What is a Hack?

I recently had a conversation that led to the idea of a "hack" writer. I had heard the term, of course, used in a derogatory way when describing this writer or that one, but never thought about what it really meant.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says this:
hack (n.2)
"person hired to do routine work," c.1700, ultimately short for hackney "an ordinary horse" (c.1300), probably from place name Hackney, Middlesex (q.v.). Apparently nags were raised on the pastureland there in early medieval times. Extended sense of "horse for hire" (late 14c.) led naturally to "broken-down nag,"...Sense of "carriage for hire" (1704) led to modern slang for "taxicab." As an adjective, 1734, from the noun. Hack writer is first recorded 1826, though hackney writer is at least 50 years earlier. Hack-work is recorded from 1851.

So, a "hack writer" is one who is, in general, ordinary, commonplace. Well enough, but that doesn't explain the stigma, the oily, unpleasant feel to the word. "That writer is a hack" has a sort of disgusted quality to it.

The Free Dictionary, another online source, says this:
1. a person, esp. a professional, who surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc., in return for money or other reward.

Ah ha! A hack writer, then, is one who writes whatever comes along, just for the recompense. A person who writes just for money is not a bad thing; everyone has to eat. But a person who writes just for money, in spite of their own beliefs, in spite of what they know to be true, or right, or good, that person is a hack.

I like to add an image to every blog post I do, so if you read my posts with any regularity you might notice that this post doesn't have an image. When I typed "hack" into my image search, I got a lot of old-style-monitor-green-and-black images of the word "hacker." When I typed "hack writer" in, I got an entire page of ordinary faces. Lots of bald men with glasses. One image, a shining, happy older woman's face, looking right at the camera, stood out. No, not Sarah Palin, though she was there, too. No, this was Peggy Noonan, a columnist who was, back in the day, a speech writer for Reagan.

She's Number Ten on Salon.com's 2010 "Hack 30." Salon.com has also done a list for 2011 and 2012. I presume they will do another at the end of 2013.

This is interesting reading, and one paragraph in the 2012 list is relevant to my inquiry into the meaning of "hack writer." It says:
When you see a joint Allen-VandeHei byline, you can safely expect the worst. When fellow Politico big shots John Harris and Jonathan Martin write a piece, they report on politics. When Allen and VandeHei write, they craft narrative. If the narrative bears no little relation to reality, or is simply self-serving spin from a professional political operative, no matter: Now the narrative is “out there,” because Politico is proud of its ability to create its own buzz and then report on that buzz.

Twisty, eh?

So, one kind of hack can be defined as a writer who is just getting by on whatever work he or she can find, perhaps in anticipation of the time when those books-of-the-heart are finally ready for publication.

Another kind of hack, the kind that invites criticism and disgust, is the writer who produces only what is commercially beneficial, or, even worse, produces words that lead to self-aggrandizement and misunderstanding, or even, gasp, promotes untruth.

And therein lies the reason for the stigma. Truth is essential in writing, even in fiction writing. The truth the writer finds, whether in her own imagination or in his journalistic investigations, is the honorable thing to write. When a writer subverts the truth, we rise up and fling dirt, rotten food, epithets, and the label "hack writer."

Happy (truth) Writing!

Weekly Progress Check-In

Welcome to the Mid-Willamette Valley Romance Writers weekly progress check-in.

We want to hear from you!

Did you meet your writing goals last week?  What do you plan to accomplish this week?

Just Imagine

(courtesy of Yorkville 115)

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Albert Einstein

I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.

Pablo Picasso

 

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

Thomas A. Edison

 The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.

William Shakespeare

 Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Carl Sagan

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.

Edgar Allan Poe

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.

Dr. Seuss 

Weekly Progress Check-In

Welcome to the Mid-Willamette Valley Romance Writers weekly progress check-in.

We want to hear from you!

Did you meet your writing goals last week?  What do you plan to accomplish this week?

The Mckenna Clan

Wow, coming up with ideas for blog posts is mind boggling. This week I'm celebrating my new cover for the second book in the McKenna Clan series. Catching Meara, published in March was the first and featured Jace McKenna. Catching Meara is an introduction into the McKenna Clan--Clan Chatton. The real series begins with Sweet Sexy Sadie. Brody McKenna is a shapeshifter who falls in love with Anthropologist Sadie Monroe.

Sweet Sexy Sadie will be released August 20, 2010 by Rogue Phoenix Press.

The antagonist is an Amazonian Devil, a Chullachaqui. This demon takes on the shape of a family member or loved one and lures them into the jungle. In Sadies, case he tries to lure into the desert of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

The McKenna Clan sailed from Scotland to America in the early 18eo's, settling in Texas. From there they spread throughout the southwestern states.


Jace McKenna, a profiler for the FBI, is the hero of Catching Meara. Meara Thorton is a technical analyst for the FBI.

The third book, Sweet Misbehavin will feature Carr McKenna.

This has been so much fun. Not  someone who has written contemporary, I've found that not having to worry about terms that weren't used in the a certain time period quite refreshing.

DO WE BECOME WHAT WE WRITE?

I've read a number of times that romance readers/writers make love with their partners a lot more than women who don't read romances. Coincidence or something more?

Do comedy writers have more fun? Tell more jokes? Laugh more often?

How about writers who explore the darker side of humanity or fantasy? Do they look under their beds at night or make sure closet doors are securely closed?

Or do I have it backward? Do writers who make love more often write sexy stories? Do funny writers carry their humor into their writing? Do those who wonder about demons gravitate toward darker writing? 

I wonder about this because I have caught myself recently thinking about worst case scenarios in real life and commented this is because of my writer's mind and the dramatic stories I tend to write. I've heard the advice a number of times to think of what would be the worst thing possible to happen to our characters and then write that into our stories. Other advice is to ratchet up the tension or raise the stakes. But I certainly don't want any of these things happening in my real life. 

How about you? Does the story you are writing influence your real life emotions? 

Contest Results

For those of you keeping track, I just received notification that I placed 5th in the Fab Five contest in which I was a finalist. I have requested clarification of that ranking, but I suspect it means I placed fifth out of six finalists in my category. The final editor had a couple of things to say:

Unclear on the plot and the point of the witch dancing. Was that the only way to bring about her magic? I thought the author did a good job establishing the emotional conflict.

Here again, I have benefited and have more things to look at, more ways to focus while I polish my work. Clarity of plot and action. I know the answers to these questions, but it seems I didn't get them onto the pages. Also, I got a positive comment about the emotional conflict. This was only 2500 words, which worked out to about eight printed pages, and I have already done another polish since I submitted them. This feedback will only help with the next run through.

I cannot say enough about how much I have gained from this experience. Sure, I wish I'd won, but I must also say that this is my very first book, the first story I've written in more than twenty years. I think I'm doing pretty well. And, because I went into this hoping for helpful critique from strangers, I got what I wanted.

Win/win/win!

Weekly Progress Check-In

Welcome to the Mid-Willamette Valley Romance Writers weekly progress check-in.

We want to hear from you!

Did you meet your writing goals last week?  What do you plan to accomplish this week?