Retcon. Sounds like a throwback from the first wave of video games. It’s actually an abbreviation of two combined words. Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which facts in the world of an established fictional work are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former. Now, that’s a mouthful. But I get where it’s going, and I’ve had to employ retcon revisions in my own work.
The five-novel series I’m writing, entitled The Miriam Chronicles, experienced long lapses of time (and memory!) in its development. The characters are solid, for sure, but minor plot details have varied. Why? Well, for instance, I admit to an inaccuracy with how certain secondary characters met. These are fixable, of course, in the drafting stages! But what does a writer do when the works are publishedo ther than hope for a forgiving or flexible reader? Also, typos are one thing, but character names shouldn’t change, unless they engage in spy activity or some other covert dealings. In my first novel, Unearthing Christmas, I changed the surname of a priest within different paragraphs on the same page! They were so close in sound that most readers and my publisher didn’t notice that Father Nolan became Father Norton (or vice versa) until my sister picked it up a few years after publication. How can that happen? Of course, other readers may have noticed, but the onus is on me, the first reader, to let it go unnoticed!
Many classics are loaded with typos as mentioned in several online articles. Namely, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain had a very obvious typo with the word “saw” replaced by “was” on page 57. So “with the saw” became “with the was” in the first publication. The earlier flawed editions are now collectors’ items with a noteworthy value. I could only hope for the same with Unearthing Christmas and its first printed copies.
But retcon changes go much deeper into the story and are, many times, are considered by readers as divisive. We’ve seen continuity errors in movies—the misplaced beer bottle, the coat buttoned and unbuttoned, the missing sweater. These are forgivable and, many times, overlooked or disregarded by the casual viewer. But for the reader, continuity changes can be unnerving as evidenced by an online article, “Retconning: Why J.K. Rowling Is Making Me Furious’ by Hayley Millman published on May 13, 2019 at prowritingaid.com. Ms. Millman stated, “Rowling…has retconned everything from Hermione’s race to the true origins of an evil snake to how students at Hogwarts used the bathroom.” She further made the plea that if Hermione was a woman of color all along, why wasn’t that communicated early on? The logical conclusion for many readers might be that the added detail was an afterthought. Personally, I’m not sure if that was a full-on retcon because it didn’t change Hermione, but merely gave more information. Another classic retcon is when a character dies and then the reader finds out, subsequently, that they actually didn’t die! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle reconned a story with the death of Sherlock Holmes. The famed author killed off the iconic detective in a published short story, “The Final Problem,” until he received backlash from fans. He brought Sherlock Holmes back to life in subsequent stories, like “The Adventure of the Empty House.” Hey, but anyone as wily as Mr. Holmes could fake a death, right?
As a writer, I’ve got a few retcon instances under my belt, not by choice. One in particular needed fixing because I’m all about continuity. In Unearthing Christmas, my cherished secondary character, Charlotte, met her true love in Boston. In The Years In Between, Charlotte met the same soulmate on a ship bound for wartime France including a long sequence of their “meet cute” and falling in love. My only saving grace in the plor poinr inconsistency is that Unearthing Christmas has been through a post-publication round of edits and will be republished! So I’ve had the opportunity to reintroduce Charlotte and John to their shipboard romance as they head to war torn France in 1918.
Typos happen, but retconning is a choice for altering the story or character details. Choose wisely, if at all!
Author Haley Millman concluded her article with these words. “…If a plot point’s important, include it in your book! If it’s not, then maybe keep your mouth shut about it… until you start to work on the sequel!” I’ll add that if working on a book series, reread the previous book(s). Jot down integral plot points that keep the story on track and the characters consistent. Don’t rely on memory! Happy writing!