Chapter 3 sample: The brass key had the same crescent mark as the victim's ledger.
The clue is presented as meaningful.
Setup and payoff
Sample report: unresolved clue
A sample report showing how a highlighted clue can survive after its payoff was removed.
Scenario
What the sample checks
A mystery draft introduces a marked key as important evidence, but the revised ending no longer uses it.
Detected issue
The brass key receives narrative attention in two early scenes and then disappears from the resolution.
Evidence
Passages a report would point back to
Good continuity findings need source evidence. These sample passages show the kind of contrast an author reviews.
Chapter 9 sample: Tam hid the brass key beneath the loose stair.
The manuscript tracks custody, which increases reader expectation of payoff.
Report shape
How the author can act on it
The goal is a reviewable decision, not automatic rewriting.
01
Likely continuity risk
A setup may remain after the payoff was cut or moved.
02
Author decision
The author can restore the payoff, lower the clue's emphasis, or convert it into a deliberate red herring.
03
Downstream check
Review every reference to the ledger, the crescent mark, and Tam's access to the staircase.
Review
Suggested author review
These are the practical follow-up moves the sample report points toward.
- Decide whether the key should matter in the reveal.
- If yes, add or restore a resolution.
- If no, reduce the cueing so readers do not expect an answer.
Related
Related pages
More detail on this continuity category.