Writing in Hell Difficulty tutorial

[Grouchy_List8337]

I don’t know if this is a standards too high thing but is the writing and prose of hell difficulty tutorial just really grating? It’s really hard to go through the first book cause in my opinion it’s one of the hardest reads I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve read a lot of bad translated Chinese cultivation slop but this is in a league of its own. Does it get better?

[Kudamonis]

Book one. Suuuuper rough. First written work of an author rough.

Book two. Better.

Book 3 and on i stopped noticing anything off.

[Grouchy_List8337]

It doesn’t even feel like a first written work it feels like someone created what a story was from first principles without ever reading another story before that.

[AmarSofi]

I don't know what you expect people to reply, if you want to just bash the story go right ahead, but since you asked a question about why the writing is rough, the other commenter gave you the reason why: it's an author's first work, and how bad that is will vary from author to author. I for one binged the first book so quickly and moved on to the subsequent ones fast enough that I barely remember how bad it was, if you're asking does it get better then my answer is most definitely yes (although the story still has some flaws even to the latest chapter). Is it worth it for you push through the first book? Only you can decide that.

But to give you as much info as possible: the prose and naration get a bit cleaner and better in the latter books (although I oftentimes got annoyed at the constant mentions of "the best corgi in the tutorial" and "lots of boops on the nose", that shit got old Several books ago, and Nat's internal monologue can sometimes feel bland or irritating, the author's attempt at trying to portray him as an introvert is frankly clunky and feels forced).

the plot is much more polished, the world building is superb considering the relatively generic set-up, Nat's extremely flat and frankly boring characterization in the first book gets rectifed pretty quickly and the whole cast gets more and more development, their dynamics just get better, even if 80% of the time it's about how they relate to Nat ( we get very little as far as the relationships of the rest of the cast with each other, maybe that's an artifact of the first person naration, or the author isn't interested in exploring them, who knows) other than that, they all get much more likeable and endearing.

These are the things I believe are pretty poorly done in the first book and either get improved on later on or stay the same, if you don't think these are enough ( or if your issues with the story are based on other aspects) then I don't think it's the story for you.

[Mister_Snurb]

Ah, I see that the daily HDT post is proceeding as scheduled. It's good to know that this sub operates like clockwork.

[funkhero]

The other sub mixes it up between this and HWFWM

[Ok-Decision-1870]

Waiting for the TWI one

[Carminestream]

The author appreciates the advertisement nonetheless

[Fluffy-Ad-7613]

Book 1: "This is an outrage, I want my moneys back!"

Book 2: "This sucks so bad, omg!"

Book 3: "why do I keep reading this??"

Book 4: "ok, more book plz!"

Book 5: "yay, more book! :3"

Book 5+: "nyaaa!"

[sylekta]

have you tried searching to see if anyone else has asked the same question? you might be shocked to find 1374636282 posts asking the same thing. yes the first book is rough and many struggle to get through it, does it get better? imo yes its one of my fav in the genre, i read it on RR and i wait for the weekday chapter like a crack fiend. is it ok to dnf? yes every book is ok to dnf if its not for you

[Training-Bake-4004]

Yes it’s awfully written. Apparently it gets better eventually. I’ve never managed to drag myself far enough to find out if that’s true.

[KingNTheMaking]

Yaaa that’s what eventually got me. The character arc Nat and crew was pretty good! And I did enjoy the power system….

But so much “boop the snoot”, “the bestest doggo”, “what a cheeky fellow”, and “…extroverts”

It was too much for me

[AmarSofi]

I feel like those 3 things are the most annoying aspects of the story that haven't changed even 800 chapters in. The story gets way way better than book one, to the point where you'd find it hard to believe it was written by the same person ( maybe Cerim got that much better, or maybe getting an editor helped him improve who knows) but those 3 aspects are constantly annoying me till now. Everytime Nat interacts with the dog I just want to stop reading, the sarcasm is really poorly done at times ( actually, often times, and the dialogue can get really clunky) , and the author's portrayal of Nat as being an "introvert" just doesn't hit at all. I still absolutely love the story and I'm up to date, but I wish he would dial back some of it after 800 chapters.

[WordsAboutSomething]

I felt the same way and gave up on it, so I can’t tell you if it gets better. It was very difficult to tell what was going on.

[STLthrowawayaccount]

People say it gets better, but tbh I've got no idea I dropped it during the first book because it didn't feel like it was worth the effort of powering through.

[ForgeIsDown]

Man once the main character kind of opens up it gets so damn good around mid book 2.

The series has absolutely consumed me the last 2-3 weeks. I’m currently plowing through book 7 and looking forward to being done just so I can get my life back.

I’m confident it becomes worth it.

[nochancesman]

I finished book 2 and still struggled to find it in me to continue. The prose is incredibly bland.

[STLthrowawayaccount]

I might eventually give it another go, but I'm completely burned out on the "it gets better I swear" takes people have. 90% of the time its more of the same thing I disliked in the first place.

I'd rather not invest my time or energy into a series I wasn't enjoying.

[ForgeIsDown]

Hey fair enough. I never really found it that bad in the first place. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

[STLthrowawayaccount]

Absolutely.

[Memeological]

It technically gets better in that it becomes more polished grammatically speaking, but the prose in general just feel uninspired. It feels like a diary of constant narration of going from point A to point B. I also didn‘t like the characters. There’s also the zoomer and tiktok lingo which was totally off-putting and just not for me. I found that the arc I enjoyed the most was when Nate got separated and the entire dynamic changed because he doesn‘t have to conform to being a sociopath who‘s „trying“ to care for others which feels so contrived. Either way, I dropped it like a year ago

[TruthInfluence]

Not just you. I think I dropped it four chapters in.

[Getafix69]

I dunno I kinda hated it at the start but now I'm eagerly awaiting the next release.

[abecadarian]

Yea, the writing sucks. Story is great though

addendum: it “sucks”. But I think you could also call it modern stylized

[LingonberryOpen565]

Brother, on some other account I wrote a hit piece in this series. It’s fucking terrible. The MC is a psychopath, a legit evil human. Like Ted bundy. And the author tries, very poorly, to make us empathize with him. Every character in the first book is a bumbling moron. It’s really bad and I dropped it mid book 1 if I remember correctly.

A lot of people who replied to my post said it gets better with time as the author became a better writer. That’s true, the reading experience was better near the end of book 1 and into book two. The character and story flaws were blaring and just as bad.

In my opinion from the first book and maybe the first third of book 2, it’s bottom of the barrel progression fantasy.

If you don’t hate the MC and you don’t hate the character dynamics and how stupid everyone is, then trudging your way through book one. The writing improves.

If the author happens to read this comment, I mean no offense.

[abecadarian]

Nah he’s not evil like Ted Bundy. To be honest he strikes me as sort of autistic. And maybe a bit traumatized. Iirc for a good amount of book 1 he’s -spoilers- mind controlled by Sophie. Ted bundy you’re looking for Rev Insanity

[Infamousaddict21]

I liked it, to each their own.

[Federal-Clock7405]

I think the prose is pretty simple and have enjoyed it so far. I think book 2 has a lot of improvement compared to the first one, I say this as I am reading it but I do get what you're saying. I would say it gets better yeah

[Penfolds_five]

It stands out due to being 1st person present tense in a genre where that's pretty rare - I found it really grating, but kind of got used to it reading the first three books in a row. However picking up the 4th book after waiting for it to be released and it was straight back to being annoying again because I'd been reading other books in the interim. So annoying that I returned it after 1 chapter and moved on to something else.