How to get started writing alternate historical fiction

Last updated Dec 17, 2024 | Blog

One of the great joys of being a writer is getting to play “What if”. Historical fiction in particular allows you to imagine the unseen scenarios that led to major historical events. We can create characters and circumstances that reveal the true story (or at least our interpretation of it), encouraging readers to think about these events in a different way. Alternate history takes this approach a step further and lets us imagine what history would look like if things had turned out differently. What if Shakespeare had been a woman? What if the world was ruled by cats? What if the Titanic never sunk, or Laura Secord never stopped the American invasion of Canada, or Hitler faked his own death? The only limit is our imagination. Alternate history is the chance to rewrite the world in our own design. Read on for everything you need to know about this rising star of speculative fiction.

What is alternate history fiction?

Alternate history is a subgenre of speculative fiction that explores a reality in which a moment of history was different from one in the reality we know. It can take place at any point in history between the altered moment and the present day, exploring the ramifications of this change and how those ramifications echo across time. One of the most famous alternate history novels is Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. This novel, written in 1962, explores what would have happened if the allies — France, Great Britain, America, et al. — lost World War II. By creating this potential reality, the author opens some big questions and communicates themes of power, culture, and free will. Other alternate history novels include:
  • Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
  • The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
  • The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling
  • Farthing by Jo Walton
  • The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
  • Fatherland by Robert Harris
  • Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

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How to write your own alternate history novel

Ready to launch into an alternate history adventure of your own? Let’s dive in.

Choose your historical catalyst

In every alternate history novel, there will be a moment in time that diverges from the one we know. You can think of it like a railroad track that splits off into two different directions. Our two worlds followed the same path until one pivotal instant in their journeys.

The more specific you can be, the better. Something like “What if Nazis won World War II” has a lot of moving parts. Instead, consider what would have happened if a boat filled with allied soldiers on their way to battle had sprung a leak and sunk, or what would have happened if a referendum vote went a different way. What butterfly effect would reverberate from this moment?

For example, Dominion by C.J Sansom uses a political election as its catalyst. In this story, Lord Halifax becomes the British prime minister in 1940 instead of Winston Churchill. One simple change creates an entirely different outcome.

History is filled with unsung heroes — and villains. Alternate history is an opportunity to explore how one person’s seemingly inconsequential actions can have a sensational or devastating effect.

Research voraciously

For alternate history to work, it needs to be convincing. Even though you can’t actually travel to an alternate reality and see how things turn out for yourself, you need to be able to bring your story world to life for your reader. This means learning everything you can about the singular event you’ve chosen to change, as well as the time period it occurred in and the real-world ramifications of the event. How would everyday culture be affected? What about staples like food and clothing? For example, both food (especially meat) and fabrics were heavily rationed during World War II. If the war had turned out differently, would the restrictions have continued longer? Would they still be in effect today? How would people have adapted to new regulations and laws? In order for you to create an informed and authentic world (more on that below), you’ll need to develop a solid understanding of its foundations in real historical fact. In other words: first learn the rules, then break them.

Determine your protagonist

No matter how experimental our narratives become, all good stories are about one thing: people. Characters thrown into challenging circumstances and surviving as best they can with what they’ve been given. An interesting world is only as interesting as its central character. Decide which figure, out of the countless possibilities in this timeline, you want to explore. Then, all your usual character development work applies: What does this person want? What do they need? What’s standing in their way? What matters to them most in the world? Etc, etc. The core themes and messages you’re trying to communicate through your alternate history story will only resonate with the reader if you convey them through a human lens. That’s why your story needs a compelling character.

Build your story world

It’s time to develop your setting. You’ve done the research — now you get to give it your own spin. Consider things like the development of machinery and technology; travel and land borders; gender, race, and social structures; the use of media, medicine, and so forth. How would these things be different as a result of your historical catalyst? It can be helpful to brainstorm your worldbuilding through a mind map technique. For each stage in your world’s development, write down all of the different effects that would come out of it and where each of these effects would lead. Once you have the structure of your alternate world in place, you can start moving your characters around in it. This is where you find the plot.

Don’t neglect the narrative arc

You may have a fantastic idea for an alternate history novel, but remember: an idea is not a story. You still need to make space for all your usual suspects: the inciting incident, the midpoint, the climax, the central conflict, a dynamic character arc. When your story reaches its inevitable conclusion, you need to decide if this world begins to shift back towards the one we know, or diverges even further away. Do the events of the story lead the characters to the sorts of choices that were made in our reality? Or do the characters deviate even further down their respective paths? How you plan out your story is up to you. Some writers like to meticulously outline their stories in advance; others like to discover what happens as they go. Your writing process can be as structured or as organic as you like. Now, go forth and explore the unknown.

Fija Callaghan is an author, poet, and a content editor with The History Quill. She is also The History Quill’s community manager. Her work has been shortlisted and longlisted for a number of short story prizes, and you can find her writing in publications like Gingerbread House, Crow & Cross Keys, Corvid Queen, and Mythic Magazine. When not writing or helping other writers get the best out of their work, she can be found haunting her local bookshops or watching the tide come in.

Do you write historical fiction?

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