THIS IS LITERALLY MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE WHEN IT COMES TO TV SHOWS, MOVIES, AND BOOKS. It's not that hard to stick to the canon information you created and keep the foundation that you swear is so important. (Looking at all of The Flash showrunners and writers. Looking at all of them. Also, looking at I. Marlene King from Pretty Little Liars.)
Sure, characters, plot, and storylines change over time, that's bound to happen. However, if you're going to have base-ground knowledge and rules that outline and maintain the stability of your created universe and stories, stick to it. Please, for the love of all things beautiful and holy, stick to your word. Nothing frustrates me more when an author specifically, purposefully, or accidentally deviates from elements of their stories that they've already established and set in stone.
When you're writing, you need to know your story, its characters, and the laws and regulations that you have set in place or incorporated. Messy timelines and continuity errors can leave your audience confused and left to pick up the pieces of your mistake. Yes, making mistakes when writing is normal, but at least be mindful enough to acknowledge that and fix it.
What is a messy timeline? There is no specific or precise definition of this term, as everyone defines it differently. However, for me, I define it as events in a story or plot that don't align, contradict, or overlap. An example of this is Spider-Man: Homecoming's place in the MCU. There's a lot of research and debate over the MCU timeline when it comes to Spider-Man and his place.
In Homecoming, in the beginning, it states that it's been 8 years since The Attack on New York, which occurred on May 4th, 2012. This would mean that Homecoming takes place in 2020, despite its release in 2017. However, Joe Russo has stated that the whole 8 years thing introduced an apparent continuity error in the timeline and was a mistake. According to Homecoming, in the actual movie, the events take place two months after Captain America: Civil War, which took place in April of 2016, but that wouldn't work because the school semester ends in June. So... most people assume that it takes place in August and CACW was meant to occur in June to make it match up more.
Now, what, exactly, is a continuity error? In fiction, continuity is the "consistency of the characteristics of people, plot, objects, and places seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time." It is relevant and noticeable in several forms of media. Essentially, a continuity error is an error where consistency is not maintained between cuts in a film or TV show and areas of a book or chapter. These errors in continuity can ruin the illusion of realism and affect the suspension of disbelief in fiction quite drastically.
One of the most recent examples of messy timelines and continuity errors that comes to mind is from The Flash, Season 6 Episode 18, titled Pay the Piper. During the first twenty-five minutes of the episode, Hartley Rathaway (Pied Piper) explains to Barry Allen (The Flash) that Barry accidentally put his boyfriend, and accomplice, Roderick Smith in a degenerative status (in an altered timeline due to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths) during Season 1.
Barry, apparently, did this by throwing lightning at Roderick. A trick/ability that he was taught by Jay Garrick/Hunter Zoloman/Zoom during Season 2. However, the fight that caused Roderick to go into a degenerative status happened in Season 1, an entire year before Barry learned how to throw lightning. Does anyone else see the timeline and continuity error here? How did Barry throw lightning an entire year before he learned how to?? How? We don't know. The audience is left to assume that, due to Crisis, that he learned beforehand. However, that is never explicitly told to us.
Now, I know that is a bit of a long and mildly complicated example, but I find it gets the point across. You can't add elements to your story that supposedly predate something that has already taken place. 2+2 does not equal 5.
Keep this in mind, and be mindful when writing your stories.
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❛ YOU 𝑪𝑨𝑵'𝑻 𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑬 THE DOOR ON 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑾𝑨𝒀 TO THE 𝚂𝙺𝚈. ❜ ○○○○○○○○●
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