Chills & Goosebumps With R.L. Stine At NYCC

Alejandra Bodden writes for Bleeding Cool:



I don't know if you, guys, have seen theNYCC Swag post, but you'll recognize me as the one with the gazillion books I have picked up here. As a lover of words and anything book-related i couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend the panel and meet the writer that introduced me to the genre of Suspense and Horror many years ago:Mr. R.L. STINE!




I got to the line pretty early and was pleasantly surprised to see many people of all ages lined up and excited to see the author that has shared so many stories with us, readers.



When asked if he read comics R.L. Stine said EC HORROR COMICS was most of what he read as a child because he was fascinated with how horrific and gruesome they were and loved the twist endings. He said comics were responsible for his love of horror and that his dream, as a kid, was to be a comic artist. Though the major enabler of his horror love was going every weekend to the movie theater twith his brother to go watch horror movies.



What turned him into reading books was being given a RAY BRADBURY book as a kid when his mom dropped him at the library once. His books captivated him with his great writing and surprising twist endings. He says that one day he saw Ray Bradbury at a book event and went to him as a fanboy and told him that he was his hero- Bradbury then turned to him and told him, "well, you are a hero, too, to many others." Stine says he started crying and that it was the nicest and most embarrassing moment to him.



Stine says he never really knew how to type and that he has written 300 books with just his index fingers. He says that writing G.I. JOE was pretty hard to him considering he knew nothing about the army after spending most of his life trying to stay out of it, "writing is the only thing, in my life, that I'm competent at- I am so lucky!"



After Fear Street doing so well he was approached to try his hand at horror for children and he said he would after he came up with a good title for it. The title Goosebumps, he says, came after staring at an add for channel 11 on the TV Guide magazine where it promoted Goosebumps Week, which showcased horror movies.



When asked if he ever struggles with writer's block Stine said he doesn't have time for that. He described his writing process and said he writes very detailed outlines, chapter by chapter from beginning to end.



He said there is a Goosebumps movie In the works. "It's about me, and I stop wroting because all the monsters are escaping my books and they ask me to write one more book to bring them back together and In."
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