Mansfield man Scott Tatt has achieved his dream of publishing a novel — a major achievement for the 30-year-old who has autism and struggles with many aspects of socialising and communicating.

Ruby Silverlock: Supernatural Explorer (The Silverlock Sisters) is a story about an ordinary teenager with an extraordinary appearance.

She was born with silver hair, and no one is able to explain how or why.

Ruby’s unusual hair makes her feel alienated by society and that she’s some kind of stranger, which drives her into pursuing the life of a supernatural explorer.

Scott was born premature at 33 weeks and underwent a three-hour operation to correct a stomach defect — gastroschisis, where intestines are on the outside of the body.

His life was saved by Andrew Stewart at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, and went home from hospital three weeks later.

His mother, Joanne Tatt, remembered: “Scott was a tricky baby, he cried a lot and only seemed to settle face down.

“He reached his physical milestones with ease, but struggled with social interaction, speech, and play. It became very apparent that he had problems when he started nursery and was diagnosed with autism just six months later.

“Scott initially coped at mainstream school with the help of some wonderful teachers and teaching assistants, but it became harder as he got older.”

Scott attended Redgate School (now Redgate Primary Academy) and Beech Hill School (now The Beech Academy) in Mansfield before going to Portland College.

Joanne added: “Scott has always found social interaction difficult. He often says that he wished he could live in his world all the time because it is much better than the real world.

“We found that Scott often has great difficulty explaining how he is feeling and responds angrily when he is struggling.

“But we discovered that he can write down what is wrong much better than he can verbalise.”

Scott has enjoyed writing fan fiction for many years, and is very talented at drawing his own version of manga-style drawings, but kept voicing his desire to write a book.

His parents, Joanne and Michael Tatt, added: “We told him that to do that he needed to come up with an original concept. He started and gave up on a few occasions, but last year the idea of a trio of sisters and their supernatural explorations formed and took shape.

“After he finished writing he was desperate to see it in book form and we looked at various options together. We decided that self-publishing was the best option and his first novel became a reality, via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

“Scott was overwhelmed when our first copy arrived. He will always have autism, and always need support, but it has not stopped him striving to achieve his dream. We are incredibly proud of him.”

The novel can be purchased as a printed copy or via kindle through Amazon.co.uk