Is it worth it

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I know my story isnt very good. It is my first attempt and I guess it flopped. I will have to thinking about it and revise the chapters, take a close look at what can be done to make it intoa good story that people like to read.
My question is, can it be made into a good story or is the whole thing a stupid idea.
I know it is strange. World war two, Hitler and national socialist rise in our future. A princess of russia stuck in the middle, having been captured and raised in germany.
It beggs the question, what happened in 1936? why did they wait until the mid 2000s to rise. I guess they were doing nothing in the 20th century, they waited another 100 years. 20th century was an era of peace. it all started in 2014 to 2018. depression in 2030.
Its just, what I wanted, a boy relative of the Russian royal family transformed into a princess wasnt possible when they existed in our timeline.
Is this story worth doing the work that it will require to make it into a very engaging tale you would be eager to read and beg for more

and, can someone help me make it good

popularity isn't everything

Stories find their readers sometimes, and sometimes the only one who benefits is the author. I wouldn't be too worried about the results quite yet. I noticed that over the years my writing has improved, not only technically, but also in the way I tell a story and organize what I write. Give yourself a little leeway to learn, to grow, to adapt. Take criticism, but don't take it to heart.

To answer your question "Is the story worth doing the work?" The answer is up to you. Is it worth it to you. Even if no one ever reads word one, will you be proud of your efforts and completing what you started. If so, I would go for it. Even if it turns out to be bad, you can use it to learn. I know I had my share of flops. There are works that are so bad that after I was done I wouldn't even post them anywhere. Even my earlier works are a little embarrassing. But without them, I wouldn't be where I am today and thinking of that gives me hope for what's to come ten years down the road.

Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)

Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life

Write what you like hon, that'll help with the flow.

The biggest part is flow, feeling what your story is to you. I will offer that historical stories even with fiction are niche stories really and the more you write on a story unless it holds a popular niche the faster the pretty shiny stuff wears off.

*Big Hugs*

Bailey Summers

Keep on keeping on

erin's picture

I've been writing stuff for other people to read for 56 years, and every story I write, I learn something new about how to tell a story. A lot of time, I learn this from the comments of readers. So, keep on keeping on, it's the only way to grow.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Only through writing can you change

Teek's picture

The only way to become a better writer, is to write!

I started writing stories in the early 1980's. In the 1990's, I wrote stuff people liked to read. I knew I wasn't great, but I was always growing as a writer. It wasn't until I was writing a story in the mid 2000's that I took a huge leap in my writing ability. At the time I was working on a story that had taken on a life of its own. It was the longest story I had ever written, and my first story to show any transgender elements. My passion for the story, and my willingness to listen to the constructive criticism others were providing me, allowed me to grow as a writer. I started writing that story with one skill level and ended with another.

It took me over a year and a half to finish that story called, R.O.O.M. The idea for it had come while I was in the middle of writing another shorter story, so I decided I would go back to finish the one that had been interrupted by inspiration. I finished the interrupted story, but upon re-reading it as a whole I could see two different levels of writing skills from the two different writing periods. I learned just how much I had grown as a writer.

You have to write, and continue writing to become better. Listen to your readers. Don't change just because one complains about something, but listen to them and judge their opinions for yourself. If you have a passion for a story, write it. Don't care about pleasing others, write it for yourself. Grow as a write with each story your create. Let your creativity out, feel your emotions, and let them flow into your characters and stories.

Teekabell

Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek

Change in Midstream?

So you're saying that the story's taking place in the 2000s? You had Hitler in power and von Ribbentrop trying to negotiate with Russia; the only thing suggesting a later date than 1945 was the jet plane, and many of the background events seemed to put things in the late 1930s. (OK, it did seem from the princess's timeline that the Nazis (or at least the SS) might have been in power for a longer period than five to ten years. But even if so, that didn't say whether they'd come to power earlier or sustained it longer.)

It doesn't sound as though this part of the story is a flashback, since you're telling us here that the princess is going to remain the central character. So it would appear that something's not coming through as you intended, which would suggest that you need to think out your version of history somewhat further.

The easiest answer, it seems to me, is to eliminate the TG element, which you suggested wouldn't be strong anyway, since that would allow you to move the story back to a more reasonable era. Not sure about the rules here for a new author of a non-TG story, but the affiliated non-TG Fictioneer site is back up, though because it was out of service it's been a few years since the last story was posted there.

Alternatively (though it doesn't help your time frame), come up with a subplot that would make the princess's TG past relevant. I guess you started that already with the point that she'd be discredited in Russia if the truth came out, but I didn't have the impression that it was anything she really had to worry about, since it would be just as embarrassing to the Germans.

IIRC, there was serious TG research going on in Germany between the wars on our own timeline. Obviously your story goes much further, but there's the old trope of the mad scientist working secretly on his own and dying in an experiment that blows up his laboratory, leaving no records behind. Not an ideal solution, especially given the German propensity for order and efficiency, and you'd have to explain how a member of the Russian royal family managed to get lost to the point where he'd become an anonymous lab subject. But it's possibly better than nothing, and definitely better IMO than assuming nothing politically or technologically important happened in the world for the better part of 100 years in order to put the story in the 21st century.

Finding someone to help you would be a good idea. I'd offer, but this story seems way out of my area of expertise. I can handle grammatical errors and can point out continuity trouble and major plot holes, but my knowledge of your story's time and place is extremely limited, and it's difficult to work on an alternative past without knowing much about the real one.

Good luck in moving forward.

Best, Eric

Story Timelines

If you consider that the story occurs in an alternate universe, then you can create any kind of timeline that you want. You don't have to worry that the plot sequence does not match our history. Think of some of the old 'Star Trek' plots where the Enterprise crew encounters worlds which developed modern science in a society based on points in OUR past, such as the roman empire or the roaring twenties.

Rose

Rose