Unit 3 Author Study

R. L. sTINE

Early Life

• Stine grew up poor and was the oldest of three children. He was shy and spent most of his time in his room
• When he was 9 years old, Stine found a typewriter in his attic and began typing up stories and joke books.
• He was not a great student but he was apart of the school newspaper in high school.

R.L. Stine attended Ohio State University and graduated in 1965. While in college, he was the editor for The Sundial, the school humor magazine.

After moving to New York City in 1967, Stine worked at Scholastic writing for school magazines before he started writing joke and humor books for children. It wasn't until 1986 that he wrote his teen horror novel, that went on to be a bestseller, called "Blind Date".

Best known for...

• 1989 - "Fear Street" - This series became the bestselling young adult series in history
• 1992 - "Goosebumps" - Extremely popular series of books. Goosebumps television show was #1 kid's show in America for 3 years in a row.

Stine can get ideas for books from just about anywhere. He says that ideas usually start with a title which leads to the story. Stine writes out a complete outline of the book, chapter by chapter. He also makes a list of all the characters, what they look like, and their personalities. Stine always figures out the ending before he starts writing, he believes this helps keep him for experiencing writer's block.

References

• 13 Things You Want to Know About R.L. Stine. Scholastic. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/13-things-you....
• About R.L. Stine. World of R.L. Stine. http://rlstine.com/about-rl-stine.