A Man Named Nicholas Sparks Trivia Quiz

Answer: December

Nicholas Sparks barely made it into the 1965 slot, being born on December 31st, 1965. He was born to Patrick Michael Sparks and Jill Emma Marie Sparks, in Omaha, Nebraska, where he lived for the first year of his life. Then he had to move, due to Patrick Sparks getting accepted into the University of Minnesota.

Answer: Bella Vista High School

Bella Vista High School is a public high school in Fair Oaks, California, in the San Juan Unified School District. Other widely-recognized people have been to Bella Vista, including Tommy Skeoch and Lynn Anderson. Nicholas graduated in 1984.

Answer: His mom told him to

Nicholas injured his Achilles tendon in a race at The University of Notre Dame, during his freshman year. Due to that, there was not a lot he could do while at home recovering. His mom told him "Don't pout - go do something." Nicholas asked "what?" to which she replied "I don't know - go write a book". The finished result, eight weeks later, was "The Passing", which he never published.

Answer: Spring break, 1988

In March, 1988, it was spring break for Nicholas. He was in Florida, and met a girl, Cathy. He claims "it was love at first sight - for me, anyways". He told her only a day after they met that they would get married, but she just laughed him off. But in July of 1989, they indeed did get married.

Answer: Acting

Nicholas tried many jobs over the years, but came to a realization that he wasn't chasing his dreams of being a writer anymore. He decided to give writing one last try before quitting for good and wound up writing "The Notebook". One novel later, he quit his day job and started writing full-time.

Answer: False

Nicholas wrote "The Notebook" from June, 1994 until January, 1995. He typed every night for four hours and for one full day on the weekends. In January of 1995, he started editing the book, and by October of 1995, it was being shopped around to publishers before being bought by Warner Books for $1,000,000.

"Message in a Bottle" was written throughout 1996 and 1997, and was not published until spring of 1998.

Answer: Miles

Nicholas and Cathy named their first child Miles Andrew, and their second son Ryan Cote. And then in January 2000, their third son, Landon, was born. Eighteen months later followed twin daughters, Lexie Danielle and Savannah Marin.

It was also in January of 2000 that Nicholas and his family were informed that Nicholas' sister would die from cancer. Six months later, she did die. The character of Jamie from "A Walk to Remember" is based on her.

Answer: Billy Mills

Billy Mills won an Olympics Gold Medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Completing the 10,000 meter run, he is also noted for being the second Native American to win an Olympics Gold Medal.

"Wokini" means "seeking a new beginning" in Mills' native Lakota language. The book is about finding yourself, about seeking true happiness. It was published in 1994.

Answer: Autism

In January of 1996, Nicholas and his wife, Cathy, were told that their son had autism, which affects roughly 35 million people worldwide. People with autism often lack social skills, and can have speech problems. Later on, however, Ryan was re-diagnosed with CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder). Almost like dyslexia of sound, people with CAPD have trouble processing what they hear, because their ears and brain don't coordinate properly.

Answer: False

Though there were negotiations with CBS about turning "The Rescue" into a television series, eventually CBS decided not to, reasons undisclosed.

"The Rescue" follows volunteer fireman Taylor McAden and what he goes through after meeting Denise Holton and her mentally disabled son, Kyle. Nicholas was inspired to write this after working with his son, Ryan.

Thank you for taking my quiz, and have a nice day!