Not many folks can say they have written a book, much less a high school student. But Geneva School of Boerne senior Elle Nicholson can add the unique title of “published author” to her growing list of accomplishments.
Nicholson began writing her newly published novel for 8- to 12-year-olds, titled “Survivor,” when she was an 11-year-old student at Geneva. She said she spent about two years writing the first full draft of the novel and another three years revising and editing. The entire process took six years. She said she wrote it because she wanted to make a positive difference in the world.
“The impetus for writing the book was my love of tigers and the sad reality that they are a critically endangered species,” Nicholson said. “I feared tigers would someday go extinct, so I sought to spark change by creating a story that would educate kids on the danger humans pose to tigers. My goal has always been to start a conversation about how humans can mitigate the dangers tigers face and hopefully help the species thrive once more.
“I originally came up with the basic premise for the book in fifth grade and wrote it as a creative short story assignment. When working on the paper, I quickly realized this was a story that needed to be told. I’ve always loved writing stories, so I viewed the task as an exciting challenge.”
“Survivor” is an adventure tale of three tiger cubs that struggle to survive in the wild and learn to overcome hardship as they grow up. The cubs wrestle with their respective destinies, develop close ties of family and friendship and realize the true meaning of love and sacrifice.
Nicholson’s passion about protecting tigers is evident in this novel.
“The underlying theme is a critique of humanity’s exploitative, or at best apathetic, attitude toward tigers,” she said. “Most of the plot is driven by human interference to disastrous effect. The novel ends on a hopeful note, though, as the hero realizes mankind can save his species by changing the way we treat tigers. I intend that message to be the biggest takeaway for readers.”
Nicholson said the writing and publishing process taught her life skills such as how to edit, how to work with a company and how to promote her work.
“I gradually learned the value of hard work and determination,” she said. “It would have been so easy to give up somewhere along the way, and at times it seemed tempting. But I’m so glad I decided to see this through. Envisioning my goal and reminding myself why I was writing in the first place usually helped me get in the right mindset.
“The most difficult thing about writing a novel was not so much the actual writing of the novel, but rather my struggle with the fear of failure. I was afraid no publisher would take me seriously. Thankfully, I didn’t give up, and it all worked out in the end!”
Nicholson said it feels “a bit surreal” to be a published author after spending years dreaming about it.
“I am incredibly excited and feel lucky to get to share my work with the world!” she said. “The process of getting published was at first long and difficult, mainly because of my age. Finding a publisher willing to work with an inexperienced, agentless teenager was no easy task. It took me a few rounds of inquiries before I landed my contract.”
Nicholson said she hasn’t decided yet if she’ll write another book yet.
“When I was younger, I’d planned to make ‘Survivor’ into a series, but I won’t do that unless I feel there’s more of a story to tell there,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up writing other novels someday, though.”
Nicholson just began her final year at Geneva, where she is involved in varsity volleyball and tennis, the second violin section leader in orchestra, a debate captain and a member of National Honor Society. She has been a Summa Cum Laude student all three years of high school, earned second place in persuasive speaking at the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools 5A State Academic Meet and was also named an advanced placement scholar with honor.
She said she has her sights set to major in environmental studies in college and later study environmental law in law school, which is where she said her true passion lies in protecting nature and the environment from exploitation.
Nicholson said she plans to donate a portion of her book proceeds to a tiger charity.
“I’ll probably end up saving the rest to help with college expenses, but I’m tempted to buy some fancy new sneakers as well!” she said
Her book is on sale now through Amazon, although it has an official release date of August 15. She has several book signing events on the horizon.
Lunsford is the advancement director at the Geneva School of Boerne.
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