A method, system, and computer usable program product for fracturing a continuous mask usable in photolithography are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A first origin point is selected from a set of points on an edge in the continuous mask. A first end point is identified on the edge such that a separation metric between the first origin point and the first end point is at least equal to a threshold value. Several alternatives are determined for fracturing using the first origin point and the first end point. A cost associated with each of the several alternatives is computed and one of the alternatives is selected as a preferred fracturing. Several pairs of origin points and end points are formed from the set of points. Each pair has a cost of a preferred fracturing between the pair. The continuous mask is fractured using a subset of the several pairs.