Introducing… Dan Hunt
Today is your chance to meet MAWFYP 2025 author, Dan Hunt.
Dan Hunt (he/him) is a writer and part-time bookseller living in south Oxfordshire. A Yorkshireman at heart, he longs to live by the sea, but until that day, he loves nothing more than reading horror fiction, watching endless movies, and playing tabletop RPGs. Dan studied on the prestigious MA Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, and has a career in copywriting and communications.
What is your writing routine?
I have two types of writing days. The ones where I’m the glowing example of an Instagrammable creative: up at the crack of dawn, coffee in hand, writing my Morning Pages before hammering at the keys for hours on end. And the ones where everything is wrong. The lights are too bright, too dim, the noise outside is too loud, too quiet, the coffee doesn’t taste right, and I’ve consumed a whole packet of biscuits before typing a word… In both scenarios, I do my best and worst writing. I would define my routine as regimentally inconsistent and sporadically organised.
Who is your favourite author and how have they inspired you?
I’m terrible at picking just one. Darren Shan, Kat Ellis, Krystal Sutherland, Adam Cesare, Grady Hendrix - they’ve all fed my bloodthirst for horror in various ways. I like writing that is cinematic and exciting. Books that demand attention. But then, I look to folks like Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula Le Guin, Stephen King, even Mark Z. Danielewski for style, form, feeling. Individuality that’s sort of awe-inspiring. But above all? I’ll never forget the chokehold Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman had on me after a trip to Dublin. I read it three times in one summer. It was bizarre and beautiful. I want to create work that possesses readers like that.
What was the inspiration for your manuscript?
Eat the Rich was born from a prompt about ‘childhood injustice’ in the first week of Bath Spa’s MA in Writing for Young People. A simple exercise but, when I shared a first draft, people seemed to like Roz, my main character. She was voicey, comedic, and a perfect candidate for the ‘final girl’ in a YA slasher. Roz was someone I wanted to survive, and see how she coped with her back against the wall.
Who is your favourite character in your book?
I want to say Flick Blackmoore - my antagonist (and Roz’s love interest) - because her scenes are just so damned fun to write! But, no. There’s only one man for the job. It’s Pete Hartley. Roz’s dad is such a caring single parent, who wants the world for his daughter, who’s doing his absolute best, and yet he seems to fail at every turn. Pete deserves better (but I won’t give it to him).
What inspires you first: character or plot?
Neither. Both. I always start with a scene or image; something to write towards, or open the chapter with. I once heard Charlie Brooker talk about doing something similar for his Black Mirror episodes, and thought, ‘Hey - I do that too!’ Similarly, Eat the Rich was a marriage of character and plot. I had the idea for (spoiler!) a hanging body, so once I’d figured out Roz as a character, it was about getting Roz to that body.
Describe your perfect day.
I wake, I write (with a coffee), and I make the most amazing breakfast for my wife. I love breakfast - it’s my favourite meal of the day. Then, I go for a walk along the seafront, check-in on the bookshop on the way home, and read a new book. Nothing beats the feeling of starting a new book. And, finally, after finishing dinner, I hang out with friends and play Dungeons & Dragons - or some other tabletop RPG - until the early hours of the morning. Did I mention that my perfect day includes me owning a bookshop by the sea? That’s the real dream.