This story has been updated since publication in TIME magazine.
Cayla Kluver was 14 when she wrote her first novel. It's a fantasy novel called Legacy , and it's about a certain Princess Alera of Hytanica who's being forced to marry the handsome but obnoxious Lord Steldor when she's really interested in the handsome but mysterious Narian, who hails from Hytanica's bitter enemy, Cokyri.
When she was 15, Kluver and her mom, who live in Wisconsin, formed their own publishing company to publish Legacy . Sales were modest, but the book attracted some rave reader reviews on Amazon.com At 16, when most authors are...