About the author

Conrad Williams is the author of the novels Head Injuries, London Revenant, The Unblemished, One, Decay Inevitable and Blonde on a Stick; the novellas Nearly People, Game, The Scalding Rooms and Rain and a collection of short fiction, Use Once then Destroy. He lives in Manchester, UK.

All content on this site is © Conrad Williams.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Day Thirty-Five... Continuity Errors

1086 words.

In my first novel, Head Injuries, a character's eyes change colour. People who start a scene drinking from a bottle of cider end it by necking beer from a can. A car taken from an alleyway becomes a different make and model by the time it reaches its destination. It was a supernatural novel, so I can kind of get away with some of that. Eye colour change... woooh, spooky. But I obviously hadn't been paying attention to the details. I was young and excited by the fact I was writing a novel; I was into the story, to the detriment of the little bits of decoration I was hanging from it (but what's my proofreader's excuse?). I'm sure I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, writer to suffer from this sort of... oh no, I did it again!

The main character in Loss of Separation can only wear jogging bottoms because of his injuries... so why has he just turned up wearing a pair of jeans? Oh well, at least these days I'm noticing continuity errors like this.

I'm not sure how many people are out there reading this blog (not many, I reckon), but a couple of writers have been in touch to tell me they're finding it helpful and/or inspiring. Which makes it all worth while. Thank you.

Listened to: Soundtracks

5 comments:

Neil said...

I, for one, find it fascinating. The parallels between your experences as an established writer and my own nascent attempts at writing something of worth are uncanny. Which is a source of both encouragement and occasional despair.

Neil John Buchanan said...

Personally, I'm finding your blog to be of tremendous value.

It's always good to see something of the thought process behind the growth of a novel. And it's an entertaining read to boot.

Mark West said...

Just to up your numbers, I click in here every couple of days and I've found the updates fascinating - perhaps more because seeing your concerns and patterns makes me feel that I might not be too far off with my own. And very much looking forward to "Loss Of Separation" too.

creffield said...

Very helpful and insightful to see the scaffolding behind the work, and I thank you!

K. Patrick Chartier said...

Keep on Blogging!

It's very inspiring to see a well-known published icon hit the wall every so often with his daily grind of word punching. For those of us who want to write full time, your frustrations make us feel...well...human.

Bravo and good luck!