An Asylum for Writers of Speculative Fiction

What if is perhaps the question at the heart of speculative fiction, but when it comes to "Alternative History" there's no doubt about it. These stories ask what the world would be like if some key historical event had turned out differently or never happened at all.

From Joan Aiken's "Wolves" series - "what if James II had never been deposed in the Glorious Revolution" to Robert Harris's Fatherland - What if Nazi Germany had won the Second World War (this is perhaps the most common premise today) all these stories have a point of divergence where things change from real world history.

This is a genre that requires intense research into the real history and how it might have ended differently...

I didn't explain that very well Here's wikipedia on the matter and if anyone wants to explain more please feel free.

And now a plot bunny/prompt for anyone who wants to run with it.

So many people write stories where Nazi Germany won the second world war. Even stories that take Adolf Hitler out of the picture do this...

But I want to take a different tack - suppose Hitler never gets into politics (or not at the point he did in the real world, maybe later if you want to be really twisted) because he's a slightly better painter than he was and he gets into Art School in Vienna. Add to this that a second turning point where the Bavarian Soviet Republic survives more than a few days and takes over Germany in 1919...

There's the basis of a whole other universe for you. Anyone want to run with it?