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Ask Slashdot: Maintaining Continuity In Your Creative Works?
imac.usr writes: I recently rewatched the Stonecutters episode of The Simpsons and laughed as always at the scene where Homer pulls into his parking space — right next to his house. It's such a great little comic moment. This time, though, it occurred to me that someone probably wrote in to complain that the power plant was normally in a completely different part of town, no doubt adding "I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder." And that got me to wondering: how do creators of serial media — books, web comics, TV shows, even movie serials — record their various continuities? Is there a story bible with the information, or a database of people/places/things, or even something scribbled on a 3x5 card. I know Slashdot is full of artists who must deal with this issue on a regular basis, so I'd be interested in hearing any perspectives on how (or even if) you manage it.
This time, though, it occurred to me that someone probably wrote in to complain that the power plant was normally in a completely different part of town, no doubt adding "I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder."
Nobody has actually complained* about that because... wait for it... that episode was really good. In fact there is a special reason why they got away with that particular gag: If they had shown you an accurate portrayal of Homer's drive to work it would have taken much longer than the window of time available to make that joke funny. In other words, they didn't show you that Homer lives next door to the power plant, they just showed you that his time was wasted in a visual way.
I'm not saying you don't need to pay attention to continuity. In fact, I can tell you a simple way to avoid a good deal of continuity issues: Avoid declaring anything about a character that isn't important to the plot. Dave Lister, for example, has had his appendix out twice. They used it early on as a gag because they needed a life event that can only happen once. The second time it was to show off that a new character had benevolent intentions towards them. Did it make sense to use it the first time? Yes. The second time... Um, no, they ended up locking him into a detail for just a throwaway gag. They did, however, establish he was an orphan and that was so important that it rang several times through the entire run of the series. You won't find any lines about him knowing his biological parents** for exactly that reason. Don't say your character has a brother or sister if you never intend to meet them or at least write them in again. We hear about Rimmer's brothers all the time, for example, but have no idea if Kochanski or the Cat are only-childs. Etc. We know about Rimmer's brothers because their treatment of him as a kid has had consequences on his character. It's built in to his character that his brothers tormented him, were smarter and more successful than him, and that they were more loved by his parents than he was. Because of this nobody is going to write a Red Dwarf script where Rimmer is an only child.
That said, don't worry so much about continuity. Make your story work. If you start hearing nitpicks about your character being left-handed instead of right-handed in one episode, it's not because continuity is such an ugly sin, it's because your story isn't entertaining and the nitpicks start becoming a lot more observable.
Oh... that and assholes like me look for problems like that just so we can point them out in order to look smarter. Don't worry about us, though, we paid for the DVD's and/or books because we wanted to go overboard researching it. ;)
* Not one person saw that and said "I won't watch that show anymore."
** Yes, I know there's a problem with that statement, no I don't want to go into it.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Well, that at least was accurate. Gamergaters do all look like idiots.