R. L. Stine Quotations

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!

A real New Yorker likes the sound of a garbage truck in the morning.

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.

Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.

I'm obsessed with radio. It's a good start to Sunday morning.

After spending 22 years in Ohio, I love everything about New York.

Making my class laugh and getting in trouble. I was the class clown.

Believe it or not, my introduction to scary literature was 'Pinocchio.' My mother read it to me every day before naptime when I was three or four. The original 'Pinocchio' is terrifying.

I haven't written a young-adult book in years. I'm also doing six 'Goosebumps' books a year now.

I started writing when I was 9 years old. I was like this weird kid who would just stay in my room, typing little funny magazines and drawing comic strips.

Everything that has happened to me has been amazing and surprising.

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.

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.

If you do enough planning before you start to write, there's no way you can have writer's block. I do a complete chapter by chapter outline.

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.

Well, when I was 13, for my bar mitzvah I received my first typewriter. And that was special.

I've never dreamed of a story idea. I have such boring dreams.

I feel that good fantasy will always be in demand. I think children especially need literature that helps them escape from the real world, which is very scary to them right now.

It's my job, too, to keep up with pop culture and what the kids are into 'cause you don't want to sound like an old man trying to write for kids. I spend a lot of my time spying on them.

I've made myself laugh from some ideas - but I've never scared myself.

Most fears are basic: fear of the dark, fear of going down in the basement, fear of weird sounds, fear that somebody is waiting for you in your closet. Those kinds of things stay with you no matter what age.

I always just wanted to be funny. I never really planned to be scary.

I got the chance to do things that I dreamed of when I was a kid: I got to travel around the world; I had my own 'Goosebumps' attraction at Disney World; I've been on TV and had three TV series.

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.

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.

There are some indicators suggesting a bit of a slowdown. That could cause the Fed to pause. The key is about how the Fed talks about the economy, if they talk about weakness worldwide and rising oil prices.

So many people in their 20s and 30s, on Twitter, say 'Please write something for us,' so I have to listen to them, they're my audience.

Historically a flat or inverted yield curve is bad news for the market but I don't think that is the case this time. Buying of Treasuries won't go away when the Fed stops raising rates. The long-end going down just reflects demand for long-term bonds.

Kids think you just sit down and start writing. I always tell them you never do that.

People always ask, 'How do you write so many books?' And I say, I work a lot. I work six or seven days a week.

When I write for kids, I have to make sure they know what can't happen. They have to know it's a fantasy. But when I write for adults, they have to think it's real. Every detail has to be real or they won't buy it.

Twitter is fun because it lets me stay in touch with all my original readers who grew up with my books. I love hearing from readers instantly on Twitter.

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 read everywhere. I read every day. I read on the couch with my dog in the afternoon and at night. I try to read at least two to three hours a day. I read only fiction.

I guess I'm way too kind and generous, and a saint - if you can believe that!

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.

I've lived in New York for 40 years. I came right after college.

I have a cheat-sheet for each one of my characters about their personality, the way they look, etc. So there is no possible way that I could have writer's block.

I should be concentrating on writing pages.

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.

I've killed hundreds of teenagers. Hundreds. And I didn't know why. Why did I enjoy doing it so much? Why? And then I realized - I had a teenager at home!

You guys are just jealous because i'm a natural athlete and you can't cross the street without falling on your face." -(Bird) Doug

The next day, Greg is so large that he cannot even ride the car to school because he can't fit in the car. His parents believe this to have been caused by a food allergy and resolve to take him to the doctor later.

I'm a total Disney freak. I want to live in Disney World.

At least I can write.

I have a great office.

People say, 'What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?' I say, they don't really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they're gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.

You have no control [over natural disaster]. That's what's scary about it. You're helpless. That feeling of helplessness is really scary.

Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.

When I was a kid my family was really poor and I remember one Halloween I wanted to dress up really scary and my parents came home with a duck costume. I wore that costume for years! I hated it.

I drive a lot in the summertime, but after that, I don't drive if there's snow predicted for anywhere in 500 miles.

I do like a lot of things that a lot of adults would scoff at. 'SpongeBob SquarePants,' 'Looney Tunes.

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.

I've had a very sheltered life. What can happen to you if you stay home writing all day?

The only lesson is, you gotta keep at it.

Sometimes it helps to scold yourself, to give yourself advice.

I feel happy to terrify kids.

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.