What R.L. Stine is most excited for in Indianapolis
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R.L. Stine. Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
R.L. Stine was "afraid of everything" and not a big reader when he was a kid — surprising admissions from the famed author of hundreds of children's horror books.
Why it matters: Stine will share how fear and books have shaped his life when he speaks with the new host of "Reading Rainbow," Mychal Threets, at the Indianapolis Public Library's annual Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture next week.
Driving the news: The event will take place at the Madam Walker Legacy Center at 7pm on March 19.
- The event has sold out but will be livestreamed.
Zoom in: Axios got a chance to talk with the creator of the "Goosebumps" series this week.
- We learned about the line he wishes he'd written, what he's most looking forward to visiting in Indianapolis and how he's still coming up with new stories.
👧 A lot has changed in the 30-plus years since the first "Goosebumps" book was published, but kids aren't one of them.
- "They're the same," he said of the kids he writes for. "And the fears don't change … afraid of the dark, afraid something's lurking under your bed, afraid of getting lost."
🤩 They're also the best audience, he said.
- "The 7- to 11-year-old audience, that's the best audience there is," Stine told us. "I get them the last time in their lives they'll ever be enthusiastic. They want to know you, they want to read … they want to be there."
- "Then, when they turn 12, they have to be cool."
📵 Cellphones are the worst.
- "Cellphones have ruined every story," Stine lamented. "I spend a lot of time getting the phones out of there, usually near the beginning of the book so I can have a real story."
📚 After hundreds of books, Stine says he doesn't start with story ideas anymore.
- "I don't even try to think of ideas anymore," he said. "I only think of titles. I just try to get a good title. If I get a really good title, it will tell me the story."
- The newest "Goosebumps" book, released this month, is "One Night at Camp Bigfoot."
✍️ There's a line in the "Goosebumps" movie he wishes he'd written.
- Jack Black, portraying Stine, says that every story has a beginning, a middle and a twist.
- "That's just perfect," Stine said. "That's just what I try to do. I really wish I had written that line."
📘 Ray Bradbury turned Stine into a reader.
- "When I was a kid, I didn't read books at all," Stine said, until a local librarian introduced him to Bradbury's stories.
- "They were so amazing. That got me reading all kinds of science fiction and fantasy books."
- The Ray Bradbury Center on the IU Indianapolis campus has invited Stine to visit.
- "They said they would give me a tour and I could sit in his writing chair," he said.
- The archive houses thousands of pages of published and unpublished works and artifacts, including Bradbury's office furniture.
What's next: For the rest of the month, you can access the entire original "Goosebumps" series and most of the "Fear Street Relaunch" series in OverDrive and Libby without a waiting list with your Indianapolis Public Library card.