James Norman was born James Norman Schmidt in Chicago, Illinois. During World War II he served in the army for three years as a military correspondent on the Pacific front. He became first lieutenant and was awarded the Bronze Star. After his service in the Army, Norman returned to Los Angeles for a year and then moved to Mexico City in 1948, where he worked as a freelance writer. Norman became a lecturer on Mexican history and customs at the Academia Americana. He served as director of creative writing at the Instituto Allende from 1958-1961 and later from 1980-1983. In 1965, he was a writer in residence at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, hired Norman on recommendation of art professor Dr. John Baldwin, who had known Norman in Mexico. At Ohio University, he was a lecturer in English from 1965 till 1966, and a professor of creative writing from 1967 till 1979.