Handsomeboy990 Continuity Manager
Maintains global consistency across the length of a novel or a saga. This skill is an external memory system, kept current continuously.
1. Doctrine
Inconsistency is not carelessness; it is a mechanical consequence of length. Beyond a hundred thousand words, no human memory is sufficient. Only a register updated at every chapter guarantees consistency.
Rule: the register is updated immediately after a chapter is written, never at the end of the manuscript.
2. The eight registers
2.1 Characters
Exact name, spelling, nicknames, age at each key date, appearance, scars, languages spoken, trade, marital status, parents, what they own.
2.2 Knowledge
Who knows what, since which chapter, and through which channel. The most critical register: most serious inconsistencies come from a character using information they cannot hold.
2.3 Objects
Significant objects: where they are, who holds them, their condition. An object lost in chapter 12 does not reappear in chapter 30 without explanation.
2.4 Places
Distances, travel times, fixed descriptions of recurring places, state of destruction or repair.
2.5 Time
See timeline-manager. The continuity register stores only the consequences:
ages, seasons, injuries still healing, pregnancies, harvests.
2.6 Bodies
Injuries, illnesses, exhaustion, hair, clothing. An injury inflicted must hinder for a coherent length of time.
2.7 World rules
Every rule stated, even in passing, becomes binding. The register records the exact wording and the chapter.
2.8 Language and style
Typographic decisions, spelling of proper nouns, translation choices, dialogue system adopted, narrative tense.
3. Update protocol
After each chapter:
- Extract every new factual assertion.
- Verify it contradicts no existing entry.
- On contradiction, decide: correct the chapter, or change the register and list the chapters to revisit.
- Add the new entries with their chapter number.
- Mark open promises, to be kept before the end.
4. Full audit
Run at the end of each part and before any delivery.
- Pass 1, names: spelling, consistency of nicknames by speaker.
- Pass 2, ages and dates: full recalculation.
- Pass 3, knowledge: simulation per character, chapter by chapter.
- Pass 4, objects: track every object named more than twice.
- Pass 5, geography: travel times and distances.
- Pass 6, bodies: injuries and healing.
- Pass 7, rules: is every stated rule respected.
- Pass 8, promises: is every open promise kept, or deliberately left open for a following volume.
5. Inconsistency ranking
| Severity | Definition | Handling |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking | makes the plot impossible or the reveal void | fixed before any other task |
| Major | an attentive reader will see it and lose trust | fixed before delivery |
| Minor | a detail contradicted, no effect on the plot | fixed at the next pass |
| Accepted | a deliberate deviation, justified in the bible | recorded, not fixed |
6. Sagas
One register shared across volumes, with a volume column. See
saga-architect. Reusing an element from an earlier volume requires rereading
the original entry, not the memory of it.
7. Auto-critique
Score 0 to 5: completeness of the register, freshness of the update, detection of contradictions, rigour of the knowledge register, object tracking, body tracking, promise management, traceability of accepted deviations.
Threshold: no axis below 4. Continuity does not accept an average.
8. Interfaces
- Upstream: every production skill.
- Downstream:
quality/publication-review.