So hypothetically is it bad in your opinion to write historical fiction relating to Russians, if I'm trying to do research and be accurate and NOT portraying their or any other government as good? I do feel a lot of shame and self hatred for it because I don't want to support their government or war ofc, but I also am dedicated to the book I'm writing and don't want to stop. I'm sorry if this is a weird or offensive question I'm just pretty lost about this.
if weāre talking strictly about my opinion, then no, I donāt think itās inherently bad. BUT!!! it completely depends on HOW exactly it is written.
like, u could write a propaganda piece about "beautiful tsarist russia and its wonderful people" or mourn the "great ussr we lost," romanticizing everything and completely ignoring both historical and current realities. OR, u can write critically. show the actual brutality. the propaganda injected straight into school textbooks and kids cartoons, the serfdom, the atrocities committed (like the holodomor, the chechen wars, etc), the oppression of other nations, and the stark poverty of the regions outside of moscow lol. that is a completely different story.
idk what specific period youāre researching or where you're starting from, but if you want to write this well, my advice is to stop looking only at russian sources. look into polish, ukrainian, finnish, or baltic history. through analyzing them, u might even notice a pattern where every single source agrees on certain events except the russian ones and right there, youāll have your proof of how russia rewrites history to suit its narrative :)
thatās if youāre dealing with reality. but if this is a fantasy world where a nation is based on russian culture, i'd suggest portraying it for what it actually IS and WAS whether now or during the soviet era. show the harsh censorship, the poverty, the casual apathy toward their own crimes, and the deep bias against any truth that doesn't fit their pre-programmed worldview due to a lack of critical thinking. if u do some research into the history of how russia was made, u'll realize that "russia" as a single nation doesn't even really exist fr. itās just a bunch of different colonized nations, indigenous groups, and minorities that theyāve conquered over centuries. they basically forced all these different cultures to adopt their ways, erased their languages, and caused them so much harm just to create this "one big russian nation." so yeah, i highly recommend paying attention to this.
and also, super important show how they ALWAYS love to play the role of the "liberator.". russia never just invades someone in their own narrative, they always "save" or "liberate" them from some imaginary evil, while actually just destroying everything and taking over. and plus, itās crucial not to mix the cultural identities of colonized nations with russian culture. russia has a long history of stealing and rebranding things from others like ukrainian cossacks, belarusian heritage, or polish cultural elements.
to be completely honest, no matter how well-researched your book is, u will probably get backlash from either side. on one side, many russians (as i said in my last post) completely deny the war and the horrors of imperialism. if they see a text that doesn't praise them, theyāll instantly view it as a betrayal, a lie (even with direct proof), and shout "ITS ALL WESTERN PROPAGANDA!!!! UMMM....š"
on the other side, there are ukrainians who are deeply, deeply traumatized by ongoing violence. for someone whose life has been shattered, even seeing a fictonal depiction of russian culture can feel like a threat or a glorification. itās hard to look at art objectively when bombs from that specific culture are falling on your head.
but i truly believe that people with critical thinking skills will understand the narrative exactly how YOU want them to see it, u just have to write it with that intentionalityš¤
i see absolutely nothing wrong with a research-heavy proj grounded in real facts , rather than a personal desire to see russia as something grand and flawless. writing about an empire doesn't mean you support it. so, i think thereās nothing to feel shame or hate yourself for here if you're trying to understand all of this :3
i'm currently working on a project that takes place in the 2000s-2010sā¦ and omg, it's so hard to find info from that time that ISN'T romanticized. so, i can understand u a bit, i gues.
good luck with your book!
summarizing all of this, honestly the only thing i can advise is to just research everything and rely on real facts as they are. it won't make u a bad person, just a realist, which i personally appreciate. tbh, iād even read a book like that myself, out of curiosity
