Dan Lovatt, a 22 year old student studying English Language and creative writing first started writing the novel, “Hollow”, back in November 2016.
While he professes he isn’t fond of reading books himself, what started out as a short story on his blog turned into 10,000 words, and then finally a 85,000 word novel.
“I started it in November 2016 and before that I’d had a blog page where I’d do short stories, but only like 2,000 to 3,000 words.
“I started this idea, kind of like any rough first draft really, just get it all out on the page, and then by January it had come to the point where it was 10,000 words which was the most I’d ever written, so I knew I could take this somewhere”
Retailing on Amazon.co.uk for £8.99, the novel explores whether or not there is a purpose to the human life form, and if not, what is the point?
The novel follows the life of protagonist Nick Shaw, “a cynical introvert” who seeks to answer this question, using the various mediums of love, friendships, philosophy, work, politics and mental health.
“I knew I could take this somewhere”
The name ‘Hollow’ was something Lovatt thought of early on and held on to, as he says it’s hard to find a one word title you actually like, however, the meaning seems to have several interpretations.
“The book never really answers the question of whether purpose does exist objectively or not. Hollow is just empty isn’t it, so the concept of purpose is empty or the main character is empty, that was kind of my angle I took so after a while I thought I may as well stick with that”.
Talking of his future plans, he is looking to go into scripting rather than a sequel to Hollow. His next project will be in collaboration with Salford University, for his creative writing course,
“I have started something else that i’m writing a script for. I do want to move away from novel writing, because it wasn’t my initial intention, I feel like my style of writing would benefit more from a visual medium”.
You can follow all of Dan’s future projects here.
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