RETroactive CONtinuity. When you go back and change facts that were not explicitly revealed to your audience so that you can do something nifty in a current scene. Often used in Star Trek, where the number of people who turned out to have cloned Tasha Yarr (for instance) seemed to get out of hand at one point.
One of the masters of the True Retcon is Joss Whedon, who invented events that were supposed to have happened thousands of years before season one during the final season of Buffy. Notice also how Spike called Angel his 'sire' in season 2, but it was revealed later that this had been a metaphor for their relationship, and not a literal truth.
Blue is an apprentice of the True Retcon.
- I have had great success with using this in the past. Like when I met someone online for the first time, I called him "Brother" and he rolled with it, assuming a familial background. True Retcons are also very helpful with those concerned with continuity. For example, say I have a character who's home is in Strange. But then, for the next few months, I say she's from Bottom. How to reconcile this? She's insane; the others who talked to her are suffering from a hallucinographic drug; they talked to a doppleganger; she's lying; and much more --Zoe
See also: Meta | Concepts