Tuesday, September 29, 2015

State of the Blog Post #1

It's been about two months since I decided to start a blog, and despite a few ups and downs, I think things have been going well! I've only missed one week, mostly due to the passing of my grandmother, but I've done my best to have something up every Tuesday and Friday. So, go me! I know the "real history" aspect has kind of fallen by the wayside, but I realized a lot of the stuff I was doing was either simply rewriting Wikipedia or talking about stuff that only a few people would be somewhat interested in. So... Alternate history scenarios, rants and other posts away!

Things may start getting a bit hectic in the near future, as just yesterday I started a new job at a local newspaper. I'm going to do my best to keep up with a twice weekly posting schedule, but that may have to change if I just can't write as much as I feel I can. Also may mean that the pictures, as much as I enjoy having them, may be either going away or losing their comments underneath.

Anyway! On to the main reason for this post. Two months might seem like a short or a long time, depending on how you look at it. However, I need some feedback, because I'm not sure what works and what doesn't yet.

So, I have ideas for how I want to develop the blog from here on out. Some of them are for sure, some of them are iffy, some of them are passing moments of fancy.

First, I'm thinking of doing "Theme Months," where all the posts I make that month would be on one topic. So far I have a World War Two and Roman month planned out, and then what ever other ones I may come up with. I was thinking of starting that with the next post on Friday, but I may put it off until November. We shall see.

Another thing I wanted to do was something that caught my interest on the Alternate History Weekly Update, which is "What Happens Next," such as this one based on Harry Turtledove's WorldWar and Colonization series. I'm not sure how that will work out, or if I may just submit a few ideas there, but it's something to think about.

I also wanted to take a stab at trying to write some alternate history based on other media, such as movies, TV shows, video games and books. I already have a few ideas there, but nothing written down yet.

An idea I had was maybe writing more, but shorter scenarios, along the lines of the This Day in Alternate History blog. Most of these would be written up based on suggestions I receive in comments, Twitter, Facebook and email, and would mostly be ideas that I'd think wouldn't require a full length article.

On the opposite side of the coin, I may try my hand at writing full length short stories for this blog. This is one of the ideas I've been debating about for a while, and I could go either way. I might only do this if I achieve my goal of writing a larger work of Alternate history stories, maybe as way of promotion. Again, I don't know.

Lastly, I've also been thinking that maybe someday in the future I could revisit or expand on some of the scenario's I've already been writing about here. This wouldn't be for a while, but something that I will keep in mind, especially many people's comments on things that I never thought of when I wrote the article.

So what do you guys think? I'm always open to more ideas, as the "ideas" part is usually the hardest thing for me. I will most likely be trying all the things I mentioned above at some point or another, but this is sort of a notice that I may be trying new things in the future.

Anyway, I'm writing this late at night (again) when I should be going to sleep. So let me know what you think!


2 comments:

  1. I've really appreciated your brief alternate timelines (even the pictures, hope you can keep at least a few in the future). But I know from experience keeping a regular blog going is tough. Some times you've got lots of ideas, sometimes, not so much.

    I think the theme month is a great idea: not only will it help you as a writer, but also help keep an ongoing discussion in the readership. You won't have to spend nearly as much time giving background info and can instead focus more on the speculation.

    Alternative history in other media is also greatly appreciated, especially if it's done well. AUs in fanfiction sometimes turn me off simply because they're usually used for blatant wish fulfillment of the Mary Sue variety, but I enjoy a well envisioned, grounded AU that actually attempts to keep the narrative of the original media in mind while exploring alternative paths. A great example: I once saw a great timeline on the Alt Hist wiki about the idea of an alternative First Contact for Earth in the Star Trek universe. For that matter, how did the mirror universe develop? Also once read a truly brilliant story about Padme's survival into the original series Star Wars universe and how things actually got worse, not better, as a result. Fun stuff, and I'd love to hear about it on all fronts.

    I think it'd be great to see some short stories set in some of your established timelines, especially if that's part of a theme month. Take a few posts to develop a world structurally (raw facts), then delve into the human/cultural element. I actually have a few of those on my own website that I'd love your thoughts on, and will certainly try to leave reviews here as they're posted.

    ReplyDelete