-
Birth
Francis Scott Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota -
First Work
Fitzgerald's first work, a detective story in the school newspaper, is printed when he was 13 -
Prep School
At 15, Fitzgerald starts attending the Newman School, a prestigious prep school in New Jersey -
Princeton
After graduating from Newman, Fitzgerald stayed in New Jersey to attend Princeton University -
First Novel Attempt
While at Princeton he submitted a novel to Charles Scribner's Sons who hailed the book for its writing, but eventually rejected it -
Army
After his grades dipped due to a lack of focus on non-writing classes, he dropped out and enlisted in the U.S. army -
Meeting Zelda
After being stationed in Alabama, Fitzgerald met and promptly fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the inspiration behind most of the female leads in his stories -
This Side of Paradise
In an attempt to persuade Zelda to marry him, Fitzgerald reworked some of his earlier work titled The Romantic Egoist as This Side of Paradise, which was published in 1920 and was a mainstream success -
Marriage to Zelda
After the success of This Side of Paradise in 1920, Fitzgerald and Zelda were married and had their only child, Frances Scott Fitzgerald -
The Beautiful and Damned
After his first novel's success, Fitzgerald wrote The Beautiful and Damned, which was largely overlooked upon its release, so to support he and Zelda's lifestyle, he would commonly write short stories to post in magazines -
The Great Gatsby
In 1925, Fitzgerald released The Great Gatsby which was met with mixed reviews at the time and never rose to success in Fitzgerald's lifetime, was is known as an important piece of American literature in the modern day -
Tender is the Night
9 years after the release of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald released Tender is the Night, which, like The Great Gatsby was met with mixed reviews but ultimately went on to be appreciated with time -
Zelda's illness
After years of schizophrenia and increasingly violent and hostile behavior putting stress on the couple, Fitzgerald placed Zelda in Highland Hospital in North Carolina -
Movie Deal
Fitzgerald entered a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1937 which led to a move to Hollywood to pursue writing for MGM releases -
Death
After suffering from possible tuberculosis, 2 heart attacks, and constant alcoholism, Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in his apartment in Hollywood
