|
Goosebumps
cast a
spell
upon
children
by
transforming
even the
most
reluctant
students
into
avid
readers.
Despite
the fact
that
almost
every
book has
a
different
collection
of
characters,
the
series
has one
common
element
that
kids
can't
get
enough
of: THE
AUTHOR!
However
believable
his
plots
seem to
his
readers,
Stine
insists
he has
never
lived
one of
his
stories.
“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.
For
example,
one
Halloween
my son,
Matt,
put a
mask on
and then
had
trouble
pulling
it off.
That
gave me
the idea
for The
Haunted
Mask.”
Although
he never
experienced
terror
first
hand, he
did
enjoy
reading
about it.
“When I
was a
kid,
there
were
these
great
comic
books
called
Tales
From The
Crypt
and The
Vault of
Horror.
They
were
gruesome.
I
discovered
them in
the
barbershop
and
thought
they
were
fabulous.
I used
to get a
haircut
every
Saturday
so I
wouldn't
miss any
of these
comic
books. I
had no
hair at
all when
I was a
kid!”
His
ideas
came
from two
sources:
his
memory
and his
imagination.
“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.”
He also
keeps a
tribal
mask and
a
skeleton
hanging
in his
writing
studio
to
provide
eerie
surroundings.
Although
he
handles
the
writing
by
himself,
Stine
says he
gets
“lots of
help
from my
editors,
my
readers,
and my
friends.”
Kids
reading
Goosebumps
may be
looking
for a
scare,
but the
laughs
they get
are no
accident.
Before
he was
R.L., he
was
Jovial
Bob,
author
of such
works as
101
Silly
Monster
Jokes,
and
Bozos on
Patrol
and
editor
of
Bananas
magazine.
His
ability
to know
what
kids
will
laugh at
, as
well as
what
will
frighten
them,
makes
the
Goosebumps
series
all the
more
enjoyable
for his
readers.
Stine
started
writing
when he
was 9
years
old! He
would
write
stories
and
jokes on
an old
typewriter
and hand
them out
at
school.
“The
teacher
would
grab
them and
take
them
away,”
Stine
says,
“but I
kept
doing it.”
He wrote
for his
high
school
newspaper
in
Columbus
Ohio.
After
graduating
from
Ohio
State
University,
he moved
to New
York
City,
where he
worked
on a
variety
of
writing
jobs.
Although
his
books
are fun
and
exciting,
writing
them is
serious
stuff.
He
treats
writing
“…like a
job.” To
unwind
after
work he
enjoys
playing
the
pinball
machine
conveniently
located
in his
own
apartment.
For
aspiring
authors,
Stine
feels
reading
is as
important
as
writing.
He
offers
this
advice:
“If you
want to
be a
writer,
don’t
worry so
much
about
writing.
Read as
much as
you can.
Read as
many
different
writers
as you
can.
Soak up
the
styles.
You can
learn
all
kinds of
ways to
say
things.”
As a boy
he read
Norse
legends,
Greek
myths,
Edgar
Allan
Poe and
baseball
stories.
“And Mad
Magazine
changed
my life”
His
favorite
thriller?
Something
Wicked
This Way
Comes,
by Ray
Bradbury. |
