Teen at work on her 2d novel

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Stephanie Scheffler often writes in a chicken coop - which doesn't seem terribly odd, given that she lives on a ranch near Peyton, Colo.

What is unusual, though, is that this 16-year-old is a published author who's hard at work on her second novel and has plans for a series of historical novels. Each book in the series will concentrate on an American war and contain characters who are descendants of characters in the earlier books.

Her first book, "Elise the Patriot: a Revolutionary War Story," was self-published, came out in December, and is available at the Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Target Web sites.

She hasn't had an official review of the book, but she has one glowing report from her grandmother Sandy Beck, who lives in Arizona.

"I've read Dorothy Gilman Butters, who wrote some historical children's books. This is equally good," the proud grandmother says.

Stephanie often does her writing in the chicken shed, where she can escape the lively chaos in the Scheffler household. She is the second-oldest of 10 children who range in age from 1 to 17.

In their house on the 40-acre ranch, mom Shari Scheffler home-schools them all (except for baby Adam), because she believes schools spend too much time on reviewing materials and "memorizing instead of knowing."

"If Stephanie had been in public school she would never have had time to write, study history or read as much as she has," Shari Scheffler says.

Stephanie, an avid reader, has sailed through contemporary books aimed at kids her age, but she's also devoured such classics as Ivanhoe.

"I love reading so much. I know what I like to read and so I wanted to write that," she says.

She has been writing short stories since she was 10, she says, sounding as though she's been at it for decades.

Her first novel started out as a short story to get a Girl Scout patch. "But it kept getting longer and longer," she says.

It took her three months to write "Elise the Patriot," which has 41,000 words. The book is set in 1777 Williamsburg, where Elise, 11, devises an elaborate scheme to save the men in her family from the Loyalists. She mourns a brother who she thinks has been hanged, and is shunned by friends whose families think her family is on the wrong side in the conflict. In the moral twist of the story, she befriends three enemy soldiers.

When she finished her book, her older brother Steven helped her look for a publisher. But they soon found out that she had to have an agent before anyone would even look at her work.

She couldn't afford that, so she found a publishing company called iUniverse. She was bummed about the cover, which was chosen by the publisher: It showed a flag that was not of the Revolutionary War period. But she figures most people won't notice.

She's halfway through writing her second historical novel, with a working title of "Elizabeth," which has her pre-teen heroine coping with the War of 1812.

Stephanie decided to use war as a recurring theme in all her historical novels because, "War makes a good plot line. Wars are interesting, but bad. But they are an important part of our history."

She starts her novels with a lot of history research in books and online, learning as much as she can about the wars, the political climate and the way people lived in that era. "I want to show what it is like to grow up during war," she says.

She does a lot of story plotting while feeding and brushing her horses, including a Tennessee walking horse named Socks.

"The horses must think I'm crazy, having conversations with myself. They're good listeners. I talk about what should happen and what works best," she says.

Although writing and horses are her life, she does get off the ranch. She wants to take college classes at Pikes Peak Community College this summer, and thinks she might get a degree in history. She visits friends she has met at Girl Scouts, ballet class, and Keepers of the Faith - a Scout-like, faith-based organization. She rides bikes, in-line skates and plays baseball on a dirt field the family built near the house. She taught herself piano, violin, piccolo, flute and recorder.

Most recently she has been playing a fife. "It was part of the Revolutionary War history I was reading about, so I bought one to see what that was like."

Because Stephanie doesn't get an allowance, she hopes enough people will buy her $10.95 book online so that it will eventually be available in bookstores and school libraries.

"It would be nice to have money to buy a new halter and stuff for Socks," she says.

Here are some excerpts from "Elise the Patriot: a Revolutionary War Story":

Elise touched her long hair and asked, "Does anyone have a knife?"

Nathan took one from his pocket and cut her hair to the right length. Then he tied it in the usual low ponytail worn by the men and boys.

"That's much better, now. You look like a boy except that you're too clean." George picked up some dirt and smeared it on her clothes and a little on her face.

"You look perfect now, Elise. No one will suspect a thing."

When she came to the dirt road, she slowed Rio to a trot and then a walk. She kept her eyes open for the left curve. When she found it, she checked her pocket for the note. It was still there. In the distance she saw some tents. They became larger as she got closer.

She took a deep breath and thought, 'This is it.'

"Mama," Elise whispered. "Will you explain now why there are British soldiers in our home."

"Alright, Elise," Mrs. McKale started. "It's not the quartering act; you know that the British can no longer help themselves to anything they see. I simply felt sorry for them and let them put their horses in the barn, and then they brought in this man and asked if they could stay the night. I said yes to them."

"But they're Red Coats!"

"That doesn't matter Elise. Do you know what I saw? I saw an injured man and his friends. God wants us to love everyone Elise, not just our friends.

"I know mama," Elise sighed.

"Thomas, is something else bothering you?" Elise asked. She sensed something else was bothering him.

"It's just the war, Elise. It seems to be getting nowhere. No one is winning or losing. I don't like war," he said.

"No one does, Thomas," she replied.

"James did." Thomas paused. Tears glistening in his eyes, but he quickly brushed them away. "Elise. I hate it. I hate having to shoot people and watch as my friends die when they get shot and watching as people die when we shoot them. They had families too, Elise, families who will never see them again. I don't care who wins the war anymore. I just want it to be over. I want to be able to help papa shoe horses again and run errands for mama and not have to fight anymore."