alternate history
What-if storytelling genre
Alternate history is a genre of fiction that imagines how events might have unfolded if history had gone differently at some crucial point: In this alternate history, the South won the Civil War.
The genre explores counterfactuals—what if the Nazis had won, what if Kennedy had survived, what if Rome never fell.
Also called alternative history.
Contrary-to-fact supposition
- speculative fictionGenre of imagined realities
- historical fictionNovels set in actual pasts
- worldbuildingConstructing imaginary universes for fiction
- parallel universeHypothetical coexisting separate reality
time travel · dystopia · science fiction · fantasy · steampunk · dieselpunk · reimagining · revisionism
Small inputs, disproportionate results
- timelineOrdered display of events
- crossroadsMeeting of routes
- turning pointDecisive moment of change
- branchingSplitting into separate directions
counterfactual · what-if · fork · bifurcation · variance · diversion · ripple effect · cascade
Retrofuturistic Victorian science fiction
- dieselpunkRetrofuturism through 1930s aesthetics
- clockpunkGear-based speculative aesthetic
- airshipSteerable lighter-than-atmosphere craft
- zeppelinRigid lighter-than-air craft
dirigible · automaton · Victorian · Edwardian · Jules Verne · H.G. Wells · art deco · rocketship
Hypothetical scenario query
- counterfactualContrary-to-fact supposition
- hypotheticalAssumed but unproven
- conjectureGuess from limited facts
- speculationUnproven theorizing or risky investment
scenario · supposition · thought experiment · theorize · postulate · imagine · extrapolation · historiography
counterfactual
Contrary-to-fact supposition
- speculative fictionGenre of imagined realities
- historical fictionNovels set in actual pasts
- worldbuildingConstructing imaginary universes for fiction
parallel universe · time travel · dystopia · science fiction · fantasy · steampunk · dieselpunk · reimagining · revisionism · pastiche
butterfly effect
Small inputs, disproportionate results
- timelineOrdered display of events
- crossroadsMeeting of routes
- turning pointDecisive moment of change
branching · counterfactual · what-if · fork · bifurcation · variance · diversion · ripple effect · cascade · consequence
steampunk
Retrofuturistic Victorian science fiction
- dieselpunkRetrofuturism through 1930s aesthetics
- clockpunkGear-based speculative aesthetic
- airshipSteerable lighter-than-atmosphere craft
zeppelin · dirigible · automaton · Victorian · Edwardian · Jules Verne · H.G. Wells · art deco · rocketship · jetpack
what-if
Hypothetical scenario query
- counterfactualContrary-to-fact supposition
- hypotheticalAssumed but unproven
- conjectureGuess from limited facts
speculation · scenario · supposition · thought experiment · theorize · postulate · imagine · extrapolation · historiography · contingency
Spanish Armada
Defeated invasion fleet
- Alternate Historycounterfactual, point of departure, what-if, what if scenario, hypothetical scenario
- setting fictionhistorical fiction, urban fantasy, western fiction, dystopian fiction, Victorian fiction
- genresaction, comedy, detective fiction, fantasy, horror
- speculative fictionsci-fi, science fiction, dystopia, fantasy, futurism
- fiction genresfiction, fantasy, novel, horror, thrillers
- historicalhistorical fiction, period drama, war novels, biographies, memoirs
alternate historyrecorded history
Past preserved through documentation
nonfiction · historiography · primary sources · chronicle · academic history
alternate historyprophecy
Foretelling of future events
prediction · futurism · science fiction · prognostication · forecasting
history, alternative, alternate, alternating, alternatively, alternation