Nicholas Sparks ... an inside and intimate look.

                                           Nicholas Sparks 

  She was young and beautiful, the college student sitting next to me.

       "So, why are you here?" I asked. "You're a writer, a reader, or both?"

       "I love everything he writes. Reader," she said. 

        Over 1,000 people waited for Nicholas Sparks in a packed auditorium at the University of South Florida's Lecture Series. He would speak about the fortunate breaks in his writing career, what inspired him to write his different books, how he met his wife....

    

SOME INTERESTING FACTS SHARED BY SPARKS AT THE TALK.

       

     1. Nicholas Spark wrote his first novel at the age of 19 after injuring his foot. While recuperating, his mother said, "Do something." So he wrote. According to him, "It wasn't  good." It would be years down the road before he would try this again.

     2. He wanted to go to law school but wasn't accepted.

    

     3. He met his wife at Spring Break at Sanabel Island, Florida on a Monday night. Tuesday night she didn't remember him but he told her anyway that someday he would marry her. 

  

 4. His first published book, The Notebook, was based on the love affair and marriage of his wife's grandparents. He found out about it the day after he and his wife were married when they visited them. The grandparents were unable to go to the wedding because of illnesses so Nicholas' wife asked him to put on his tuxedo again and she dressed in her bridal attire and  they went to see them. That's when her grandfather revealed the story of how his wife's mother hid letters he had written her and many other elements that Nicholas believed made a very sweet story. Thus, The Notebook! 

   5. What inspired Message In A Bottle? 

        His father and mother went horseback riding. His mother fell off her horse and hit her head on a rock, hemorrhaged and died. His father became very despondent and wore black all the time. After seven years he found someone else he could love. He tells Nicholas about it and Nicholas is very happy for him. Then his father falls asleep driving; his car hits a tree and he dies. Many similar  elements play a large part of Message In A Bottle.

  6. What inspired A Walk To Remember?

       His sister. She is the girl in the book who carries her Bible to school and gets sick and dies. His sister dies of a brain tumor. She carried her Bible to school and the one thing she wanted was to be married. She marries a fellow that at first had no desire to be with her. (Seems familiar?) He loved her and even proposed marriage to her on one knee. Incredible! 

   7. How did he get his agent?  

       He bought a book on how to get an agent. Wrote a query letter. Sent it out to 25 agents. One agent wrote back but is not one of the 25. He asked her how she got his query letter. "The agent you sent it to died. They gave me her mail," she said. This twenty-six year old woman was fresh out of law school and had never sold a book to anyone in her life. She calls him with an offer. She sold his book for a million dollars! Incredible, but true! 

   8. Nicholas Sparks has five children and speaks very lovingly about his wife. 

   9. Sparks had eight of his books made into movies. (Gets to help pick out actors to do the parts in the movies.) 

  10. He's inspired to write books by situations of members of his family or stories of friends. 

  11. He encourages writers to know what they want to do with their writing and to focus on that goal. 

  12. He's witty. A very enjoyable speaker with a certain humility about him that makes him very likable. 

        I'm so glad I went to hear him speak. His success can be an inspiration to all of us who love to write.