When James Lincoln Warren and Paul Guyot learned about the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers (IAMTW), they cooked up this wicked spoof, a website for The Professional Hack Authors Recognition Society (PHARTS).
The Professional Hack Authors RecogniTion Society, or
PHARTS, is an organization for professional hack authors,
i.e., mercenary wordsmiths who don’t care a fig for style, content,
originality, or grammar, but are willing to write anything for money.
We are of all ages, races, ethnic backgrounds, religious persuasions,
and sexual preferences, comprising even Old PHARTS, New
PHARTS, Red PHARTS, Blue
PHARTS. Are you
PHARTS material?
In a back-handed kind of way, this amusing satire underscores why Max Allan Collins and I decided there was a need for a professional organization for media tie-in writers. We’re not stupid, we know that tie-ins and novelizations are widely considered as hack work…even though media tie-ins regularly hit the NY Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestseller lists and handily out-sell original novels by many big-name authors. But media tie-ins rarely get reviewed and never get any respect. Hence, IAMTW.
IAMTW is a professional society seeking professional ends. That is an improvement on Western Writers of America, once a proud professional organization with high standards for membership. WWA opened its membership to anyone and now there are about ten guys and gals in it who write for a living, and 600 who would like to think they do. Anyone qualified to join IAMTW can be proud of the affiliation, and will also know that the organization will wrestle publishers and production companies to do what is needed.
“even though media tie-ins regularly hit the NY Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestseller lists and handily out-sell original novels by many big-name authors.”
Popularity does not equal quality. For anyone. While there may be notable exceptions, media tie-ins are quickly written to order. Unless you are a literary Mozart, it’s highly unlikely that the conditions under which a tie-in is written under will be conducive to anything good. It’s cash and carry prose.
My name is Jim, and ich bein ein Charter Farter.
Man, I could be good company with this group. Is there a support group for this new group?
Talk about a breath of … phresh air for writers!
Just remember that parody is the sincerest phorm of phlattery.
I thought slash fanfic was the sincerest form of flattery.
I am so there.
Dusty (charter pharter)