by Daniel Ottalini

Alternate History is one of the most interesting genres available to writers today. Yet, building a believable alternate history timeline to integrate into your own novel or novel series can be a chore in both research and delivery. If you’re not sure what alternate history is, you’re not alone! Alternate history is a branch of historical fiction & fantasy / science fiction writing. It explores what might have happened had certain specific historical events, figures or situations had existed or happened differently. 

Alternate history incorporates real history while also integrating a point of divergence. This key part is a specific place where the original timeline (OTL - also referred to as Our Time Line) has changed. Some popular current examples include Man in the High Castle, the Fallout Universe and the Last Of Us.

You’ll often find several common tropes linked into alternate history, such as the South winning the Civil War, a change in victor for WWI, WWII, the Cold War, etc.. But others exist as well. The assassination (or non assassination) of famous individuals such as Elvis or Abraham Lincoln, or a change in exploration or discovery by certain individuals (What if all our cars had been electric from their earliest invention?). This is how alternate history can be a wonderful introduction and change to a story.

For clarity’s sake, just retelling a story from a different person’s point of view (such as the Killer Angels series about the Civil War, or Band of Brothers) is simply historical fiction, even if the character is an author creation. To get true alternate history, you have to have a different outcome that impacts the timeline.

A Point of Divergence

So what about that point of divergence? All too often, authors feel like it has to be big. Big changes are easy to identify for the reader. But I would argue that smaller changes leading to bigger changes provide the reader with more to dig into. It also is much more believable.

In the universe of my series, the Steam Empire Chronicles, the Roman Empire still exists. The divergent point centers around the non-assassination of Julius Caesar, but like a branch on a tree growing in a different direction, that isn’t the primary focus of the series. The series focuses on the challenges to the empire in OTL around the 1850s. But that original change led to many others. Brutus turns in the conspirators rather than join them, as he was Caesar’s best friend. This allows Julius Caesar to avoid a civil war, triggering additional changes down the line. 

So if you’re planning on writing an alternate history novel or short story, you’ll have to decide on your point of divergence, but also on your novel’s focus. Is it on the ‘grand new historical narrative’ as it happens, or are your characters looking back on it in bits and pieces? This gives you more freedom as a writer.

You don’t have to explain every bit and piece of history that has happened since your point of divergence if you don’t want to. Sometimes, it’s just enough to live in that world later on and deal with the repercussions. Harry Turtledove & S.M. Stirling have written a multitude of alternate history series, some dealing with the immediate timeline around a point of divergence (What if all technology failed at this particular point & time) and afterward (How would Europe look if Charlemagne had been defeated some three hundred years ago?).

Including Real People

Another serious question to ask yourself is how will you incorporate OTL personalities? Are they major parts of the novel? Side players, or not included at all? Generally, the farther you get from a point of divergence, the fewer major players from our own timeline will be involved. The wonderful thing is they don’t have to be major parts. This is where doing your research really comes into play.

In my own novels, there are no famous historical figures at all, because the major point of divergence is nearly two thousand years before the events in the plot. Yet in Harry Harrison’s Stars & Stripes trilogy about an alternate history British involvement in the American civil war, all the major historical players take center stage for all three books. The biggest thing to consider here is simply ‘is what this famous person doing in this alternate timeline plausible?’. This depends on so many factors it's hard to list them all out, but consider this - what if Elvis had remained in the army rather than rejoin society? How would that have changed history? Seemingly minor, but potential, well, song changing!

So you’ve got your point of divergence, your main players, and your plot - now what? Well, you need to decide how three key areas may have changed (Or may be changing, if you’re writing about the point of divergence itself).

Geopolitical

First, geopolitical repercussions; do different leaders rise or fall? Do different countries exist because of this point of divergence? What if Montezuma’s young daughter and heir to the Aztec empire had converted but then led a revolution among his former subjects? Would we see an independent Mexico more quickly? How might a last minute series of stops in the rust belt have impacted Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the 2016 presidential election? In the Steam Empire Chronicles, the current emperor can trace his lineage back to Julius Caesar himself (or claims to), and while the Empire still exists, there are major ‘new world’ empires facing off against their sparse colonies in OTL North & South America. 

Economy & Technology

The second thing to consider is economy & technology. Some technologies are born from conflict. A world with less conflict tends to develop different technologies. My Romans have trains & airships but no guns because their legion model and steam powered war machines don’t need additional them. Adding gunpowder explosives to their artillery was considered risky enough. Large empires tend to stagnate, but new technologies can also lead to new economic opportunities & costs. These provide so many wonderful story options. You don’t have to explain how everything works, but the reasoning behind them - ‘Airships make it easier to travel among the far flung components of the empire’ can give you ideas about what might be prioritized. 

Society & Culture

Finally, society & culture are additional cornerstones of in-depth alternate history. Especially considering the change (or lack of change) in the economy & technology above, how is your society handling the changes? Many people don’t like a lot of change very quickly, leading to strikes, riots, and generally anger among the populace. If they have a voice in government, you’ll have political disagreements as well. If not, you’ll likely have a rebellion on your hands soon enough. Religion(s) is included in this, and can be a cornerstone of your story. It all depends on what you focus on in your storyline. 

A warning and a reminder though - just because good alternate history should touch on all these areas doesn’t mean you have to explore each one in depth! Unless you’re writing a history book of your alternate world, you won’t have the time or reasoning to touch base on everything. Better to leave it as small snippets of the story worked into your writing.

For example, I waited three books to barely touch base on how religion has changed in the empire. It wasn’t important in earlier books, so it didn’t need to have a focus! Show, don’t tell with your writing. It’s always fine to save some ‘holes’ in the writing for later. Alternate history thrives on the what ifs, and making them believable makes your story one for a new age. 

What are the "What ifs" in your worldbuilding?

About Daniel

Daniel Ottalini is the author of The Steam Empire Series, a fantastical Roman-Steampunk Alternate History story brought to life in his award-winning debut novel, Brass Legionnaire. Daniel has been an avid reader all his life, starting at the grand old age of three. As a young boy, his room was overflowing with books, trains, airplanes, and toy soldiers. Since publishing his first novel, Daniel has gone on to publish four more, Copper Centurion, Iron Tribune, Steel Praetorian and Laurel Emperor. In addition, he has published several novellas. He’s also branched out into writing up his Dungeons and Dragons Campaign ideas, characters, and story write-ups.

When not writing in his minuscule free time, Daniel is a full-time teacher. He lives in Maryland with a large supply of writing paper, plastic toy soldiers, and resource books and his wife.

Modern Papyrus - www.danielottalini.com

If you like what you’ve read, I encourage you to check out my own award winning Alternate History Series. You can get Legion Rising (Books 1-3 of the Steam Empire Chronicles) though Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and D2D (as well as all other platforms) and Shattered Crown (Books 4-5, plus the prequel The Last Gladiator) through Amazon, B&N and D2D as well. I also encourage you to come visit my blog and check out my Roleplaying Game (RPG) projects as well. I’ll be at the Maryland Renaissance Festival for a book signing on Labor Day Weekend if you’re in the Mid-Atlantic. Thanks so much for reading, and I look forward to your comments!

Top image by Deleyna via Midjourney.

It’s Not Too Late to Redirect Yourself

by Robin Blakely

So here we are, already past the halfway mark of the year.

A lot of pages in the day planner have been written out. Looking back at them, we can see that it’s been quite an adventure so far… and for many of us, the story so far isn’t turning out at all as we hoped. We have somehow made it to the middle. But the plot is clearly sagging, and the characters aren’t nearly as sparkly as we imagined they’d be.

So, if your life were a book, what would you do here and now?

You know the write answer: Redirect. Rewrite. Recommit.

The middle of the year isn’t the end of the road—it’s the turning point. The next chapter of your life—your writing, your work, your wonder—can still surprise you. As writers, we are by nature dreamers. We were made to imagine things that haven’t happened yet. We’re fluent in possibility. We know how to picture big things that don’t yet exist, things that are hard to make happen, things the world doesn’t always welcome.

That’s not a flaw. That’s our gift to the world…and the world truly needs a good protagonist.  Spoiler alert: in your life story, that’s you.

This week, I lived that by sitting in a weird business meeting where do-or-die changes were required for a company. I shared my written ideas with clarity and passion. I was then quite harshly reprimanded for thinking differently, doing things differently, imagining the end of the company’s story differently. I sat in a tense room filled with considerable discomfort with the most surprising feeling about the feedback. The angry remarks shot at me were meant to shame. But in the writing world, you and I know that accusations of thinking differently are actually badges of honor. So, Thank you for the feedback. I would never wish to be seen any other way.

Here’s the truth: thinking differently is what creative people do. At the beginning of this year, you probably saw the future differently than how it is turning out. If your goals have gone quiet…if the year hasn’t gone the way you’d hoped…this is your invitation: Redirect, not retreat. You still have time.

Here are a few steps to get things rolling toward the destination you choose:

Step 1: Revisit Your Original Goals

What did you want back in January?

Look at the goals you wrote down…or the ones you carried quietly in your heart.

Ask yourself:

• Were my goals too vague?
• Too bold?
• Or maybe… right on time?

As creatives, our goals (like our creative works) often come in layered dreams—not just word counts or deadlines, but deeply personal visions. At this mid-year point, some of those dreams still want your attention. Others may have shifted—and revising what you want now is fine. Shifting your goals isn’t giving up. It’s editing. Writers revise. So do dreamers.

Step 2: Celebrate the Wins (Even the Small Ones)

We all tend to minimize our creative progress. “I only wrote a little.”  “I haven’t published anything yet.” But showing up at all in a world that tries to silence creative thought? That’s a win. Did you try something new? Start a routine? Say no to something that drained you? These are not small things. They’re milestones. Celebrate them. And here’s a big one: Did you survive mean-spirited discouragement with your creativity intact? That’s a major victory.

Step 3: Get Honest About the Gap

This isn’t about blame—it’s about awareness. What’s causing the gap between you and the goals for your creative career? Is it overwhelm? Fear? Uncertainty? Isolation? Competing priorities? Did you fail to even treat your writing work as a real career?

Each week, pay attention to the gap. Ask yourself: Did I move one step closer to what I want? If you are not sure about the gap, it is often because your goals are not quite clear enough.

Step 4: Refocus and Refine Your Goals

Now is the season to refine your creative fire. Choose up to three goals that truly matter—and light them up with clarity.

• Maybe it’s writing one short story or writing one chapter a month.
• Maybe it’s submitting your work to a developmental editor.
• Maybe it’s carving out an hour each weekend to make something just because.

Make your goals specific. Make them visible. And make sure they feed your spirit—not just your productivity tracker.

Step 5: Create a Check-In System in Writing and With People

Writers know the power of deadlines—not just external ones, but the kind we set for ourselves. Look back at the first half of the year with the creative eye of a writer doing meaningful research.

• What helped you stay on track?
• How can you build more of that into your routine?

No need for a fancy app. A sticky note or a dry erase board—it all works.

The goal is simple: look at your dreams often.

In that weird business meeting I mentioned, I wasn’t just defending my ideas to the folks in the meeting—I was defending creative thought itself. That meeting reminded me how exhausting it can be to explain yourself to people who only trust what’s familiar—even if it’s broken. Sometimes the gap holding us back is not having the right people walking beside us. They do not need to be literally beside us every day. Mine are across town and across the country—a phone call or zoom link away.

So: find your people. They are the ones who also think in stories and metaphors. The ones who don’t flinch when you dream aloud. Dreams happen when we’re seen and heard by people who get us and try to understand. Sometimes we just need someone to mirror our dreams back to us so we can see who we are and what we are doing more clearly.

Step 6: Make Room for Grace

Creativity doesn’t run on perfect timelines. It comes in rocket bursts. It spirals. It has the most fun coming alive when we make space for it.

Half the year is over. Half the year is still ahead. Give yourself grace to shift, to rest, to begin again. That’s not failure. That’s stamina.

So, if you’re behind? Breathe.
If you’re tired? Pause.
If you’re lost? Write your way back.

This is the part of the story where the protagonist regroups.

Your Story, Your Dreams, Your Goal Isn’t Over…Yet

Let's talk about how your goals for the year are shaping up in the comments.

About Robin

A top business coach with an extensive background in books, brand development, and strategic planning, Robin Blakely is the CEO of Creative Center of America.

She is the author of four business books, which include PR Therapy and Six Hats. Thanks to SCORE and the US Small Business Administration, three of her national webinars are available on-demand for free to anyone starting a creative business.

Top photo by Deleyna via Canva.

by Ellen Buikema

For the last few months I have been close to noncommunicative, making my home into a cave. I have been no fun. The reason? A nasty case of shingles. Luckily for me, I am married to a saint.

I am allergic to the vaccine for shingles, so there wasn’t much I could do. A whopping case of misery was my fate. Much of my head was affected including an eye, causing intense itching and pain. Reading was a not an option.

All the cohosts of Writers In The Storm blog were super supportive, and together they covered my responsibilities while keeping up with their own work. Jenny Hansen was the first one in the group to mention audiobooks and suggested one book in particular that had several elements in common with my work in progress. Olivia Hawker’s October in the Earth was just that and gave me several things to ponder that will make The Hobo Code a better book.

Before listening to Jenny’s suggested audiobook, I listened to Skin Game by Jim Butcher. When I was younger and in need of escape I’d read through the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These days, I delve into Jim Butcher’s Dresden books instead.

Audiobooks for travel

Have you ever driven along a dreary, flat two-lane road or a country highway for hours at a time? Growing up in Illinois, that happened a lot. Driving past unending rows of corn on a straight country road can be hypnotizing and dangerous. Listening to audiobooks can keep the driver alert and less likely to become drowsy at the wheel.

Depending on where you live and work you might have a long car commute. In which case, having an audiobook to listen to can make the drive seem faster.

Eline from Lovely Audiobooks has compiled a list of what she considers great audiobooks for road trips, 36 Best Audiobooks For Road Trips - The Uncorked Librarian. They cover a plethora of genres—fiction as well as nonfiction.

Audiobooks build listening skills

Before television there was radio. No moving pictures, just audio with our imagination to fill in an inner vision.

Back in the day people would gather close to the radio and listen to news, commercials, stories, serials, and music. Listening is more than hearing. You must pay attention to what you are hearing. It’s an active process that requires conscious effort—a learned skill that takes practice. Attending a play helps build listening skills, so do audiobooks.

I knew very little about the audiobook Jenny suggested, other than it had information in it about hobos. Beginning the audiobook, I wondered if I would be able to keep focused, listening to a long book and not nod off.

The writer did such a fine job with the narrative that I had no trouble finding myself within the story, as if I were there, watching the scenes. Now I have some major rewriting to do for The Hobo Code, but it will be a much better book. Thank you, Jenny and Olivia!

Children’s listening skills

The Audio Publishers Association suggests that audiobooks help “build and enhance vital literacy skills such as fluency, vocabulary, language acquisition, pronunciation, phonemic awareness, and comprehension—skills that often boost reading scores.”

Brain scans done at UC Berkeley showed that the stories stimulated the same cognitive and emotional areas, whether print books or audiobooks. Either way, you are still absorbing information. For people with dyslexia or other reading disabilities, audiobooks may be a useful tool to access literature.

Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Is it cheating?

The answer to those questions come from your definition of reading. If reading is understanding what the story is about, then audiobooks do well. The ability to take printed text and associate letters with sounds is important in learning to read. But, understanding the content, thinking critically about the message or story, using imagination, and making connections is at the core of being a reader and why children learn to enjoy books.

Audiobooks may improve our health

Audiobooks may improve happiness and health. Some people find that listening to an audiobook before bed relaxes them, making falling asleep easier. Much like being read to before bedtime as a child. I used to tell my psychology students that reading to a child is the next best thing to a hug. I still feel that is true.

If you listen to a book instead of reading from an eBook you’re less likely to stare at a screen and be exposed to blue light before bedtime. Blue light can mess with your sleep-wake cycle and suppress melatonin production.

It’s also been shown that audiobooks help improve symptoms of depression, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsiveness in the elderly population.

Final thoughts

I found listening to audiobooks a great way to immerse myself into a new world.

In this form of media listeners use the author and narrator/voice actor to help create mental pictures of characters and situations thereby creating a new world. Listening to a narrator’s voice, complete with intonations and occasional sound effects, can captivate the imagination.

It’s fantastic for anyone needing a mental break from daily stress and wonderful for those who, for whatever the reason, find themselves unable to read.

Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks? Do you have a favorite? Have you ever planned to purchase an audiobook but decide not to buy it because you disliked the voice actor?

* * * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works in Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and The Crystal Key, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi, a glaze of time travel.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by David from Pixabay