Marc Elliot Hall was raised in Northern California, where he grew up with five sisters. After graduating from high school at age sixteen he wandered aimlessly from romance to romance, job to job, school to school without a clear purpose for his life. After a failed engagement and flunking out of college for the second time, he decided to take possession of his own life. He got a real job and began to work toward building a career. By the time he was twenty-four he had gotten married, had a child, risen to the position of executive editor of a small, monthly newsletter and returned to school. During this period he finished Abandon. Of himself he says only, "I'm an average-looking, balding, middle-twenties neo-moderate with very little ambition. That's why I write."