Saturday 3 October 2020

R L STINE - OCTOBER'S AUTHOR by Sharon Tregenza




R L STINE



Robert Lawrence Stine was born on October the 8th, 1943. His father was a shipping clerk and his mother a home-maker. The oldest of three children, Stine puts his early shyness down to the fact that the family was so poor he had to wear his cousin's old clothes to school.

He discovered an old typewriter when he was only nine and began writing stories and joke books and he's been writing non stop ever since.

Stine graduated from Ohio State University in 1965 and in 1967 headed to New York City to become a writer. He worked for Scholastic writing for school magazines. That's when he began his career of writing joke books and humour books for kids. Under the name of Jovial Bob Stine he created Bananas Magazine which he wrote and edited for the next ten years.

He married Jane Waldhorn in 1969 and they worked together on several books. 



Stine's most famous work, the Goosebump series, began in 1992. It quickly became a hit around the world and the Goosebumps TV show was number one in the US for three years in a row. You can see the Goosebump shows on Netflix now.






Five fun facts about R L Stine:

1. His favourite horror novel is "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury.

2. He has a phobia about jumping into water.

3. Goosebumps is one of the best-selling series of all time.

4. He's still writing books at the rate of about seven a year.

5. He keeps a mask, a skeleton and a three-foot long cockroach in his study to create a creepy atmosphere.





Stine lives in New York City with his wife, Jane and their dog, Minnie.


Email:sharontregenza@gmail.com






 

2 comments:

Penny Dolan said...

I was once told that, at the office in the US where he worked, R L Stine was quite well known for wandering around,sitting on people's desks or riding the multi-floored lifts so that he could collar any audience and share his lastest story. (Maybe less so for his attention to time or detail: I can't swear to that implication.)

One day, when R L Stine was lift-hopping, recounting yet another weird or spooky story, an editor was one of the listeners. He suggested RL Stine stopped the wandering around and wrote down some of his compelling stories instead.

That moment was, as I heard it, the start of the vastly popular Goosebumps series, although I suspect that if you're a wanderer, you're always likely to be a wanderer.

Penny Dolan said...

Sharon, that comment should have started with a thanks for reminding me of the series, as well as their awful but awfully effective cover art.