by DianaTheThird

A rabbit hole that hides a secret world. A weird hurricane that drops you in a strange place. A portal that gives you access to a different world. An intriguing environment you've never seen before and curious looking beings that seem to come from your imagination. All these examples can be used to introduce to us the wonders of the Alternate World.

We can say that Alternate World phenomenon took its first steps in the Fantasy genre when Gulliver ended up in a strange island after his ship wrecked in 1726. Alice grabbed the baton of this subgenre and fell down the rabbit hole in 1865. It continued to shine when Dorothy and her pet Toto were swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone in 1900. The subgenre kept trending, and added a new twist when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie discovered the wardrobe that dragged them to Narnia in 1950. And it introduced itself to the new generation when Harry Potter received a letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1997.

But what is an Alternate World, really?

An Alternate World can be defined as a reality hidden within our world or a world beyond ours. This hidden reality can vary from a small, undiscovered, land to a completely different world.

This undiscovered land is a hidden world. It co-exists with our own world and our characters accidentally discover it. These hidden worlds are usually found after a difficult journey. Sometimes, anyone can access them, while others are separated by a portal and only specific beings can access it. In other cases, a special item or artifact is used to enter that world. Alternative World in fiction is a common theme, found in many pieces of literature-especially in genres that involves Fantasy and Science Fiction. Though, in the Science Fiction genre, it's mostly known as Parallel World. In Fanfiction it's known as Alternate Universe. In the Science Fiction genre, logic is used to explain the existence of that specific world-while in the Fantasy genre, only a portal separates us from a magical realm.

An Alternate World can be a place hidden within our world, but with different cultures and habits as in the Harry Potter series. Besides having magic, time seems to be frozen in the 1700's. The people of Harry's world use feathers instead of pens, use potions instead of modern medicine, use burning torches instead of lamps or bulbs-and have a curious menu that would make us muggles/humans think twice before tasting it.

Although we can find people just like us in that new world, in most stories the Alternative World is filled with never-seen-before creatures and curious looking environment . Take, for instance, Lewis Caroll's Alice Adventures in Wonderland and in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In those books, our characters interact with talking animals, objects, cards and explore a surreal environment that sparks our imagination.

In many Fantasy stories, our hero's life takes a major twist when the writer transports them from the reader's reality, which is our own world, to a magical world. In classic literature this happens by accident, like in Gulliver's case, he discovers that fantastic island after his ship wrecks thanks to a terrible storm. Alice follows a rabbit and ends up falling in a hole, while Dorothy is swept away by a sudden tornado.

Usually, when our character is transported to that world, their main goal is to find a way home. Therefore, we follow their journey as they explore this unusual place.

In some stories, our heroes have a specific role in that world, which can be to fulfill a prophecy and help the people of that world. It also can be that our hero was bornin that Alternate World, but was dragged to our own world to protect him/her from the dangers of that place.

Most of the protagonists in this theme, start their adventure in our world. They are ordinary beings living an ordinary life until fate knocks on their door. The writer can use this strategy to connect the reader with our protagonist and trap their attention as our character explores that magical world.

But not all protagonists are from our world, or they have been taken away from their home-world and living in ourreality-until truth slams their life. In The Betrayal of the Guardians our protagonist is from an Alternate World. She lives there and she's curious about other worlds, since everyone in this story is aware that there are other worlds beyond theirs. An Alternate World can bring problems to our hero and the people of that world, but in The Betrayal of the Guardians the awareness of the existence of those worlds is the problem for all of them.

Speaking of worlds, there's an important detail that makes this subgenre very intriguing to write or read. World building is essential in this subgenre, as the writer must show the reader what makes this world different fromour own. The writer should describe every detail of this world and its creatures to grab the reader's attention and paint that setting or character in their minds.

World building can occupy most of our novel, sacrificing those action scenes many readers enjoy. But as a place we have never seen before with fantastical creatures, world building can be an important factor for this subgenre.

So what's so fun about Alternate World?

For the readers, it is the joy to submerge in that world. After all, many books are set in our own world with a fewtwists. The readers enjoy the creative take on a known world, yet with common factors to "ground" them or give that "aha!" moment when they recognize something. For writers, it is the freedom to use all their creativity andmake the readers see their vision of an alternate world.

I recently found out that Alternate World has been following me ever since I started writing, noticing that most of my story ideas have this subgenre involved. What makes me obsessed with this subgenre is the freedom to write creative settings without worrying about the references of our world. It allows me to write diverse characters from people of many colors to beast-like creatures.

In the end, Alternative World is a subgenre that allows us to travel in the wonders of imagination yet with a connection to our real world.

Example of Alternate World Fantasy on Wattpad:
The Betrayal of the Guardians by DianaTheThird

Synopsis:

Arisa, Kazuya and Zen have been friends since childhood. For Arisa, their friendship is the cause of her smile in this chaotic world.

In a world that suffers attacks from other worlds' creatures, the chosen Guardians once fought for our world's survival. Blessed with the powers given by the stars, those same Guardians have now become threat themselves.

Despite hearing tales of when Guardians were still heroes, Arisa refuses to grow a likeness for them. Even when one is always there to save her from troubles, she doesn't believe that they will ever return to the heroes they once were.

Due to their more recent despicable behavior, she wishes only to stop them.

Her wish is granted when she is chosen as a candidate to compete to become a new Guardian.

Even though she hates them, in order to overthrow them, she has to become one. She accepts the challenge.

But she never knew that the road to becoming a Guardian would be more challenging than she ever imagined.

Excerpt:

Her eyes wouldn't abandon that view until she could no longer see it. Instead, the scene shifted into a cloudy gray sky. Her heart froze when she spotted a flying figure. It was a triangular, metallic object of a black color.

Her eyes widened, noticing that the machine was releasing some sort of fire behind it, as it flew leaving a mark of white steam around the cloudy sky.

"What's that?" she asked.

Kazuya tried to lean beside her, fighting against the rune that was holding him back. For a few seconds, he could see what his friend was amazed by.

"I've seen a drawing of it in one of my father's books," he said as he gave up fighting with the rune. "According to his book, the Earthling call it a jet. It's one of the many machines they use for transport."

"Earthling?" Arisa asked, failing to hide her excitement. "You mean, we're on Earth?"

"That's right," replied Elise. "To reach the Forbidden Lands, we have to pass through a few worlds and Earth is one of them."

"Really? That's amazing!"

Laughter filled the atmosphere.

"That's so like you Arisa, you've always been a curious girl," her grandma said.

"I can't believe that you're all so calm," Arisa said, her gaze stuck on the window. "We're in another world!"

Kazuya chuckled. "You're such a kid."

As everyone laughed, Arisa turned around and glared at him.

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