Spooky season is upon us and what better way to celebrate than diving into the iconic Goosebumps series with author, R.L. Stine?
LISTEN NOW: Goosebumps author, R.L. Stine joins NPR’s ‘Bullseye’ podcast
Stine recently joined NPR’s Bullseye podcast with Jesse Thorn to talk everything Goosebumps and how he found his way to writing scary books for kids — something he never planned to do.
“Everything that’s ever happened to me, really, happened by accident,” he shared of landing a job as a children’s author. “It wasn’t my thinking it out, where I ended up. I answered an ad for Ed Scholastic and I ended up writing for kids. I went to work at Scholastic, I was Assistant Editor at Junior Scholastic magazine writing History and Geography articles… I had never thought of writing for kids. Wasn’t my dream.”
Turns out writing for kids came pretty naturally to Stine, who shares his inspiration for the different books come from book titles that come across his mind while living every day life.
Stine uses the title of his 14th book in the series, Little Shop of Hamsters, as an example.
“I came up with that book title, I’m walking along a little shop of hamsters, which is just a great title, right?” He said of the 2010 book title. “So I had to do a book about it, but how do you do hamsters scary? That was a challenge [but] I had to do it because of the title.”
Stine shares all his books are inspired by a title rather than an idea, which is not the norm for many authors, “I’m always thinking of titles, and I have a piece of paper that I’ll keep a list of titles, that’s it… If I think of a good title, it’ll lead me to the story, so I don’t try to think of ideas.”
Stine revealed his latest creation is a book surrounding the title, The Scariest Book Ever.
“I’m working on a Goosebumps book for next year titled, Scariest Book Ever, that’s going to lead me to some kind of story, I hope.” The possibilities are endless!
Hear more about Sine’s journey to Goosebumps and more by tuning in to his conversation on the Bullseye with Jesse Thorn podcast above.
Bullseye podcast from NPR is your curated guide to culture. Jesse Thorn hosts in-depth interviews with brilliant creators, culture picks from our favorite critics and irreverent original comedy.
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