This page is a collection of links to various essays and articles dealing with the possible pitfalls an author of alternate history might experience while working on his scenario/timeline.

• "Musings on..." - The essays of Ian Montgomerie about various popular AH concepts and plots. Includes musings on plausibility, problems with the use of exposition and evil empires in AH fiction, the tricks of writing about crosstime travel and contact between different timelines - and much more. Highly recommended.

• So, You Want To Write A Timeline ? at Antony Mayer's site
• Problematic Aspects of Alternate History - Some Often Overlooked Considerations by Grey Wolf (under the name “Wolverine”), published at the Infinity Wanderers site (archived via archive.org, an additional link to an AH.com backup is available here)
• The Fractions of Perceptibly Different Alternate Timelines at Tony Jones' sci-fi site (Some sciency thoughts on how many alternate timelines will be the same, from a human perspective.)

• Toynbee, A. J. (1969). Three Lives. Some Problems of Greek History (pp. 418–487). Oxford: Oxford University Press - Famous British historian Arnold Toynbee's articles If Ochus and Philip had Lived On and If Alexander the Great had Lived On, from a book of essays entitled Some Problems in Greek History. Recommended by Leo Caesius : “To me, these two essays remain the best models for historical counterfactuals, examined and explained concisely and well…”

Alternate History Clichés

HELP : How To Write A Timeline

The Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility

Useful Discussions on Writing

AH.com Specialists 1 & AH.com Specialists 2 - Lists of board members who might be able to help you with various historical questions while you're writing your timeline.

Alternate History Topics Section Main Directory