SO YOU WANT TO WRITE ALTERATE HISTORY By Louis Latzer

A proper Alternate History story is predicated on a single change to “reality” which leads organically to many other changes.  Sometimes Alternate History fiction is/was more wishful thinking than an actual attempt to speculate in a realistic manner.  It’s better, and harder, to keep your world as close to “actual” as possible.

The first step is to get to know the History of your chosen place and time.  The farther back you go, the harder it is to find many details.  In the case of 1066 – The Year of Invasions, my primary sources were the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (written at the time) and King Harald’s Saga (written a little under 200 years later).  Anglo-Norman authors wrote about the conquest some 50 years after the fact, but I discounted much of what they said.  History may be written by the winners, but so is hagiography.  The Icelandic compiler of King Harald’s Saga had no axe to grind, and the Icelandic Sagas were usually fairly accurate.  Beyond that, I had to rely on what professional historians believe happened.

My task was to make that one BIG change (William arrives at Pevensey in the early hours of August 13, rather than on September 28) and see where that led.  I will admit that I had a personal preference.  The task was to see if my choice could be arrived at LOGICALLY.  To do this, I allowed myself a minor change that COULD have happened: spies acting for the English and Norwegian crowns.  This in no way violated what we think we know, and it was not impossible.

Our lack of detail in the historical record allowed me to speculate on how the things we know occurred came to happen.  What were the four men vying for the English crown like?  How might their personalities have influenced events?

Because events in 1066 are not well known by most readers, I covered the entire year.  In this way, the reader can see how the contest for the crown developed, rather than beginning in media res and trying to catch up.

And how does it turn out?  Let’s just say we’d probably be speaking something between German and Icelandic.

Written by Jeyran Main

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