People Who Inspired Me To Be A Writer: RL Stine

Who would’ve ever guessed that in 1992 an author would have the brass to basically become the children’s book version of Stephen King? Apparently R.L. Stine did because he is that children’s book version of Stephen King and he’s also one of the authors who inspired me to be an author.

Robert Lawrence Stine was born October 8th 1943 in Columbus, Ohio. His love for writing began at the tender age of nine years old. One of the earliest inspirations for his path to authorship was the Tales from the Crypt comic anthology series. In his adulthood Stein attended Ohio State University where he would earn a bachelor’s in English before eventually becoming an editor and later a writer for Humor Magazine. His first work of fiction for Humor would be Bananas which was geared towards young adults. He 72 issues of the series, it was here that he started making a name for himself in the world of fiction.

By the 80’s R.L. Stine had moved to the big apple of New York City to begin his career as full on novelist. In 1986 he published his first horror novel ever, Blind Date, a story about a young man who becomes attach to a mystery woman that leads him to a thrill of unfortunate events. He would eventually follow up this first release with stories like The Babysitter. These stories are where the signature style he became known for was born.

By the late 80’s R.L. Stine star was rising. He transitioned into the world of entertainment media as the co-creator of the Nickelodeon series Eureeka’s Castle, which was broadcasted under the Nick Jr. patten and literature wise he created the popular Fear Street series, but it was in the early 90’s that his name would be solidified in the world of literature forever.

Released in 1992, Goosebumps is R.L. Stine young adult horror anthology created in the vein of Tales from the Crypt. Containing a mixture of thrills and comedy, the Goosebumps stories are generally centered around children from blue collar families ending up in non-fatal situational horror. Some of the signature books of the brand are “Welcome to the Dead House”, “Say Cheese and Die”, “Monster Blood”, “Stay out of the Basement” and “Night of the Living Dummy”. Goosebumps would eventually go on to sell more than 400 million copies to date and a have would also be adapted into one of the most popular and successful kid shows of the 90’s featuring many future stars of Hollywood.

As a 90’s baby Goosebumps definitely stayed in heavy rotation on my tv as a kid. Fox Kids was a plus way of living, but interestingly enough it was the Goosebumps books that made R.L. Stine one of my favorite authors. When I was a kid my mom would make me and my older sister bring home books to read in front of the entire family. My main favorite book to bring home was the Goosebumps series because it wasn’t a thousand pages long. My mom knew that but she thought it was okay, at least I was reading. I really grew to appreciate R.L. Stine’ quality of storytelling.

My favorite Goosebumps books are “Werewolf of Fever Swamp”, “Stay out of the Basement”, “The Haunted Mask”, “Night of the Living Dummy”, “Say Cheese and Die” and “It Came from beneath the Sink”. From my youngest age these stories had me identifying wuth R.L. Stine as the Stephen King for young adults, even before I heard that’s who he was compared to anyway. I also love his sense of variety in his anthology. I always keep R.L. Stine in mind when I’m writing a young adult thriller. Though on the surface his stories seem to be presented with little depth, and that was intentional on his part, if you were a kid like me you identified with the realistic sense of humor thrown into the horror. So for me as an author, R.L. Stine taught me that variety mixed in with what looks like entertaining simplicity can be a recipe for creativity.