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alternate_history:how_to_tl [2019/03/17 08:32] – [Presentation] petike | alternate_history:how_to_tl [2020/05/28 18:52] – [Discussions on writing timelines] petike |
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- //**[[offtopic:Petike]]'s advice:**//\\ | - //**[[offtopic:Petike]]'s advice:**//\\ |
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Choose the name of your timeline or story //carefully//. There's nothing more annoying than picking up a generic-sounding or cliché-sounding name for your writing project. One particular area I'd like to advise about are "push-button names" - names based on tired paraphrases of a popular idiom or existing name template. They occur both in AH fiction and more general fiction. Some notorious examples out of many: "Fear, Loathing and... [something, something]" (Hunter S. Thompson reference), the use of the word "Camelot" in Kennedy-related US political/biographical timelines, "Lands of [something] and [something]" (basically, copycating Jared's //[[timelines:Lands of Red and Gold]]// for other [[timelines:agricultural timelines|agriculture-themed TLs]]), "For Want of A [something, something]" (paraphrase of the famous idiom "For want of a nail" and [[For Want of A Nail|Sobel's eponymous novel]]). Please avoid these. By this point, they are beyond cliché...\\ | Choose the name of your timeline or story //carefully//. There's nothing more annoying than picking up a generic-sounding or cliché-sounding name for your writing project. You do want your readers to be able to differentiate your story from other stories immediately, and not spend a whole minute pondering whether this story is the same or different than a very similarly named story. Therefore, one particular area I'd like to advise against are "push-button titles". These are titles based on tired paraphrases of a popular idiom or an existing name template. They occur both in AH fiction and more general fiction. Some //notorious examples// of lazy push-button titles on AH.com, out of many:\\ |
| - "Fear, Loathing and... [something, something]" (Hunter S. Thompson reference)\\ |
| - the use of the word "Camelot" in Kennedy-related US political/biographical timelines\\ |
| - "Lands of [something] and [something]" (basically, copycating Jared's //[[timelines:Lands of Red and Gold]]// for other [[timelines:agricultural timelines|agriculture-themed TLs]])\\ |
| - "For Want of A [something, something]" (paraphrase of the famous idiom "For want of a nail" and [[For Want of A Nail|Sobel's eponymous novel]])\\ |
| Please //avoid these//. By this point, they are beyond cliché...\\ |
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- //**[[offtopic:Petike]]'s advice:**//\\ | - //**[[offtopic:Petike]]'s advice:**//\\ |
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**[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/how-do-you-plan-a-timeline-without-getting-lost-in-the-detail.390034/|How do you plan a timeline without getting lost in the detail ?]]** - Advice thread. | **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/how-do-you-plan-a-timeline-without-getting-lost-in-the-detail.390034/|How do you plan a timeline without getting lost in the detail ?]]** - Advice thread. |
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| **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/how-do-you-organize-research-data-for-a-timeline.489682/|How do you organize research data for a timeline?]]** - Advice thread. Organising notes. |
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**[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/i-wanna-write-a-tl-but.411855/|I wanna write a TL, but...]]** - Advice thread. Dealing with writer's block. | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/i-wanna-write-a-tl-but.411855/|I wanna write a TL, but...]]** - Advice thread. Dealing with writer's block. |