Continuity

Preserving continuity is difficult with any writing project of length - with the weeks, months or more it might take to write a single novel or screenplay, it can be easy to forget things. So the problem is compounded if writing an extended series comic, TV or web series, movies or books.

"Wait - was Janet a painter or a realtor?"

"Did Henry have green eyes, or did he not have eyes at all?"

When I began my series I spent a lot of time building a somewhat involved series of relationships and connections. I knew which characters knew each other before the series started and how some of them met, how connected the several businesses were where the characters worked, and some basics about side characters that would become more important later. I knew some characters were out of the picture at the moment, but would come "back" into the series soon.

After a few years, I've gotten to realize some of these plans, and it's mostly gone well because I had the continuity in mind. Most of the actual stories were not planned ahead at all, but the connections between everybody were pretty well worked out.

As things have gone along, I may have made some continuity blunders here and there, but no big ones are coming to mind.

Having not posted a page in about six months means no new errors have creeped in! Hey, there's a bright side to the hiatus! But that's another story.

One or two of these preplanned side characters are going to be coming into play in the next story, and I was very happy to have planned ahead for the appearance of these folks; it's gonna be fun!

Have you ever made a big continuity blunder in your comic? Did your readers notice?
How do you maintain continuity?

Happy Thursday!

-Banes