When the writing is... Oh, how to put it... Good, perhaps? I mean, that pretty much describes good writing for me. But perhaps I am not helping, so I will just... Leave.
Hi Pljames... Means charming with a cough. 'He looked into her eyes, quoting Shakespeare and smoking heavily. He had chasmatic appeal.' Hope that helps. Ach, have you made typo x)
^You mean charismatic? There is no such word as chasmatic in the online dictionary I use. There's chiasmatic, but that's got something to do with biology, genetics, etc. I only know charismatic. charismatic - possessing an extraordinary ability to attract -TFD I don't think it's usually applied to books. I think of it as being used on people, personalities, etc. If you were talking about a book you would say gripping, a page-turner, suspenseful, magnetic, involved? If I was going to come up with an etymology for chasmatic, with your definition, I would say it makes you feel like you're hanging over a chasm.
I think you're talking about "Voice," one of the core competencies of writing. While you might not be able to say "That was a charismatic book," You would be able to say, "That book had a charismatic voice," since it has to do with the narrator and his/her/its personality. So it seems to me the answer to your question is, "A compelling voice." Voice is often the hardest aspect of writing to learn, because it can't really be taught. This blogpost does a pretty good job, but it's still something you will just learn with time. To me, it's basically charm that makes me fall in love with the narrator, and thus compels me to continue reading. It's not the only reason I would be compelled to continue, but it's a strong reason. Voice will naturally develop the more you write, even if you don't intentionally work on it, but faster if you do. Hope this helps!
Good writing. You can call it what you want but it's everything together I would think - A good story with a gripping plotline that keeps you hanging and / or guessing and / or wanting to find out more, told in a way that is easy to read, enjoyable, at times challenging and compelling, with resonant tones that the reader can understand. As I said - Good. Or to put it another way - what we all want to achieve. HOWEVER - 'good' writing' is not the same for everyone - if it was we would all read the same kinds of books and plainly we don't. As with all human endeavours, one man's meat is another man's poison.
I think we're talking about two different things in this thread. Page-turners indicate a mastery of structure. Just like a TV serial, a skilled novelist knows how to leave mini-cliffhangers dangling at the ends of chapters to keep the reader turning pages. I don't think that has much to do with prose style, however. Dan Brown is widely hailed as an author who can really write a page-turner, but no one goes around talking about how awesome Dan Brown's prose is.
It's different for everyone. For me, when the writer is invisible, you've got charismatic writing at work. Honest prose that's not focused on impressing the reader. Writing that you can power through without having to reread any confusing sentences. To sum it up, writing that is taken for granted.
