Born in Scarborough, before it joined the megacity of Toronto, Stephen emigrated from the provincial capital to the national capital with his parents and siblings. Raised in the woods outside of Ottawa where the social life was limited to a few trees and the neighbors that weren’t too far to walk to, he began devouring books as a method of wandering the far worlds.
In his teen years, he joined an online writing club to impress a girl but found to his surprise that he enjoyed it, and his grades in English began to increase.
In college, he used the written word to escape from the stresses of the day and crafted a handful of stories.
Years passed as he took various jobs, including being an auctioneer, a short haul driver, a teacher, and a construction worker, but all the while he continued to write as a catharsis. Although he submitted some works, his pride kept him from taking others advice.
That was, until his wife picked up a manuscript, and said one of the most important sentences he had ever heard from a reader.
“The introduction makes no sense.”
After swallowing his pride, he took her advice in earnest and promised himself that he would stop letting his belief in perfection cloud his judgment.
Two years later, his first completed novel found a publisher and thus began his professional writing career.