‘How hard can it be to write a novel, really? It’s just a long short story,’ a younger, more naïve Chris McQueer told himself in 2018, as he began to pen his debut full-length book, Hermit. ‘Turns out it was a fucking nightmare,’ he laughs, shuddering at the thought of the subsequent seven-year slog towards a 2025 release date. Famed for his short-story collections Hings and HWFG, McQueer has made a name for himself telling irreverent, surrealist tales of dodgy whelk salesmen and feuding bowls players. Hermit, however, marks a distinct change of direction for the Glaswegian storyteller.

‘It’s about a wee guy, Jamie, who’s 19. He left school when he was 16, and in those three years he’s barely left his house,’ explains McQueer. ‘He’s just living in this horrible wee room. He’s filthy, he’s disgusting, he’s got no self-esteem, and he’s got one friend, an online friend; and this wee guy, Lee, is being radicalised by incels.’ As defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, an ‘incel’ (involuntary celibate) is ‘a member of a group of people on the internet who are unable to find sexual partners despite wanting them, and who express hate towards people whom they blame for this.’

Though the word is typically associated with murky chatrooms and dodgy online forums, McQueer’s ambitious novel asks readers to think about the presence of incels in our local communities. Hermit does so by exploring the misadventures of the timorous Jamie, an outcast teen from Springboig, who is led astray by Lee, the more outgoing of the pair, in a misguided search for freedom. Sick of being asked by their mums to put down their controllers and head to the job centre, Jamie and Lee venture down south to meet a shady character who they’ve made contact with online, lured by the promise of a world much better suited for two young men who can’t work out how to fit in. 

Hermit focuses on a taboo subject matter, though it is one that has, depressingly, become increasingly relevant since McQueer began writing this story. ‘I remember I signed the deal for the book in 2022 and they [Wildfire Books] told me they wouldn’t be publishing it until 2025. I thought “what if it’s not relevant by then? What if nobody’s talking about incels anymore?”’ As it transpired, the very opposite is true.

Anyone who uses social media would likely agree that the internet now has a markedly more toxic, sexist culture than when McQueer started writing Hermit seven years ago. ‘I think covid played a real part,’ muses the 33-year-old, pondering the reasons why so many young males are struggling to socialise, particularly with women, in a healthy way. ‘Male loneliness is a real thing that’s happening. It has always been an issue but now we’re speaking about it a bit more. It has created this perfect throng for misogyny and sexism to totally thrive online.’ Describing the material he encountered while researching the book, McQueer says ‘it’s these horrible wee groups that are popping up where men are trying to find a sense of community, and they’re looking in the wrong places. Someone is giving them someone else to blame... and it just totally poisons their minds, especially young guys. It’s really, really sad.’

McQueer was initially in two minds about whether to write the book in Scots dialect, given that Wildfire is an imprint of London-based publishing house Headline. ‘It felt like a really, really big deal and I was absolutely buzzing,’ said McQueer of signing the book deal. ‘But then you think “oh god, will this book sell in England? What if they hate it? Should I tone down the Scots?”’ Thankfully, he soon overcame those fears. ‘Eventually I was just like “ah fuck it.” That’s how the book should be written; this is how these wee guys talk. Reading in Scots is not that difficult.’ McQueer has continued to enjoy a fruitful relationship with the publishing house since he signed to them and is ‘the happiest he’s ever been’ after a recent career pivot saw him pick up a job teaching English in local prisons, thanks to a literature scheme run by the Scottish Book Trust. ‘Getting people excited about writing is amazing,’ he beams via video call from the prison car park on his lunch break.

Things haven’t always been so straightforward for the young writer. Following the release of Hings (which was later adapted by the BBC into short films starring the likes of David Hayman and Paul McCole), McQueer made the decision to try and become a full-time writer which resulted in him accruing debt and scrambling for work while penning books number two and three. ‘I should not have done that,’ he admits, shaking his head. ‘I thought that I could focus on the second book, which was HWFG, and then that will get published and I’ll be a millionaire. And everything will be fine. But obviously, it doesn’t work like that.’

Scotland’s artists and writers are finding grants more difficult to come by than ever, following a recent slew of dismal headlines about cuts to Creative Scotland. Though he admits he doesn’t have all the answers, McQueer urges those in power to look toward the Emerald Isle to understand the importance of funding literature. ‘You see what Ireland’s doing, all the amazing writers coming out of there and how seriously they take literature in general, and how proud they are of history and tradition; they just really go for it. Scotland feels a bit dull, just a bit shabby, and it feels like we need to make a change.’

Looking ahead to the long-awaited day of publication, McQueer laughs pensively when asked how he hopes the world interprets the book, admitting it’s not something he has given much thought to. ‘I really didn’t want the book to be seen as a parable or anything,’ he stresses, carefully milling over his words between sooks of his vape. ‘At the end of the day, it’s a novel. It’s supposed to be entertaining.’ Reflecting on how to curb the dangerous trend of incel attitudes, McQueer warns that ‘it’s down to men’ to look inward. ‘Look out for your mates; if you think they’re being misogynistic, or if you think a young guy you know is being drawn towards these communities, try and make them see that that’s not the way forward. These communities do not have the answers for you.’

Hermit is published by Wildfire Books on Thursday 27 February.