About

'Pursuing Nerissa' is a high school romantic comedy that follows the trials and tribulations of Henry and his obsession with Nerissa, the girl he has a crush on. 'Pursuing Nerissa' is a light novel and it includes scene illustrations between chapters to bring the story to life.

The story is set in high school and follows Henry, a high school boy with a crush on the girl in the grade above him, Nerissa. Despite his best efforts, Henry just isn't able to bring himself to confess his feelings to her until they are brought together by a series of unfortunate events. After being rejected the first time without a reason, Henry is determined to find out why and hopefully, change her mind.

'Pursuing Nerissa' will contain 110 pages, which will include the story and 10 black and white scene illustrations. It will be printed in 5" x 8" hardcover and paperback versions. The digital version will be available in PDF and in eReader formats. The art book will also be in PDF and eReader versions.

The main characters in this story are Henry and Nerissa. Henry is a bit awkward and introverted, which makes him a target for bullies. His shyness also makes it difficult for him to approach Nerissa. Nerissa, or Neris to her friends, on the other hand is intelligent and outgoing, top of her class and one of the most popular girls in school. Henry is supported by his sister, Vicky, who has a good intuition and cares a great deal about her brother. Other characters include Rhea, Nerissa's best friend and Lorenzo, a boy who befriends Henry after an fight with bullies.

The story is written by myself, Erik Hart. I am an entrepreneur and writer. I have written primarily for online formats and 'Pursuing Nerissa' is my first foray into publishing and books. I have a masters in Creative Writing from the Queensland University of Technology and have been writing for seven years.

'Pursuing Nerissa' will feature art and illustrations by Ridwan Chandra Choa, also known online as MeganeRid. Ridwan is a talented artist and illustrator and I love his work. We have been working together for six months and I have been itching for an opportunity to get him to illustrate my stories.

You can find more of his work at DeviantArt, ArtStation and Instagram.

Pledge rewards have been designed to maximize value for backers. Each level of backing receives all previous tier rewards and digital rewards will be sent out to backers by email. I will liaise with backers who pledged more than tier amounts and send out additional copies or other goodies depending on their preferences. The main cost of both the paperback and the hardback is shipping, which is approximately $15 to the US and varying amounts to the rest of the world. All paperback and hardback copies are signed and shipped from Australia.

Keep in mind, sending multiple copies of paperbacks or hardbacks is cheaper due to the reduced cost of shipping. Concerning the price difference between paperbacks and hardbacks, hardback books are relatively more expensive to print than paperbacks, but are also higher quality in cover and paper.

Finally, here are some excerpts from the novel:

Chapter 1:

Henry stretched out his hand and ruffled my hair, smiling.

“Have fun at school dummy.”

With those parting words he turned and walked away.

“Don’t mess up my hair!” I called after him.

He raised his hand and held up two fingers, like he was holding an imaginary cigarette. I didn’t know what that the sign meant, but I was glad. I had caught a glimpse of his old self.

“Vicky!”

I heard someone behind me shout. I whirled to see Hanna, my best friend. We embraced and she looked over my shoulder.

“Is that your brother?” she said.

By the time I had turned, Henry had already disappeared.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“He’s pretty weird,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said smiling.

Chapter 5:

I could sympathise with the kid who was about to pummel me. If anyone hurt Vicky I would be out for blood. I guess I deserved whatever was coming my way. The big boy started winding up, but was interrupted by a measured beat of hard rubber on wood. Someone was walking up behind them. The bully turned and his face instantly lit up.

“Hey guys. What are you up to?” a female voice said.

It was a familiar female voice, sweet music to my ears. Was she going to save me? The bully replied to her question.

“Hey Neris, you come to watch?”

There was a malicious glint in his eye, the glint of a person that liked to inflict pain on others. Neris walked up behind them and saw my face. I couldn’t read her expression. Was it surprise or shock? Did she watch beatings often enough to be familiar with these two thugs? The exchange didn’t go unnoticed. The big boy looked from her face to mine and back to hers again.

“Do you know this tool?” he said.

Did she just blush?

Chapter 8:

She looked at Rhea and then at me, and smiled.

“Are you two getting along?”

“Yes,” Rhea said to Neris, “but I need to go. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

She looked over her shoulder at me while walking away. What was that look? I didn’t have time to think about it. I put the piece of paper in my pocket.

“We need to talk,” I said to Neris.

“About what?” she said innocently.

I looked around.

“Not here,” I said.

Neris has a worried expression on her face.

“Okay, but you need to make it quick. My bus is going to leave.”

I grabbed her hand and started pulling her along. There was a place near here that was quiet and hidden. This was going to be my moment of truth. The conversation with Ms.Hockney came back to my mind and my chest started to hurt again.