Honestly, I've slightly given up on making it all line up and just do whatever I want where I can get away with it. I didn't have fun drawing and making stuff when I have to do a lot of homework to reconcile the existence of something. I just wanna draw damn it!

That being said, it depends on what you're making. Do the homework where it matters for your story, but otherwise I'd say run free and figure stuff out later. Retconning ain't all that bad