He used to spend hours in front of his computer at the university and even changed his physics major to geography, when it showed he could spend more time in front of the computer that way. when graduating and discovering there was no market for a newly graduated physicists-geographer he began looking for other solutions. The result was a novel. Then another, and a third; Snow Crash.
The original idea with Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash was to create a computergenerated graphic novel, in collaboration with the artist Tony Sheeder. What instead spawned is a 400+ page long book about a hacker, a virus, an VR environment called Metaverse and an evil antagonist, prepared for taking over the world.
[the hacker]The book is a humoristic approach to the cyberpunk litterature, and I laughed through the first chapters of it. What else is there to do when the main character goes by the name Hiro Protagonist, and works for the Mafia as a pizza deliverator. Though in the Meataverse he's a prince, and the greatest swordfighter alive.
Having read some of William Gibson 
lately I can't help comparing the two authors. Though Gibson has a witty side as well, Stephenson is a more forward in his wit, and it's unusual to actually laugh out loud when reading a novel. For me it is.
[the virus] Da5id thought he could handle it, thought he had been in the business long enough not to take any harm from it. But the virus doesn't work as computer viruses usually works. Being a hacker doensn't make one more resistant to it, but on the countrary...
"Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous... you'll recognize it immediately," says the back text of the book., and i nof my head vigouroulsy. As often cyberpunk authors do, Neal Stephenson has taken something and overdone it to uch a an extent you will regognize it at once with a Joker's smile on your lips.
[the antagonist] Raven; not only dangerous in the real world. His knives seem to reach wherever he wishes, and the virtuality of the Metaverse doesn't seem to stop him. An excellent antagonist makes half of an excellent novel.