Lore & LilacThe continuity errors readers notice, and how to catch them
Readers glide past some slips and stop dead at others, and the difference is predictable.
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Related glossary terms
- Continuity errorAn inconsistency within a story, where a detail established in one passage contradicts the same detail somewhere else.
- Timeline errorA mistake in the order, timing or duration of events, such as impossible travel, wrong ages or days that don't add up.
- RetconShort for retroactive continuity: deliberately changing an established fact of a story and adjusting everything that depended on it.
- Story bibleA reference collection recording the established facts of a novel, such as characters, places, objects, rules and timeline, so they stay consistent from chapter to chapter.
- Red herringA misleading clue or suspect that deliberately draws the reader toward a wrong conclusion, most often in mysteries and thrillers.
- Style sheetA running record of one manuscript's spelling, capitalization, naming, number and formatting decisions, used to keep it consistent.