Wresting with my Angel: Misha Herwin

 

Cover of an excerpt on Wattpad

Sometime in the dim distant past, well pre-Covid, I wrote a novel I called “Dark Angel.”  It was a Vampire story, at a time when Vampires were past their hey-day, or so received wisdom from the publishing world told me but, judging by my own fascination with the tropes, I could never quite believe that the readership wasn’t out there.

The book was aimed at a YA audience and it certainly had the right Gothic vibes to appeal to that age group. Whenever I used sample chapters as part of the writing workshops I did in schools, not only did I get great feedback but the writing the students’ produced showed how their imaginations had been sparked and how well they were able to use Gothic imagery and themes.

On one level, the book was already a success. It was, however, too short to be a novel, not short enough to be a novella, so it languished on my hard drive until earlier this year when I decided that I would use it as an exercise to practise the hard won skills I’d acquired when I produced “New Beginnings at Rosa’s” totally on my own. I wasn’t even sure whether I’d bother to market the book.

Reading through the novel again, I realised that “Dark Angel” had something about it that was worth working on. I had characters and plot and the basic structure was good.

There were problems but these were easily fixed. Or so I thought.

Since the first appearance of my “Dark Angel,” the YA world had changed. The books had grown darker, the themes more adult with far more graphic sex and violence. Also my main character Lauren lacked depth and although I had not intended it, she had ended up having to be rescued by boy-friend, Will.

I thought the answer was to write in the first person. But that didn’t work. Mostly because I couldn’t hear Lauren’s voice and had no idea what it was that drove her, or why she reacted to events in the way she did.  

After countless attempts I was ready to give up, when a conversation with my friend Karen about the difficulties I was having showed me that what I needed to explore was the nature of Vampires and what they might symbolise and from that came the main thread of my story.

At this point everything appeared straightforward, except that I now had to write three new chapters which would set the story in the present day but would also be rich in Gothic imagery. This proved such a struggle that I was tempted to give up on the contemporary and go back into the Victorian period where gas-lit streets, thick fogs and brooding shadows would easily convey the atmosphere of impending doom. My granddaughter even suggested an alternative universe, but some deep down belief in my original tale kept me going and at long, long last the book is coming together.

I am currently on version three of Chapter Five, but the previous four are working and although it’s demanding work, I am finally enjoying writing. In fact I am so much in the zone that I have a notebook on the go to scribble down images, or snatches of conversation that float into my head when I’m going about the normal business of the day.

Raphael, my dark angel, is a far cry from the tinsel clad angels that abound this Christmas but his story is taking shape and should be ready for the telling in 2026.