Alternative History:Guide to good Althist writing

Here's a few hints to writing a good Althist (this is not difinitive though):


 * Points of Divergence (PoDs) - Chose your PoD carefully. Sometimes even the most insignificant change can make a great difference. Also, if one PoD won't work, or the change is too unrealistic, use several PoDs to reinforce the change.
 * Plausability - When writing an althist, always take time to think: "whould that acutally work?".
 * Butterfly effect - PoDs change everything that occurs after it/them. For example:
 * People born after the PoD in our timeline would have a diferent birthday in the other one. People conceived after the PoD would almost certainly never exist.
 * What happens to people's lives would be different following the PoD. Financial situations change, perhaps with the roll of a dice or a toss of a coin.
 * People would die at different dates and/or of different circumstances following the PoD.
 * Don't hesitate to use obscure people. After all, following the PoD, they might have risen to prominence others did over *here*.
 * Don't hesitate to make some people up, should they be born after the PoD. After all, the person that did something *here* some 30 years down the line probably wouldn't exist in the other timeline.
 * Don't forget, since the PoD will change everything after it, the course of events would change (sometimes quite wildly). Use your imagination.
 * Above all else, don't forget to have fun.