Why Continuity Matters in Love Stories

Continuity is important in most stories, but especially love stories. Readers expect that what they read in one scene carry over to subsequent ones, allowing for a flow of events that isn’t even noticeable to the reader. But a sudden change in a character’s eye color or a transportation of the love interest across the room might be hiccups that your reader can’t ignore, harming the believability of the love story.

What is Continuity in a Romance Novel?

Continuity, in the context of romance, means that the consistency of details—such as characters’ physical traits, settings, timelines, and emotional arcs—ensures that the narrative is plausible and coherent. When this doesn’t happen, like when a dinner date happens on “Friday night” in one chapter and “Wednesday” in the next, this can pull readers out of the moment. Emotional inconsistencies can also wreak havoc: readers don’t like seeing characters who are heartbroken one chapter but carefree the next without explanation.

Why Continuity Is Especially Crucial in Romance

Romance readers want to be immersed in the characters’ journey. They want to feel experience every moment, but continuity issues can make the ride feel disjointed. Continuity also impacts the believability of the story’s relationship. Inconsistencies can make the connection feel forced or disordered. Finally, sloppy continuity can make readers doubt the author’s attention to detail, and they may hesitate to buy the next book.

Common Continuity Errors in Romance

• Sometimes a character’s backstory changes or is forgotten.

• A relationship milestone is referenced differently.

• Timeline or setting can be confused: e.g. a Christmas scene with autumn leaves.

• A side character may be forgotten (a best friend disappears without mention).

How to Catch Continuity Issues

One way to keep track of all of your story details is by keeping a story bible. This is a document (kept either by hand or digitally) that stores your characters’ ages, traits, and key life events.

Another way to catch continuity issues is read your story aloud or using the Read Aloud feature of your word processor app. When we read what we write silently, our brain fills in the gaps of what we might have missed, but reading aloud helps our brains process the words better.

Finally, using beta readers can help with continuity problems. Professional beta readers have a keen eye for detail and look specifically for continuity issues. In my role as a beta reader, I remember one error in particular: the sun was rising at 4:00 a.m. in one scene, but it was still dark at 6:00 a.m. a few scenes later. Trust me: no matter how close you are to the story, outside eyes will catch what you miss.

Conclusion

Romance thrives on emotional flow and trust. I invite you to as a romance author to consider a continuity check as part of your editing process. Contact me for in-depth beta reading to make sure your continuity is strong and flows well!