The Great Gatsby has an author.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald ( September 24 , 1896 -- December 21 , 1940 ) , known professionally as F. Scott Fitzgerald , was an American novelist and short story writer , whose works illustrate the Jazz Age . The Great Gatsby . Fitzgerald -- inspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island 's north shore -- began planning the novel in 1923 , desiring to produce , in his words , `` something new -- something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned . ''