What do J.R.R. Tolkien and Vin Diesel have in common?

Retconning.

"But Marisa," you say, scratching your head in consternation because you didn't while away your teenage years reading old fantasy novels and accidentally seeing the first Fast and the Furious movie on a fifty-cent Tuesday at the dollar theater, thus cementing your devotion to what would become the greatest film franchise of all time, "what in the hell are you talking about?"

For those who aren't as into the discourse surrounding storytelling, or just don't consume the same amount of comic book/high fantasy/pulpy film/sci fi stuff that I do, here's what you need to know about retconning.

It's a portmanteau of retroactive continuity. It's the act of changing, adjusting, or ignoring the previously established elements of a particular plot in order to make room for future sequels.

Tolkien had to do it before he released The Lord of the Rings. In the original version of The Hobbit, Gollum allowed Bilbo to take the magic ring after a fair game of riddles. But when Tolkien started writing LotR, he knew he needed to make a change so that the power of the ring was clear from the outset.

And while I don't want to spoil F9: The Fast and the Furious Saga 9 for anyone who will eventually see it, I will say this. In the first film, we get an uncomfortable bit of information about Dominic Toretto's backstory. Sure, we've always known he was on the wrong side of the law. But this little transgression was unredeemable as it was explained in the first film.

However, in the most recent film, we get more context for the event that led to his jail time, and it makes him a better, more sympathetic character.

(Honestly, you can tell the creators of the film thought that Paul Walker was going to be the center of the franchise. And he was, but somewhere along the way, he became second fiddle to Vin Diesel's absurd alpha male.)

Also, (and this isn't a spoiler since it's in all the trailers) John Cena is added to the cast as the long-lost brother we never knew the Torettos had. It's great as a retcon. Also, to make John Cena look like he belongs in that family, they doused him in like 80 layers of spray tan. It looks natural if you just don't think about it too long.

(Side note: If you feel called to finally dive into the F&F universe, be forewarned. The first three movies are objectively terrible. And the movies after that aren't cinematic masterpieces. But if you go in with the desire to just have a good time, you're going to enjoy them. My advice is to power through the first three movies, and then savor the rest. But also know that I have a soft spot for Jean Claude Van Damme movies from the early 1990s, any video game movie adaptation, and any over-produced teen drama that airs on the CW. So, like, maybe I have bad taste?)

So, what can we take away from retconning? Should it be something we do in our writing?

Well, maybe.

Currently, I'm writing a series based on the major arcana of the tarot. The first novel is finished as of last week. And the second is completely outlined, and I've just started writing. I toyed with the idea of getting the first one ready to publish before writing the second one, but I wanted to mitigate as many retconning opportunities as possible.

Honestly, I have 22 books to finish, and they will be released in phases based on the horizontal lines of the tarot. So, there's going to be plenty of opportunities for retconning, I imagine. But I want to get as far as I can without having to do that.

But that isn't to say that I will never retcon pieces of a story. It isn't to say that you shouldn't.

It is to say that you get to make changes when you need to. And I say if you plotted yourself into a corner, retcon away.

If Tolkien can do it, you can too. If the financial success of The Fast and the Furious Saga tells us anything, it's that retconning makes money.

And, in the grand scheme of personal identity and all that, retcon away at your own story. You can change or ignore past developments in your life in favor of telling a better story.

Here are some things I've retconned out of my story:

• Not getting into grad school the first time I applied.
• Every rejection I've received on a story I submitted.
• Toxic friendships.
• The botched launch of Ex Libris.
• Someone else's perception of who I am.
• Promises to myself that I kept breaking.
• All the candy I've eaten this past week alone.

All this is to say that you can wallow in mistakes and shame and guilt. Or, you can ignore that little bit of the story and move on.

Sometimes a character needs setbacks to grow. And sometimes, the universe piles setbacks on you like a damn going-out-of-business sale and you need to retcon your way out.

Thanks for letting me invade your inbox! 

Marisa 

MarisaMohi.com

P.S. If I still haven't sold you on The Fast and the Furious, I need you to understand this: It's basically the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but like, different. So, Marvel gave us Captain America, a man injected with super soldier serum who carries a vibranium shield. The F&F Universe asks us, "But what if Captain America had a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T and a GED instead?"

P.P.S. As the series persisted, more actors were added. Did you know that Kurt Russell and Helen Mirren are in the series now? Have you any idea the amount of scenery those actors can chew in that context?

P.P.P.S. In the climax of the sixth film, cars chase down a plane as it's taking off the runway. This scene is 26 minutes long. That has to be THE LONGEST RUNWAY in airplane history.

P.P.P.P.S. The characters were pretty established by the third movie. But then, in the fifth film, they decided to follow a more heist film-style crew structure. So, people who you thought were just car mechanics putting illegal mods on Nissans now suddenly know how to hack global computer systems. Why? Well, because retconning!

P.P.P.P.P.S. Tokyo Drift is the worst story, but has some of the prettiest images. Also, it's super problematic in that there's this whole storyline with a high school girl dating a yakuza boss. Consider yourself warned.