10 Worst Mistakes AH Authors Make (io9)

[Greg Grant]

http://io9.com/5884879/10-worst-mistakes-that-authors-make-in-alternate-history

I want to thank io9.com for pandering and not getting it at the same time.

As many have already pointed out in this thread - why does it have to brought up to the present? If the POD is set many years in the past, and the story of how that POD came about and its consequences occur in the same time period, then why must the story be sped up into the future, or epilogue to neatly tie everything up? "Fatherland" says nothing about how the world is impacted by the events of the revelations of the Holocaust, and it neatly contained within a week (I think) of 1964.

The Columbus thing was mindblowing in its idiocy. "So, hey, like, Columbus disappears, man, and it's, like, there's gonna be another Columbus, right? But, he's *another* Columbus, ya dig?" No sh*t. Who is the audience for this article? People who have no idea what is AH? Mainstream AHers who don't know the details? Giving would be AH writers out there pointers on how to do it right? Well, failure accomplished. The dumb ones won't get it based on a couple of trivial koans, and the smart ones have to be annoyed.

I lovingly adore the idea of wikipedia rule of thumb for writing. "Hey man, if you like don't know what you're writing about, then, like, hey - don't write about it. Oh, and hey, like tell a story, man. Right? Am I right? And be like, you know, specific, and general, and make sure there's Poochie there. People like Poochie. Am I right? Get in here, HT, and tell 'em like it is."

io9.com is like the sci-fi bleacher report. Can't wait for Top 99 Hottest AH Female Characterz of All Time, written by a slumming (?) Maxim freelancer.

 

[MacCaulay]

Honestly, I pretty much only agree with 3, 2, and 1.

10 is definitely rubbish.

I don't understand how people can read an amazing AH story where someone manages to rethink the genre in some new and amazing way to tell us more about ourselves as people, then they stand back and say "BUT THAT WASNT REALISTICALLY REAL IN A REALISTIC WAY! ASB! ASB!".

It's not a history book. Stories are more interesting the timelines, in my opinion, anyway.

 

[Michael B]

I kind of feel that the worst mistake AH authors make is to commercially publish in the long form, rather than serially publishing for free on community forums.

If they publish in long form they might get paid. If they publish for free they are not going to make a bean.

In addition, not withstanding certain authors, putting material through an publisher winnows out some of the crap that has been written. An author with short stories in a number of ezines, I now never put out anything that does not pass an editor. Yes, I publish less, but in my view it means that I am only putting out good stuff.

That is not to say that I don't comment on stuff here. I do. However, I was going to write serious stuff on par with my fantasy stories I would want it to properly reviewed first.

 

[Southpaw]

Honestly, I pretty much only agree with 3, 2, and 1.

10 is definitely rubbish.

I don't understand how people can read an amazing AH story where someone manages to rethink the genre in some new and amazing way to tell us more about ourselves as people, then they stand back and say "BUT THAT WASNT REALISTICALLY REAL IN A REALISTIC WAY! ASB! ASB!".

It's not a history book. Stories are more interesting the timelines, in my opinion, anyway.

While 1 is indeed most important, one of things which appeals to me in a lot of AH is the thought that the scenario envisioned could actually have happened had just a few things gone differently. This can range from disappointment to massive relief.