Thinking of Writing Alternate History?: A Guide to the Important Questions

 

This book is available via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085LQ6H8Q/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i20 

I was particularly pleased with the front cover. I had thought first to have William Shakespeare with a laptop, but apparently so have hundreds of other people, so I worked to do an Ancient Greek version which I hope both sums up the alternate history aspect and the fact that it is about writing. My only concern was that given so many people who commentate in the alternate history context are very much from the 'manosphere', seeing a woman portrayed on the front would put them off even considering this book as one they might want to rant about.

As anyone who has followed this blog down the years will know, I have long been interested in alternate history writing, whether as the basis for analysis or fiction. I had planned this book to come out in 2019. I had been aware of Grey Wolf's book, 'How to Write Alternate History' (2013): https://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2020/02/books-i-listened-toread-in-february.html but, despite establishing a relationship with Sea Lion Press, I had been ignorant that they were releasing, 'How to Write Alternate History' (2019) in August 2019, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W44DQHG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3 so I had to postpone my book, read that one and reflect my thoughts on it in my own book which has not followed some five months later.

I have read the work of a lot of alternate history authors, though these days it can be a challenge to keep up with all the books coming out, even just on alternate outcomes of the American Civil War and the Second World War, let alone more widely. However, I felt I had learnt a great deal about the genre and so could offer advice to other authors who were considering it. In addition, I had seen the appearance of 'rules' such as 'only one point of divergence is permitted' that I felt were not only unnecessary but wrong and in fact did not take into consideration what renowned alternate history authors of the past had done.

This is a common trend in the 2010s. I know people (typically men) feel they can and should assert their 'authority' on various issues through online fora to the exclusion of any other views. I faced this with reviews of 'Stop Line' (2017) with one reviewer saying that because some online forum had decided that no German invasion of Britain in 1940 would have been possible, any author writing on that should be ridiculed forever more for even trying. Despite such scenarios being common in books written over the past decades, the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy wargame of 1974 on this very topic which suggested something very different is simply swept aside. In this era, apparently the shouting of some men in the public arena, counts for far more than analysis by senior military staff from a generation with knowledge of the war itself. In this context, this book was my shot at getting back at such indignation and indeed an attempted suppression of alternate history writing by self-appointed judges on the genre.

Drawing on loads of books and movies, this analysis looks at what kind of alternate history you might want to write. While at present fiction is the prime focus, in previous decades books of analysis have been popular and I have enjoyed writing some myself. Though not attracting so much attention now, people continue to produce sober, fascinating analysis which can actually help the alternate history fiction author. I look at podcasts on alternate history, a growth area. I also look at the role alternate history short stories can play, whether stand alone or part of a 'fix-up' anthology. I look at the principles of alternate history and without imposing any rules, highlight bases on which your book might be challenged, in terms of feasibility and even including characters. One revelation to me in recent years has been in reading historical novels, usually set in wartime, which do not feature any (female) characters. Having read so much Bernard Cornwell, I had not realised that was a sub-set of historical writing and it can be used as a way to criticise alternate history novels for 'wasting time' and 'not getting to the real alternate history' if you develop characters in your story.

I look at the mechanics of alternate history novels, such as whether the main character arrives or lives there; the use of points of divergence and how far you set your story from them. I address the challenges when featuring time periods or events that readers may be unfamiliar with, let alone may cling very strongly to popular, though actually inaccurate, views about. I look at the controversial concept of 'parallelism', i.e. using people from our history over in quite a different context. While people dismiss this as 'wrong' in alternate history, again it is in fact very common in some of the most successful alternate history novels and stories. One large section drawing on numerous books, shows how alternate history is often the context for another genre, for example spy thrillers, murder mysteries, fantasy, slice of life stories or even romance.

There are some sections advising alternate history writers on how to deal with the kind of hostility writing in the genre is liable to attract. This is especially the case, as the book explores further, when alternate history writing is so often put to contemporary political uses especially in the USA. The book ends with a select bibliography outlining a range of books, stories and movies that you may not have encountered.

Overall, I hope authors and anyone interested in alternate history writing, whether fiction, analysis or for the screen, will find this a useful and interesting book. As always, I expect that some will be indignant with what I have written and will dismiss me as an idiot. However, one of the main reasons why I came write alternate history was to stimulate discussion and debate. Maybe I am naive in this age when it seems that people are primarily motivated to enter 'discussions' simply to shut down opinions which differ from their own. However, I do cling to some optimism that this book will generate discussion about the full scope of alternate history writing and the different ways in which it can be done.