- There is also a hack disambiguation page.
A hack writer is a writer for hire, paid to express others' thoughts or opinions in felicitous verbiage, often in the form of political pamphlets. Some such writers are very talented. Nonetheless, in one vernacular usage, a hack is a person lacking talent or ability. It has been adopted (in British English) as a self-deprecating self-description by journalists.
As a writer for hire, a hack writer is usually remunerated by the number of words: so the implication of hack writing is usually that quantity takes precendence over quality. Hack writing may take the form of ghost writing, or the production of generic novels under pseudonyms (for example romantic fiction under the Mills & Boon brand, or the old Sexton Blakes).
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External links
- Take this quiz to see if you can tell the difference between the prose of a great writer and a literary hack
