A Note on Alternative History

One of the main driving forces creatively for Vicendum is that much of this world is derived from the creation of "alternate" or "alternative" history. "Alternative history", for those who are not aware of the concept, is a genre of speculative fiction where the author changes an event or several events that occurred in "real" history and then "re-imagines" the world having developed with those changes in mind. It is important to differentiate the topic from the concept of revisionist history, which is simply looking at "real" history from a different perspective.
Because Vicendum has elements of alternative history, it will generate interest among the alternative history community. Now, it is not my intention to write this piece to attack that community or to provide specific defenses of criticisms that may be raised about how Vicendum approaches alternative history.
Rather, this piece is a clarification of where, exactly, Vicendum fits within the broader milieu of alternative history and speculative fiction as a whole.
== Notes ==
# The basic rule for any piece of speculative fiction- be it alternate history, science fiction, fantasy, etc.- is maintaining an internal consistency. This means that "the world" behaves via an explainable rationale- that is, how things work in one chapter work the same way in the next one, unless there's a valid explanation for why things are different. "Realism" isn't as important as maintaining a consistent logic within the storytelling- audiences are more likely to be taken out of the story because the writer didn't properly explain their plot point, not because it's not "realistic".
# The bulk of Vicendum's actual stories occur "in the present day"- or, rather, a different world at the same date and time as our world except with a different historical narrative. Therefore the history of Vicendum, while vital to understanding the world as a whole and can "inform" how characters and governments act in the world, is not the "central piece" to the stories. I try to ensure that I have the history of Vicendum explained where I need to explain it and I don't sweat out too much where it is not necessary.
# Though I have a degree- with Honours- in the study of history (from York University in Toronto, Ontario) alongside the fact that many elements within Vicendum came about through extensive research (research that is ongoing and probably will never end), I am not claiming that Vicendum is a world that is a "definitive" look at how the world would be different if the changes that I made to our "real" history actually took place. Rather, Vicendum is simply my interpretation of how things would have gone, with creative licenses used throughout so that I can tell what I believe is the best possible story that I can tell. I do it in this way because, ultimately, I am a storyteller and I am more interested in presenting a compelling story than making sure I have every, exact, minute detail right. I will strive to make sure I have as many details as I can right, but I am not going to overburden myself with the task when it is more important to write a good story.
# Anyone who does claim that they have a "definitive" answer to how things would have gone had certain events in real history been different is, frankly, flat out lying. The answer here is threefold:
## It's an old adage to state that it's impossible to anticipate real history. While it is true that alternate history writers have the benefit of hindsight given that we can draw upon actual people and actual actions that happened after the author's "point of divergence", it should go almost without saying that there's no guarantee that a historical figure would necessarily act in a certain way if that person now has to deal with an alternative reality. Ultimately, predicting anyone's behaviour is merely intellectual guesswork.
## Despite popular opinion, there are plenty of events, people, periods, etc. that are in recorded history that are unknown or poorly understood. We don't have a "complete" record of what happened in our real history (and we're not even close to getting that) and we probably never actually will, because many artifacts and documents have been lost. At some point, the alternate history writer will need to use their own imagination to "fill in the blanks" and while some will be better at it than others, no one can claim they can accomplish this task with 100% accuracy.
## Real history is full of events and actions that, if looked at with any kind of rationalization or logic, would not make any sense, as well as the fact that there are many times within our real history that people at the time would have thought were impossible. Just a few points off the top of my head:
### Read any science fiction book from the 19th or early 20th centuries and tell me how much the authors' idea of "the future" actually happened. Some were more accurate than others, but no one was 100%.
### The real Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse in the first century BCE, overrun by near constant civil wars amongst quarrelling politicians. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who'd think Rome would last that much longer, let alone become a powerful state in the aftermath, but the real Romans, more or less, maintained their dominance over the Mediterranean world for the next 500 years.
### The walls of Constantinople were seen as "impenetrable", as no one had managed to breach them for over 1,000 years (except in the Fourth Crusade, but treachery was involved in that one). In 1451, upon ascending the throne for the Ottoman Turks, Mehmed II was told it was a fool's game to try to take Constantinople. Two years later, the Turks breached the walls and took the city rather easily.
### Ask anyone in the late 1930s how long they think the German Reich would last or anyone in the 1950s how long they would think the Soviet Union would last and you'd likely get the answer that both states would last forever. The Reich- after appearing strong early in World War II- didn't even last 12 years, and the Soviet Union collapsed suddenly and dramatically in 1991, a mere 38 years after Josef Stalin died.
# Ultimately, it's more important to write a coherent, entertaining story than it is to make sure you have a narrative that is as "realistic" as possible. There's a rule in writing that states writers need to explain only what needs explaining because audiences will check out if they get bogged down in too much detail. While realism can add depth to the story, remember that if the story isn't engaging, the realism will be useless. Therefore, the writer should focus on writing a story that is engaging because if the audience is entertained, truth be told, they can buy just about anything.
== See also ==
*Backgrounder Main Page
Category:Backgrounders