I would say yes answering questions does boost your score, because the more active you are in hubpages the better your score will be. But I don't know about when you get a vote up or down. I have been voted down, just because a question asked for an opinion, and I gave mine, then people voted me down.
I never can guess what will get a vote down. I do know Christian opinion will get rated down a lot!
Yes I believe it does help a little. If you look at some of the authors with 100 author scoes they answer allot of questions.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.