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He was born in St. Paul Minnesota to Edward and Molly Fitzgerald. He was named after Francis Scott Key, a distant cousin and also wrote the lyrics to the star spangled banner.
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He published his first piece of writing at the age of 13. It was a detective story that was published in the school newspaper.
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After expulsion for lack of academic effort, he boarded a Newman School, a catholic school in New Jersey. After graduation, he attended Princeton University.
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After flunking out of Princeton, he joined the Army. He was a 2nd lieutenant during the Great War, he preferred writing over tactics and training.
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Fitzgerald was station at Camp Sheridan in Alabama, where he met his wife, Zelda Sayre. A daughter of a Supreme Court judge and a society darling.
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He got his first job in New York at an advertising agency, making $90 a month. He works there for several months before returning to Minnesota to finish his novel he started in the army
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After one broken engagement, Fitzgerald married Zelda in April, after This side of paradise was published.
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Fitzgerald’s only child, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, aka Scottie, was born.
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He published his second novel, The beautiful and damned. Also published was his collection of short stories, Tales of the Jazz Age.
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They moved to France, along with their daughter. Shortly after their arrival, Fitzgerald wrote his most popular novel, The Great Gastby.
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Zelda suffered a few mental breakdowns and never fully recovered from them. Once they moved back to the US, Zelda published her first and only novel, Save me the Waltz.
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After his wife published her novel, based on their marriage, he decided to write one of his own. Tender is the night was based on a story of an American psychiatrist married to a schizophrenic. It was a disaster.
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Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. There he meets and falls in love with Sheilah Graham.
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He started writing this book in 1939, but it wasn’t published until a year after his death.
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He died of a heart attack, he was only 44.
