Author continuity guide
Tracking Families, Parents and Children in Fiction
Use separate relationship and pregnancy records so expanding fictional families remain understandable.
By Nathan Ardwell · author-planning perspective
One character, many relationships
A father can be linked to many children and pregnancies. A child can have biological, adoptive, step-parent and guardian relationships without duplicating character records.
Separate truth from belief
The author may know the biological father while characters believe someone else. Store both and record the revelation point.
View the family at a point in time
A family in Book 2 may be different from the family in Book 11. Timeline-aware relationships prevent later facts from leaking backward.