Continuity checks

Continuity checks compare what happens in your scenes with what you have recorded in your story bible. They run on your device, they do not use AI, and they never change a word of your writing. They only point.

Open the checks

Choose Continuity (on a phone, it is on the Book tab). Onwarder reads your scenes and shows Checking scene 3 of 40… as it goes, then Checked 40 scenes just now.

Each finding says what looks wrong, quotes the line, and shows what the story bible records. Choose Go to the line to see it in context. The arrows at the top step through findings one by one.

What it can catch

• A character recorded as dead who acts in a scene.
• A character who was last somewhere else, with no journey in between.
• Someone acting on a secret they have not learnt yet.
• An item being used by one character while it is recorded as held by another.
• Details that drift: eye colour, hair, age.
• Time that runs backwards, or seasons that change too fast.
• A payoff that arrives before its setup.
• A scene that slips from one character’s head into another’s.
• Names that are almost, but not quite, the same.

It can only compare what you have recorded, so it will not catch everything. When it finds nothing it tells you what it compared, for example Compared with 12 characters, 8 places, 5 items and 30 recorded events.

The two levels

Every finding is one of two kinds:

• Possible contradiction: something that looks like a real clash, such as a dead character speaking.
• Worth a look: something that might be deliberate, or might be a slip.

The buttons at the top of the list filter by Possible contradictions, Worth a look and Suggestions. If you only want the serious ones, open the ⋯ menu and turn off Show worth a look.

To see possible contradictions underlined on the page as you write, open Settings, Writing (or This book, the … above the page, then Writing) and turn on Underline possible contradictions.

When it is not a mistake

Fiction breaks its own rules on purpose. For each finding you can:

• Choose This is fine. The finding is set aside and shows Marked fine. If the scene or the story bible changes later in a way that affects it, it comes back with a note saying why.
• Tell Onwarder about it, so the story bible agrees with the page. Depending on the finding you will see choices such as Record the journey, Mara learns it here, Change the recorded eye colour or Record where it was set up.
• For dreams and flashbacks, choose Dream or flashback and pick This sentence is a dream, The whole scene is a flashback and so on. Onwarder stops treating that writing as the present.

Nothing is ever changed in your manuscript by the checks.

Suggestions

Under Suggestions, Onwarder may notice a name it does not know that looks like someone in your story bible, such as a nickname. Choose Add name to record it as another name for them, or Not now.

A second opinion from your own AI

If you have turned on your own AI for this book, the ⋯ menu offers a second opinion, for example Get a second opinion on 3 findings. Your AI reads each finding and marks it Confirmed, Unsure or Probably fine, shown beside the finding. With AI off, none of this appears.

Alternative drafts

In an alternative draft, scenes are checked one at a time. Switch to your main draft to check the whole book.