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I have a simple question for Alternate History fans:

What people do you feel that it is OK to replace with a fictional counterpart. For example, Lord Nelson can’t be replaced at Trafalgar without explanation, but the captain of an obscure frigate could be replaced with a fictional character to fill the author’s needs. (It might not even be practical to find out who he was, let alone what he was like.)

So—who can be freely replaced prior to the POD without further elaboration? An obscure member of Parliament? A little known general? Where do we draw the line? (After the POD, of course, major characters can be added or subtracted at need…but major ones need justification.

I will create a junior admiral if I need one, or the owner of a business that’s not itself responsible for major changes. (Brill Trolley, Ford, Bethlehem Steel, for example, won’t be changed without explanation, but a small shipping line will be.)

I will not add any warship larger than a numbered patrol boat without explanation, but then, warships are important to me. Nor will I add a new model of tank or fighter plane unless accounted for in the POD. Or far enough after that the butterfly effect will come into play.

I personally prefer not to use people born much after the POD—butterfly effect, again.

The reason for this question is to aid all writers in seeing what jars on people, and what doesn’t.
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