For Swan Hill mental health social worker and author Liz McDonald her debut novel The Lesser Evil started with a nightmare but turned into a dream.

Ms McDonald described the novel as "light horror" and said the idea for the plot originated from a vivid nightmare she had.

"I thought it was a quite an interesting and out of the normal dream for me," she said.

"It inspired me and the novel grew from there."

A launch for the novel will be held at Art & Soul Art Gallery in Swan Hill tomorrow along with a small art exhibition.

In the past, Ms McDonald has written to help children cope with grief and other extreme emotions.

"Writing a novel has always been something that has interested me," she said.

"I loved every moment of writing, it was something I thoroughly enjoyed."

Ms McDonald started conceptualising the novel in 2014 and put the book on the back burner for while.

"That's often the case with these kind of things, it's a slow process," she said.

"You put a lot of yourself out there when writing a novel.

"I went with an independent publishing company this time which allowed me to release the book world wide and also gave me more control of things."

To read more about this story, grab a copy of Friday's Guardian (February 3).