CastilloVerde
Active member
‘Uncommon AH Tropes and Story Ideas’.
Some ideas:By the way, I probably wasn't the clearest when I said "Uncommon AH Tropes and Story Ideas", seeing as I wasn't really after exotic PODs as much this time. Rather, I was thinking unique world-building and authorial decision-making writers might integrate into their TLs — regardless of what the base idea is.
AH cartography: Most timelines rarely include maps. Even fewer feature detailed cartogrphy. Cartography is great because this allow the reader to get a better understanding of the scenario and the ATL world simply by looking at a map.
Original artwork: Similar to above. But as the cliché goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Extended description of AH developments in culture, architecture, religion, etc.: This is appropriate for any TL, but more so for TLs with a POD before the modern period. Any TL with ATL descriptions of these, quite frankly, are much better to immerse myself. I like to read about alternative cultural developments. Improved world-building makes me more interested to read a TL so much more. Most TLs, instead, focus primarily on the military and political aspects of the ATL, which is understandable since that's how much of history is presented in popular works. However, to me, there is something "missing" from the ATL if the story is only about war and politics. It feels incomplete in some ways. I'm not saying that TLs only about war and politics are bad, I simply wish more TLs could discuss other aspects of the world besides war and politics.
I think why these ideas (along with the other ideas I listed earlier) are uncommon is because these are either rather difficult to create or too time-consuming to do much. Creating another language, for example, is well beyond the patience of most people. I feel the same way! These aspects would certainly improve the world-building and make the AH world feel more "complete", I completely agree. But, most authors are simply hobbyists. People, unfortunately, simply do not have the time to add these other details so they focus on telling the main story.For instance, maybe some AH colanging, in which authors literally create languages that either never emerged or developed quite differently IOTL, such as fleshing out how a more "Germanic" English — or, I suppose, "Anglish" — might look, in a world where the Normans never invaded England. Or, perhaps, writing the TL from the perspective of people literally living in that world, such as "False Documents" TLs that compile lots of in-universe memoirs, history books, and other documents without relying on omniscient, third-person narration. Those sorts of things was what I was getting at, so apologies if I was unclear earlier.