Nicholas was born in Omaha @ Nebraska, on a New Year's Eve, as the second son of Patrick Michael and Jill Emma Marie Sparks. He had born @ Dec 31, 10:40 PM, only eighty minutes prior to 1966. His father was a bartender.
At the beginning of his life, their family led a nomadic life as his father was a student (was working to get a Masters program). In his words :- “because my father was a student until I was nine years old and my mother didn't work, we weren't exactly living the high life when I was little. I grew up on powdered milk and ate tons of potatoes, though to be honest, I never noticed how poor we really were until I was old enough to take an honest appraisal of things. Even then, it didn't matter. For the most part, I had a wonderful childhood and wouldn't change a thing.”
Am sure, you people get a clear picture of his childhood..!!! His childhood was typical. But when he reached High School, things began to turn round. As his brain was kicked into high gear, he used to got only “A” grades and also received a scholarship from the University of Notre Dame. He had also broken several records during his high school days. To our surprise, he had done all these in addition to working thirty hours a week @ a local restaurant.
But, from the beginning of his college days, his life got a U turn. In a meet, breaking the Notre Dame record in the 4 x 800 relay, he got injured and went a little insane. He had advised to take rest for 3 months. During that days, he used to moped around the house. One day his mother got tired off and asked him to do “something” instead of wasting time like that. What to do?, he asked his mother. To get rid off his mischieves, his mother told to write a book.
After Eight weeks, to his mother’s surprise, he had became the author of his first novel – “The Passing”. But, to our surprise, this book is still kept hidden.
He got married; it was a love marriage “Love at First Sight”, in 1989. After six weeks from his marriage, his mother was killed in a horse riding accident. 1989 has also a great significance in his life, he wrote his second novel, “The Royal Murders”.
After his son Miles Andrew was born, he wrote his third book, Wokini. He was blessed with another son Ryan Cote in 1992.
He wrote The Notebook over a six-month period, from June of 1994 until January of 1995.
Again his life took another U-turn.
In January 1996, it was determined that his second son, Ryan, was autistic. It set off a year of tremendous worry and frustration for his family. Then, in September, his father was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 54. His death devastated his community and our family.
In October, his book was launched.The Notebook gain its popularity through the word-of-mouth.It was there for 56 weeks in the best seller list of New York Times and a 54 weeks in the paper back list. It has sold over 10,000,0000 copies world wide.His words:-" It was only the third novel in the previous 30 years that had lasted over a year on the hardcover list, and the only novel to last over a year on both hardcover and paperbacklists,until J.K Rowling came along with Harry Potter."
He Continued in the Pharma field through 1996 and also into 1997.At that time, he was writing his new book, "Message in a Bottle" In February 1997, he gave up his job when he realized that "Message in a Bottle" is going well.
In April 1997,Warner Brothers gain the movie rights for "Message in a Bottle". (Surprising thing is the novel was only half completed at that time). The producer of the movie was Denise DiNovi.
In May, he moved to North Carolina and finished his book there. Like a curse, his doctors cancer reappeared in that year.In 1998, he published "Message in a Bottle" . After that he spent 2 months on a book tour and by tye end of that tour he had wrote another book, "A Walk to Remember". In December 1998, Warner Brothers again win the film rights for "A Walk to Remember", and the producer was Denise DiNovi itself.
In February 1999, the film "Message in a Bottle" premiered, starring Kevin Costner, Paul New Man and Robin Wright Penn. It was number one at box office and gained over $120 million world wide.
by that time, his son, Ryan, was improved a lot and doctors had diagnosed the correct thing about him and it was CAPD. His worries about Ryan had begun to fade.
Upon the experiences with his son Ryan, he started to write "The rescue". He was getting very emotional at that times and only because of the support of his wife he completed that book. She consoled him every time. In July 1999, they celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary.
He and his wife felt incredible proud about Ryan, when he started kindergarten with other children, in the fall of 1999. At that time, "A Walk to Remember" was published. After that, he had gone for a 6 months book tour. The book was there nearly for 6 months on the hard cover best seller list and 5 months on the paperback best seller list.
The New Year (2000) bring him a sad and good news at once. His 3rd son, Landon, was born and the same time they had realized that the drugs they use for his sister's brain tumor was not working any more. He spent the first half of the year in California with his sister, and it was heart breaking for him. She passed away in June, 2000.
In the fall of 2000, he went to a tour for "The Rescue". It hit number one on New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA today and wall street journal. A couple of months later he finished "A bend in the Road" too...
In April, he started his sixth novel, "The Guardian"
Even though he was cursed with the demise of his sister, In August, he was blessed with two little angles, Lexie Danielle and Savannah Marin.
After the tour for "A Bend in the Road", he made a decision to gift the creative writing department @ the University of Notre Dame with $1,500,000 for scholarships, internships and fellowships.
In December 2001, he began his sixth novel, "Nights in Rodanthe" and in January 2002 he decided to publish it prior to "The Guardian". "Nights in Rodanthe" got completed by April and after that he worked on "The Guardian". The film rights for "Nights in Rodanthe" were gained by Warner Brothers with Denise Di Novi again producing. After the book tour for this book, he completed "The Guardian".
The idea of filming "The Notebook" began in November 2002 with New Line Cinema. The cinema was directed by Nick Cassavetes, starring James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Ryan Gosling and Rachael Mac Adams. Producer was Mark Johnson.
In the fall of 2002, he began his eighth novel, "The Wedding". It was a sequel to "The Notebook"
In April 2003, "The Guardian" was completed, while he was in a worldwide travel with his brother. At that time, he wrote his first nonfiction book, “Three Weeks with my Brother”
In June 2004, the film “The Note Book” was released starring Rachael Mac Adams and Ryan Gosling. It was an instant movie classic.
In August 2004, his books, The Notebook, The Wedding, and Nights in Rodanthe, all appeared together on the New York Times paperback bestseller list.
Around that time, he was honored to serve the USA Track and Field Foundation Board of Directors.
In the fall of 2004, he began to work on True Believer. He completed the novel in January 2005.After finishing True Believer, he had embarked on a sequel,”At First Sight”. ,”At First Sight” was completed in June 2005.
“Dear John” was published in October 2006. In early 2007, he began writing his thirteenth book, “The Choice”
At January 2008, he and his wife began to think of their own dream home and started working on it. At the same time, he began to work on, “The Lucky One”. Unlike of his other novels, It was not inspired by any life events but by an image!!! An image of a soldier finding a photograph and searching for the woman in it. In June 2008, he completed it.
The fall of 2008 was the beginning of filming of “Dear John” starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried.
In August 2008, he became to know that Miley Cyrus was interested in the possibility of working with him, and after meeting with executives, he agreed to write a screenplay entitled “The Last Song”. In December 2008, he finished the screenplay for it and the final polish in January 2009. It’s odd that usually screenplays are adapted from novels, but here it went vice versa. “The Last Song “was completed in June 2009; right around the time that filming began.
“The Last Song” got just released and the world is waiting for “Dear John”…..
