Today’s topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon:
Question: “How do we feel about retcons? The Retcon or retroactive continuity is rampant in television and comic books, but I have not personally come across any incidents of obvious retroactive continuity in the books I’ve read. How do you feel about retcons in any medium? Have you considered writing a follow up to an existing work to explicitly alter or even negate the previously known information in the previous work?” When it comes to retcons, do you prefer a subtle reveal? How about an off hand revision; or a big ‘everything you know is wrong?'” For extra context here is the TV Tropes entry on retcons. Retcons
OK, as I understand it, Retcons are when a writer goes back in a later work and essentially upends some of the basic assumptions and/or plotlines from the previous work(s) – the closest I can come up with is the end of The Sixth Sense, where the revelation that Bruce Willis’s character is dead upends the whole story.
So my questions today – have you read any books that include retcons? And if so, did you like them? As a writer, have you ever used this device?