though I’m living in the story myself. I want to write that kind of book for my readers.

As I’m line-editing the latest draft of my YA Fantasy novel, going through every single line with pen and paper has helped me catch several continuity errors already — and I’m just about 20% of the way through.

So far, my struggles with continuity involve:

• Physical details about characters that cross chapters. Wardrobe, injuries, etc.

• Secrets and “big reveals.” Appropriate buildup and fallout to these events and conversations.

• World-building details that underline the main plot. Sowing these in within a memorable timeframe without info-dumping.

• Plot points that I’ve decided to drop. An issue when I’ve recently re-drafted and made the decision to cut something — after I’ve already done some work setting it up earlier in the novel.

Now that I’m several drafts in, I’m thankfully free of any glaring, rewrite-inducing continuity errors. But I strongly recommend reading through a physical copy of your current project to catch even the most minute of continuity issues. I’ve certainly found a few that, while not story-breaking, certainly take me out of the world. Hopefully I can spare my future readers that struggle!