Genre writer with transparent writing style: Le Guin, especially her recent works. Read Searoad or Lavinia.

Sure they do. The only time they use the word clunky though is when their working on their alibi. Most of the time though you stop them, point out what they said, mock them, laugh at them, and then let them continue.

What is clunky?

Think potholes.

Your driving home from the best day of your life, your heads in the clouds as your rehashing the events of the day when, “BOOM”, your jarred out of your seat back into reality. That to me is clunky. Of course what you consider a pothole depends on what your driving, are you driving a Hummer or one of those itty bitty bubble cars? However, when a driver of a bubble car talks to the Hummer driver about potholes, they both know what the other is talking about despite their differences of what a pothole is.

If I’m jarred out of an novel because of odd dialogue, names or events that to me is clunky. Of course this is a very generic term, and it covers a lot of ground. I bet when you talk about prose and rhythm and all that a lot of peoples eyes glaze over, but you say it’s clunky and a light goes off. In short, using the word, “clunky” is a very quick and easy way of explaining what you didn’t like about a book.

Can anyone think of a transparent prose stylist in genre fiction who’s the equivalent of Hemingway? Just askin.l

And: everything Mark, Joe, and Hal said.