I’ve been grappling with the challenge of maintaining continuity as I write. Crafting a universe with interconnected stories and characters creates complications.
I mentioned in my first post on this substack that I’ve published a number of novels, novellas and short stories. All of these publications exist within a “shared universe” of my own creation, taking place in a fictional county and town on the south coast of England.
I’m currently working on two books, both of which are books within a particular series within the overall universe. Which is causing me some mild difficulty.
The problem I find myself facing as I write both books is continuity. The last thing I want is to put these books out there for the public to read, and have the more eagle-eyed readers say, “Hey, didn’t you say in book two that…”
I guess that’s the price you pay when you create a whole Universe and write within it, with interconnected characters and stories that take place at the same as other stories in the same universe.
For example, one of these books, the third in The Lies series, takes place towards the end of the second year at university for the main character in the other book, Paul Robertson—and the second half of that second year at university is the main time period that the fourth book in his series, the one I’m currently writing, takes place.
Now, I’ve already written a scene in the third Lies book that contains a throwaway line that kind of locks me into a deadline for the events in Paul’s fourth book.
This probably isn’t that big of a problem really, because I’m still writing both books, so I can easily go back and delete the throwaway line if the plans change.
It’s more of a problem if I need to reference something from an already published book, because that means going back and checking what was written previously.
For example, the events of the first The Lies book, The Lies we Lead, took place during a single week in the middle of the timeline of the third Paul Robertson book, A Wounded Heart. And while I didn’t need to reference it, the events of the second The Lies book, The Truths we Live, can’t really be ignored in Paul’s fourth book, given that Paul will end up as one of the silent investors in the business that The Truths we Live is about.
So how do I deal with that? Particularly given that the protagonist of The Lies Series is one of Paul’s business advisors and features several times throughout Paul’s fourth book.
It becomes even more of a problem if I find that the events of a previous book don’t fit with the events of the book I’m writing. That happened when I was writing A Wounded Heart. I found that one event in the second book in the series, A Tortured Soul, didn’t sit well alongside the story I wanted to tell.
Fortunately, I’m the arbiter of Canon in The Westmouthshire Universe, so I had absolutely no problem at all going back and making changes to ATS to make it fit in with AWH.
If it’s good enough for Tolkien, it’s good enough for me.
These are big examples, but it’s really the little details that cause the biggest headache because, at heart, I’m a pedant and a stickler for details.
Most of the time this means references to the “map” of Westmouth. I don’t want to be moving the location of a pub, for example. Is The Inn on the Pier at the entrance to the Pier or at the end?
Or perhaps I’ve given a district within the town one name in one book and another in a different book. Or have I moved a district I’ve named from the eastern edge of the town to the western or northern edge? I’ve come across one of these very minor but very irritating problems in the chapter I’m currently writing.
Here’s the dilemma…
Did I ever describe what building was on the west side of the main square in the centre of the university campus?
That’s it. That’s the problem. I can’t remember if I have done this or not. And now I need to know if I have or not, so that know whether I can place a building I need for an upcoming scene there or not.
I know that the south side of the square is open and overlooks the town and the sea from its position high on the hill. I know that the Student’s Union is to the east and the library to the north—with a large green space in between these to the northeast.
But I can’t remember if I ever stated, even in passing, what the building to the west is. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have mentioned at some point that it was the English department—but as of A Wounded Heart that would be wrong, because in that book I made it clear that the campus was split into four quarters—the accommodation quarter in the northwest, the sports centre (and sports science department) in the southwest, the law, humanities and creative arts departments (which would include English) in the northeast and all the other science departments in the southeast.
See, my head hurts just writing all that down.
And now I have to go back and check if I really did put the English department somewhere that it can no longer be.
And move it. Or, more accurately, replace it with the university’s arts centre and theatre.
I think they call that a Retcon.
I think that what I really need to do is create a map of Westmouth, the University campus and the wider county. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to that. It’s the same sort of project as the timeline/calendar I need to create. I’m a big fan of the Cities Skylines game, so maybe I could use that to create the map—turn on unlimited money, unlock all the buildings and set about terraforming the map and placing all the buildings and districts that I’ve mentioned through all the books.
It’s a huge task, but if I do it, I’m sure I’ll have loads of fun.