by tangent » Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:23 pm
I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact quote, but I saw this used to defend truly nonsensical decisions in Star Wars canon, and people almost rightfully lashing back against it. I say almost because they focus solely on how it is being used as a defense here, and assume that it is a binary. "Storytelling must have continuity, or it is bad storytelling." This is simply untrue.
I can't help but to think about how often minor retcons and inconsistencies improve stories. Storytelling is more important than continuity, but that only applies where you have to sacrifice continuity to write a good story (or where it's a minor detail changed in error). Writers are human, we make mistakes. Sometimes the best way to deal with a mistake is to pretend things happened differently or work differently in a fictional setting.
I think there's a confusion between continuity and internal consistency here. Continuity is more of a perfectionist thing, where all details must line up. Internal consistency is more about flow and ..vibes.. Internal consistency is what keeps people in a story, following along, enjoying it. Small breaks in continuity are easily ignored if the internal consistency and storytelling is good.
I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact quote, but I saw this used to defend truly nonsensical decisions in Star Wars canon, and people [i]almost[/i] rightfully lashing back against it. I say [i]almost[/i] because they focus solely on how it is being used as a defense here, and assume that it is a binary. "Storytelling [b]must[/b] have continuity, or it is bad storytelling." This is simply untrue.
I can't help but to think about how often minor retcons and inconsistencies improve stories. Storytelling [b]is[/b] more important than continuity, but that only applies where you [i]have[/i] to sacrifice continuity to write a good story (or where it's a minor detail changed in error). Writers are human, we make mistakes. Sometimes the best way to deal with a mistake is to pretend things happened differently or work differently in a fictional setting.
I think there's a confusion between continuity and internal consistency here. Continuity is more of a perfectionist thing, where all details must line up. Internal consistency is more about flow and ..vibes.. Internal consistency is what keeps people in a story, following along, enjoying it. Small breaks in continuity are easily ignored if the internal consistency and storytelling is good.