With her social media savvy, blue-streaked hair and Molly Ringwald smile, Asheville-based young-adult novelist Stephanie Perkins might be mistaken for the teens she writes about. Her first book, Anna and the French Kiss, is set in Paris, and Perkins has had the luxury of living at least a bit of her book’s storyline: an American girl spends her tumultuous senior year of high school in the City of Love and Lights. Perkins, born in Greenville, South Carolina, was raised in Arizona and moved to Asheville in 2004. She spent a month last January doing research (a.k.a. eating delicious pastries) in a rented Paris flat.

At her book launch at Malaprop’s last December, complete with French pastries, her book sold out—something that seemed to surprise Perkins but shouldn’t surprise anyone else, given the round of awed reviews it’s received. A starred writeup from Kirkus says: “Perkins’ debut surpasses the usual chick-lit fare with smart dialogue, fresh characters and plenty of tingly interaction.” Last November, NPR named it one of the best teen reads of 2010.

Her journey exudes a kind of youthful breathlessness, but the author’s work ethic and perspective on success definitely spring from an old soul. She oh-so-modestly tells VERVE: “Truthfully, I’m not sure I’ve accomplished so much. My friends and family work as hard as I do. It’s just that their jobs aren’t quite as public.” Her recipe for success? She used to have this formula taped up above her desk. Work + time = novel.  “That’s it,” she says. “That’s how it happens.”