Recovering from continuity errors

[punkarsenic]

It's just dawned on me that a prop - right now a small detail, later will be a major artefact - was missing from a recent scene where it wouldve been prominently on show, and now i have no idea how to fix it.

for clarity, the prop is a necklace my MC wears - we rarely see it because of her clothing, but she was undressed enough for it to be seen in the last chapter, except i forgot about it. arguably, she could have taken it off in an earlier chapter, but theres few opportunities for her to have done that.

par of the course for this project has been me fucking up and then accommodating for my fuckups, answering questions ive asked without knowing the answer (its terrible, i know) - but this was a bit of groundwork i wanted to lay out from the beginning, thats fallen to the wayside time and again. i could always abandon it and move on (i forget its there half the time, so probably should, although its had some visual importance already and still wouldnt erase the error) or i could... ignore the error and include the necklace next time its shown?

im prone to doing that, usually including the previously unincluded, and saying 'fuck it, im learning,' but something about this little error - the presence, then absence, then presence again - just really bothers me. are there any other solutions im not thinking of? how would you talk your way out of it?

are there any minor continuity errors with major consequences / that majorly bugged you in your comics? how / did you deal with them?

[dawgofdawgness]

I had this problem too but then decided to change the plot entirely to avoid the error. I don't think you're planning on doing that, but this thread might help!

I know there's been a similar thread to this, but I just realized that I've missed some pretty important plot points in the beginning of my comic back when I was more inexperienced. I realized that, since there isn't really context in the beginning, chapter 2 wouldn't make much sense, and if I randomly introduce a new concept out of nowhere, it might feel out of place. For example, there's this whole thing with the MC's dad, who I planned on introducing in the very beginning of the comic - bu…

[DiegoPalacios]

Here is a list of ideas of how to deal with this. Which one fits depends of your character, story, and how much time do you have.

1-Edit the pannels where the necklace would be visible to add the necklace.

2-If she is prone to forget stuff or she was too busy or distracted by events of the story, she may forget the neckless. You can show this by making her thinking about using it only to realize she lost it. And showing in a flashback where she left it/dropped it/forgot it.

3-If her clothes has pockets or she has a purse, she may have left the necklace there.

4-If she is a prankster, she may hide it on purpose to troll her companions/friends to see their reactions to her "losing the artifact".

Of course there are more options, but to explore further i would need to know why is the neckless neccesary. (i know is an important artifact, but i don`t know why is neccesary for the specific scene)

[tencow]

i don't think its too bad, dude! realistically, your character, as mentioned, could have taken off that necklace somewhere between the chapters. characters change their outfits all the time! (or she could be hiding it somewhere like a pocket or in her intestines)~

[revisionstudios]

Personally I think you should just add it to the panels and not notify them of the change. It's not a detail the readers are going to notice now, but might be something they look through old pages for later once the artifact becomes more prominent.

[punkarsenic]

thats a good point, i was worried about that seeming unprofessional (and also being, like, ew, effort) but if people wont notice, then its probably the best plan of action.

[sarrowsmith10]

Personally I think you should just add it to the panels and not notify them of the change. It's not a detail the readers are going to notice now, but might be something they look through old pages for later once the artifact becomes more prominent.

I agree. I've done this a few times in my comic and I don't think anyone has really noticed. I think if its really important and people are confused they might go back to look, but I wouldn't change your whole plot over it or try to explain why its missing. If this was already in print and distributed to hundreds of comicbook stores it might give you pause.. but for a webcomic we have a lot more freedom to tweak things as we go. haha

[shazzbaa]

I agree with revision!! I've absolutely gone back and fixed minor things like this in my own comic several times myself.

[heterodont]

I entirely forgot to add glasses to a character that wears them because it signifies how he ''identifies'' personally. In other words, pretty important.

I just made a joke comic during the chapter intermissions and made sure to add them in the following chapter :v

Like someone mentioned it earlier you can just go back and add it in, unless it's like a huge necklace then people aren't gonna do double-takes because a necklace that wasn't there before is now there. I've accidentally flipped hair styles, forgot pretty important..tattoos...., so on so forth. People really don't notice unless they're looking for it HAHA

[fuyudust]

A professional creator wipes his own ass silently without letting anyone notices like a professional ninja

[Kamikaze]

Ugh, I get those ALL THE TIME @punkarsenic and they drive me insane. Since I tend to publish my comic in books after everything is done, this is how I've gone about fixing this stuff:

1. Don't sweat it right now. Seriously, keep your page momentum going.
2. Keep in mind this issue and correct it going forward on your new pages.
3. Compile a list of fixes that you notice (beyond simple stuff like spelling errors - fix those ASAP), and keep it moving. Make sure you note which page, panel and what exactly needs fixing.
4. Once a quarter, I sit down with my team and we go over those notes to do fixes. We make a day out of it.

In a perfect world we'd upload those fixed pages immediately, but we haven't because...IDK reasons. xD

Anyway, having a plan of attack and sticking to it really helps. :3