R. L. Stine
R. L. Stine
Robert Lawrence Stine, sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor. He has been referred to as the "Stephen King of children's literature" and is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The Nightmare Room series. Some of his other works include a Space Cadets trilogy, two Hark gamebooks, and dozens of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth8 October 1943
CountryUnited States of America
I love theme parks but I'm a real chicken on rides. I'd rather invent scary rides for my books than go on them for real.
Well, first you have to love writing. A lot of authors love having written. But I enjoy the actual writing. Beside that, I think the main reason I can be so prolific is the huge amount of planning I do before I start to write. I do a very complete, chapter-by-chapter outline of every book I write. When I sit down to write, I already know everything that's going to happen in the book. This means I've done all the important thinking, and I can relax and enjoy the writing. I could never write so many books if I didn't outline them first.
It's hard for children's authors to be accepted when they try to write adult books. J.K. Rowling is the exception because people are so eager to read anything by her, but it took Judy Blume three or four tries before she had a success.
I've never turned into a bee - I've never been chased by a mummy or met a ghost. But many of the ideas in my books are suggested by real life.
I haven't written a young-adult book in years. I'm also doing six 'Goosebumps' books a year now.
I used to get a haircut every Saturday so I would never miss any of the comic books. I had practically no hair when I was a kid!
Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.
When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and try to put those feelings into books.
I believe that kids as well as adults are entitled to books of no socially redeeming value.
Well, I hate it when authors come into a school and they say to kids, 'Write from your heart, only write what you know, and write from your heart.' I hate that because it's useless. I've written over 300 books - not one was written from my heart. Not one. They were all written for an audience, they were all written to entertain a certain audience.
Many adults feel that every children's book has to teach them something.... My theory is a children's book... can be just for fun.
Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.
I set a goal for myself everyday when I write - 10 pages a day - and it's much harder because I'm too dumb to turn off my Twitter and everything so it's always on and it's a real distraction. It's a major distraction.
I really wanted to be a cartoonist, and I was in 4th or 5th grade and I would bring my drawings in, and I'd look around, and everyone could draw better than me. Everyone. My drawings were just awful. So that's why I had to write.