Alternate Fates: Creative Retellings of Historical Lives
What Alternate Fates Reveal About Us
Think of recorded history as one trail among many; by walking side paths in story, we notice the fragile contingencies that shaped real lives—and might still shape ours.
Cleopatra, The Uncrowned Scholar of Alexandria
Instead of defeat, a precarious treaty lets Cleopatra keep Alexandria’s autonomy. The palace becomes a council hall, and the queen sharpens her Greek, Egyptian, and diplomacy.
Tesla, Partner of Pragmatism
In a rented room, Tesla signs a modest contract exchanging a percentage of patents for managerial discipline. The light flickers, and the future hums more steadily for everyone.
Joan of Arc, Veteran Strategist
Clerics barter exile for life. Joan studies supply chains and letters of marque, learning that feeding cavalry sometimes wins wars more quietly than trumpets, banners, and oaths.
Crafting Credible What-Ifs
Anchor Points and Evidence
Start with undisputed dates, letters, and habits. Choose a single plausible pivot, then trace consequences through economics, technology, geography, and personality constraints with care.
Voice, Texture, and Respect
Let diaries, recipes, and street sounds color your pages. Avoid caricature; complexity honors the dead and keeps readers inside the fragile reality you’re inviting them to inhabit.
Invite Peer Review
Post a paragraph, ask for sources you missed, and repay critiques. Our community prizes curiosity, humility, and edits that make alternates sturdier, kinder, and more surprising.
Ethics for Alternate Fates
When dealing with recent figures or traumatic events, weigh privacy and community impact. Frame your divergences with care, foregrounding dignity over shock value, spectacle, or exploitation.
Ethics for Alternate Fates
Signal where the fork happens and why it remains plausible. Footnote influences, acknowledge biases, and invite readers to examine your scaffolding as part of the storytelling craft.
Prompt of the Week
Write twelve sentences where Ada Lovelace receives sustained funding into midlife. How do her notebooks change factories, classrooms, and household machines across decades of tinkering?
Publish, Respond, Grow
Post your piece in the thread, leave two generous critiques, and revise. Growth comes from iteration, not luck; we celebrate drafts as living experiments worth returning to.