Continuity is resending, not memory
The model holds nothing between messages, so a story stays coherent only while it fits in the conversation budget. A long story needs a running summary, a short list of established facts, and fresh conversations at natural breaks.
Long stories fall apart in a specific way: names drift, resolved matters return, and a character forgets a decision it made an hour ago. The cause is arithmetic rather than attention.
Keep a running summary
Five sentences covering what has happened, updated every so often and pasted at the start of a new conversation. This is the single most effective habit for long stories, and it takes a minute against an evening of drift.
Keep a facts list separately
Names, relationships, what the character knows and does not know, decisions already made. Facts are what break first, because they are single words scattered through a long text. A list of 10 lines protects them better than the whole transcript would.
Break at natural points
Starting a fresh conversation at a scene change costs a paste and buys back the whole budget. Continuing indefinitely means the beginning silently falls out, and the story keeps going without it, which is worse than a clean break.
What the character should not know
A summary written for continuity tells the model everything, including what the character has not learned yet. Marking the facts the character does not know keeps a story from collapsing into omniscience, and it is the part people forget.
Before you start
Do memory features solve this?
They store selected facts and attach them later, which helps and is not the same as a model remembering. What gets stored is chosen by the product, not by the story.
How long before a story drifts?
It varies with message length. Watching for the first small inconsistency is more reliable than counting messages.
Can I ask for a summary of the story so far?
Yes, and check it before reusing it. A summary of a drifting conversation inherits the drift.
Start a scene with 5 sentences of story and a list of facts.
Start a character chat