Alt History is kind of a touchy subject. People love to do it in Sci-Fi as it makes for an easy cop-out when it comes to world design. When you have great writers like Jack McDevitt, Robert Heinlienn and even Tom Clancy, who go out and make these massive universes that most of their books conform to, it's hard to match up with something like that. Tolkien is a great example as well.
I've never really taken Alt History with much respect after I read through "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". Guns of the South was like an 80s movie turned into a book. Originally it was a short story and they worked to try and lengthen it into a novel. Felt too patched together for my tastes.
Anyway, if you don't have much in the way of writing experience, starting out with alt history is as good of a place as any I suppose. The Cold War is kind of an interesting subject idea however. 1986 is when the cold war really started to close, not the middle. The middle was around the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. That was probably the closest we were to an actual war.
Glad to know I'm starting in the right place. Oh, and I guess your right looking back on it -the middle really would have been around the Cuban Missile Crisis...so maybe I could still have it in 1986 and put something like -"The Cold War was winding down, but new information from the future adds kindling to a dying fire."
so how bout this: In 2020 a top secret Navy scientific project accidentally transports a multinational fleet led by U.S. Naval assets to 1986 -the Cold War was winding down, but new information from the future adds kindling to a dying fire. Information has made it to both the hands of the NATO countries...and the USSR. With immediate threat of the Red Curtain casting a shadow over western Europe -suspense builds, battle begins...and history is changed.
holy crap! That sounds like 76 percent better than my original!!:thumbup:
I will try to work on this novel/novella as much as possible, but keep in mind people that I have an entire semester to do this...but I plan on finishing it a little before that. I'll probably have it done by Christmas Break, so you guys can see it.
the only problem is... I can't just post God knows how many chapters worth of information on here -so should I have an attachment to a word document?
