Of course a thread with no capitals had to be preyer's!
When I hear 'hack', the definition that pops in my mind is Dan Brown. Otherwise it's hard to define. Maybe someone who writes because he can/he knows how to make money through it, not because he likes/needs to (but that must be something awfully rare, considering how hard writing actually is when you take it up seriously), someone who doesn't express him/herself through writing but just gives people what they wanna hear, being in a way a deceiver of people. And of course someone who copies, takes a little of everything that seems successful and makes a story out of it. Like the dozens of books spawned by the success of 'The Da Vinci code', or books based heavily upon succesful fiction, like ' The key to Harry Potter' or whatever (no offense to anyone, it's all imho).
But 'hack' is such a general word, you can find amazing stuff in the writings of those called 'hacks' by some. Yeah, I sometimes think of myself as a hack whenever I catch myself trying to please the readers. I try to get over it, especially as I don't judge other people like that, usually. But well, after all, the fight between me and the (potential) readers is won by a single thing, the story. I'm glad that it has a life of its own.
