Consistency vs Continuity vs Variety
Goals vs Reality
Goals vs Reality
Previously, I pointed out that…
“consistency is the “bad penny” of literature. It always turns up as the low-hanging fruit of criticism.
It is heard frequently enough to make a budding writer throw up a little…
You must have consistency and continuity in your viewpoint. Within the story and within the blog or platform itself.”
The difference between consistency and continuity
Consistency is like writing an article every Monday.
Continuity is like sounding like the same person is writing each article.
Consistency will take us farther in our literary endeavors than continuity. In fact, in some situations, as in a variety show, the consistency is the LACK of continuity.
Film and television productions use a person or group to oversee continuity from day to day, so that a particular character will not be wearing a blue shirt at the beginning of a scene and then a red one at the end, by the time we see the final product, even though these scenes may have been filmed on different days.
Only a nerd like me would notice that someone jumped off a building in jeans, but hit the ground wearing khakis. But almost everybody would notice if their regularly scheduled program failed to come on one week. That’s the power of consistency.
That equation is represented as C(consistency)>c(continuity).
Goals vs Reality
These items in the writing world are separate but related to variable degrees. We can set goals but be thwarted by reality.
It is a bit like the volume, treble, and bass controls on your stereo. There are different ways to turn the music volume up or down.
This is best represented by the equation G(oals)xE(effort)=R(reality).
So in this case,
C(GxE)=SUCCESS.
The final equation.
Let’s assume you have no superpower personality/popularity like a Johnny Carson or Ed Sullivan to be the special sauce to your literary efforts.
Those of us who are mere mortals can still depend on the formula. Consistency multiplied by the product of goals times effort will provide success.
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