Nicholas Sparks was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Patrick Michael Sparks, a professor, and Jill Emma Marie (née Thoene) Sparks, a homemaker and optometrist's assistant. He was the middle of three children, with an older brother Michael Earl "Micah" Sparks (1964—) and a younger sister, Danielle "Dana" Sparks (1966—2000), who died at the age of 33. Sparks has said that she is the inspiration for the main character in his novel A Walk to Remember.

Sparks was raised as a Roman Catholic and is of German, Czech, English and Irish ancestry.

His father was pursuing graduate studies, and the family moved a great deal, so by the time Sparks was 8, he had lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1974 his family settled in Fair Oaks, California, and remained there through Nicholas's high school days. He graduated in 1984 as valedictorian from Bella Vista High School, then enrolling at the University of Notre Dame, having received a full track and field scholarship. In his freshman year, his team set a record for the 4 x 800 relay. Sparks majored in business finance and graduated with honors in 1988. He also met his future wife that year, Cathy Cote from New Hampshire, while they were both on spring break. They married on July 22, 1989 and moved to Sacramento, California.

While still in school in 1985, Sparks had penned his first (never published) novel, The Passing, while home for the summer between freshman and sophomore years at Notre Dame. He wrote another novel in 1989, also unpublished, The Royal Murders.

After college, Sparks sought work with publishers or to attend law school, but was rejected in both attempts. He then spent the next three years trying other careers, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone and starting his own manufacturing business.

In 1990, Sparks co-wrote with Billy Mills Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding. The book was published by Feather Publishing, Random House, and Hay House. Sales for this book approximated 50,000 copies in its first year after release.

In 1992, Sparks began selling pharmaceuticals and in 1993 was transferred to Greenville, SC. It was there that he wrote another novel in his spare time, The Notebook. Two years later, he was discovered by literary agent Theresa Park, who picked The Notebook out of her agency's slush pile, liked it, and offered to represent him. In October 1995, Park secured a $1 million advance for The Notebook from Time Warner Book Group. The novel was published in October 1996 and made the New York Times best-seller list in its first week of release.

With the success of his first novel, he moved to New Bern, NC. After his first publishing success, he wrote several international bestsellers. Six of his novels have been made into films: Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), The Notebook (2004), Nights in Rodanthe (2008), Dear John (2010), and The Last Song (2010). The film rights for The Lucky One have been sold to Warner Bros. with Douglas McGrath attached to direct the film. The movie will be produced by Denise DiNovi who has previously brought three other Sparks novels to the cinema; Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, and Nights in Rodanthe.

According to his website, he has also the sold screenplay adaptations of True Believer and At First Sight. His latest screenplay turned novel, The Last Song, has been turned into a film produced by Offspring Entertainment for Touchstone Pictures featuring Miley Cyrus.

Sparks began his 16th novel, Safe Haven, on February 17, 2010, and it was published on September 14, 2010. Film producers asked Sparks on August 4th for rights to release a movie adaptation of this new novel and the deal was closed the next day.

Sparks resides in New Bern, North Carolina with his family, wife Cathy and children, Miles, Ryan, Landon and twin daughters, Lexie and Savannah.

Sparks has donated a track to New Bern High School and contributes to local and national charities.He contributes to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame by funding scholarships, internships and annual fellowship. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Sparks and his wife had donated "close to $10 million" to start a Christian private school, The Epiphany School, which emphasizes travel and life long learning.