>> R.L.

Stine: Hi.

>> Clay Smith: Hey.

How's it feel to be back at the "National Book Festival?"

>> R.L.

Stine: Terrible.

[Laughter] I'm sure it'll get better as we talk.

No, I have to tell you why I'm especially glad to be here tonight.

This is why I'm especially glad.

I did a book signing down in Baltimore a few weeks ago.

And a teacher came up to the table and she said, "Can I have my picture taken with you?

The kids all think you're dead."

[Laughter] That's why I'm especially glad to be here tonight.

And before we start, I just want to tell you, an Instagram post that I got this morning, a message that I got this morning.

I love this.

Dear R.L.

Stine, Thank you for introducing me to reading.

Thank you for introducing me to horror.

You are the biggest influence on my life.

Without you, I wouldn't be a professional juggler today.

[Laughter] That's great, right?

>>Clay Smith: Yeah >> R.L.

Stine: It's a perfect message.

[Laughter] Now, now you talk.

>> Clay Smith: Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

>> Clay Smith: So I just want everybody to send positive vibes to Bob.

This is-- These are his debut books, and this is his first event as a writer.

So... [Laughter] So these are-- Bob is nothing if not prolific.

-- This one is published by Scholastic.

This one by Macmillan.

Bob has already done his signing, I guess, I don't know if the camera can do a close up on this cover of "Stinetinglers," or this is Bob's series of shorter stories or novellas.

And this-- I do not know what you did to this poor girl.

>> R.L.

Stine: That cover, that cover is gruesome.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: It's gruesome.

>> Clay Smith: I guess my first serious question for you is --, is your family ever embarrassed to know you?

[Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: I actually got a letter from a kid who said, "I'm sure your family is proud of you, no matter what anyone says."

[Laughter] No, I think they like the checks.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: I think they enjoy that part.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: You know, "Stinetinglers" is my short story series, and I originally I wanted to do one book.

I thought kids would like a book of short stories.

And I said, “Lets do a book of 10 short stories.” And my editor at Macmillan said, "Okay, let's do three of them."

I want to do one, right?

And this is "Stinetinglers Four.

So first was I wrote 30 short stories, which is like writing 30 novels because they all have to have a beginning, a middle, a twist.

Right?

>> Clay Smith: And a setting, plot.

>> R.L.

Stine: And I was complaining about it.

I said, “Thats a lot of short stories.” Come on.

Thirty.

And I was complaining about it.

to this author, everyone should-- who should be more popular.

His name is Jonathan Maberry.

And you know Jonathan Maberry?

Yeah, a few.

Yeah.

And I said, "Jonathan, I had to write 30 short stories.

And he said, “I just finished my 500th.” >> Clay Smith: Oh, God, wow.

[La So I had to shut up.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

[Laughter] >> Clay Smith: Did you-- what did you read as a child?

Were you always into-- >> R.L.

Stine: Everyone always asked me, "What children's books did you like when you were a kid?"

And I read only comic books.

I only liked comic books.

I didn't read books.

And when I was a kid, there were these great scary comic books called "Tales from the Crypt" and "The Vault of Horror."

They were gruesome, bloody comics and they all had funny twist endings.

So you can see it was a very big influence on my life, and I used to read them at the barber shop.

The barber shop had a big stack of them, and one day I brought these comics home.

I bought two, and I brought them home, and my mother stopped me at the door and she said, "I'm sorry, you can't have these This is trash.

You can't have these."

So this is true story.

I used to go every Saturday morning and get a haircut so that I could see-- I had less hair then than I do now.

[Laughter] When I was a kid, just so I could read these comic books.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

So-- >> R.L.

Stine: I will go on, if you'd like me to tell you how I became a reader.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: And I think, you this is a nice story about a librarian.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: Which is always good, right?

>> Clay Smith: Yes.

We love those stories.

>> R.L.

Stine: -- When I was 9 or 10, my mom dropped me off.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and she dropped me off at the little library on Main Street, and the librarian was waiting for me, and she said, "Bobby, I know you like comic books.

I have something else I think you will like."

And she took me to a shelf of Ray Bradbury stories.

And-- Yes.

And those stories.

I couldn't believe them.

They were so imaginative and so beautifully written and all had twist endings.

And Ray Bradbury and that librarian really turned me into a reader.

And so I started reading books from then on.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

And you got to meet Ray Bradbury as an adult, didn't you?

>> R.L.

Stine: I met Ray Bradbury once.

Now, this is a terrible, embarrassing story, but no-- I mean, he was really my hero, you know, so important in my life.

And I was at the "L.A.

Times Book Festival," and there was Ray Bradbury in a publisher's booth eating a hot dog.

And my wife said, "Go over, introduce yourself."

And I said, "Oh, I can't, I couldn't.

I couldn't.

No, I couldn't do it."

She said, "No, he's important to you.

Go introduce yourself."

And I said, "No, really, I couldn't."

So I worked up my courage and I walked over to Ray Bradbury, and I was like a kid.

I was shaking, and I said, "Mr.

Bradbury, you're my hero."

And he shook hands with me and he said, "Well, you're a hero.

You're a hero to a lot of other people."

>> Clay Smith: Oh.

>> R.L.

Stine: It's just a great moment.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: And then I burst into tears.

[Laughter] No, it was horrible.

Horrible.

He's like, too, you know, too nice.

You know, when something is too nice.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: But then I got myself together.

We had a really nice talk.

>> Clay Smith: Well, we'll keep it mean during this.

[Laugh >> R.L.

Stine: Yeah, I appreciate that.

I appreciate it.

>> Clay Smith: So I don't know if everyone knows that your writing career started as a journalist, but not a real journalist because Bob worked at a tabloid or a series of tabloid magazines.

-- One publisher who published, I think you said, six different film magazines.

And your assignment from, I guess, the editor was to just- >> R.L.

Stine: Make up.

>> Clay Smith: Make up interviews.

>> R.L.

Stine: Make up interviews with the stars.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: That was my first job when I moved to New York.

She had six movie magazines.

She had to fill them up every month.

And I would come in in the morning and she'd say, "Do an interview with the Beatles, do an interview with Diana Ross.

And I would sit down, type, type, type, type, type and do it, write an interview.

We made it-- We made up everything.

[Laughter] It was a really good job.

No, I learned how to write really fast.

I had to write three or four int a day and how to make up stuff.

>> Clay Smith: And you got your first Pulitzer.

>> R.L.

Stine: And I got-- [Laughter] That didn't quite work out.

[Laughter] >> Clay Smith: -- So you are a writer who, who deeply outlines.

I mean, this, you know, practice of having to make up stuff for your editor in, in the film world, did that-- sort of deadline life did that transfer to your fiction or your real fictional life?

And I mean, because you've published so much and so-- >> R.L.

Stine: I'm cut out-- No, I'm pretty muc It's factory work.

[Laughter] Writing these books is factory work.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: No, I'm cut out for it.

I, you know, I'm very lucky.

I can write fast, and, -- Well, kids always ask me, "How do you do it?"

"And what do you do about writer's block?"

And, -- Oh.

Just reminded me of another letter I got from a kid just recently.

He said, "R.L.

Stine, I'm a teenager and I'm writing a novel.

Could you tell me what to do about burnout?"

[Laughter] He's a teenager.

Anyway, what I do is I really-- And people hate to hear this.

I do outline every single book I write before I write it.

I do a very complete chapter-by-chapter outline of this happens in chapter one, this is the chapter ending.

This is, you know, and I have the ending in mind.

So when I sit down to write the book, I know everything that's going to happen in the book.

I've done all the thinking and I can just enjoy the writing.

And kids always ask about writer's block.

What do you do about it?

I say, if you do this kind of preparation, and if you plan this much in advance, how can you have writer's block?

You know where you're going.

You know your middle.

You know your ending.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

I don't know if you know, but, -- I mean, you probably do.

But another master of fright, Alfred Hitchcock, he would storyboard the film to such a great degree that when it to the actual shoot, it was just execution for him instead of really, you know, letting any mishaps happen.

And I think-- >> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

He basicall outlined the movie.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

And, you know, there are maybe writers who are listening to us, who might say, "Well, you know, what if you change your mind, what about the creative process and, and being sort of inspired in the middle of a narrative?"

Do you ever change the outline?

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

No, you get ideas while you're writing.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: But it's a real help to know where you're going.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: There was that wonderful line in the "Goosebumps" movie which I wish I had written.

[Laughter] No.

Jack Black is a teacher.

He's me.

He's at the end of the movie, and he's teaching an English class.

And he says, "Every book has a beginning, a middle, and a twist."

It's just the perfect line.

I wish I'd written it.

You know, the "Goosebumps" movie with Jack Black playing me is now streaming on Peacock.

Just started streaming.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

For a low monthly fee.

[Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

And somebody wrote, And some guy wrote an article about it that it's streaming because it was 10 years ago that we did that movie and the guy wrote, "The Jack Black movie everyone forgot about is now on Peacock."

[Laughter] The movie everyone forgot about.

Why?

Why?

Why did they forget about it?

>> Clay Smith: And, and he was you.

>> R.L.

Stine: What?

>> Clay Smith: And he was you.

>> R.L.

Stine: Jack was me.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: You know, Jack and I are like twins, right?

[Laughter] No.

People mistake us all the time.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah, Well, you are so funny.

And I mean, on stage and in, in print.

And it's sort of embarrassing to ask a serious question about humor writing.

But at the risk of doing that, you know, one of the things-- humor and horror are so interconnected.

And I wonder, yo if you could talk a little bit about how humor actually helps a horror narrative be better at being horror.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

Well, in "Goosebumps," I use humor when I think a scene is getting too intense and I put in something funny.

But you're right.

There's such a close relationship between funniness and, and horror.

I mean, when you go sneak up behind somebody and you go, "Boo," what's the first thing they do?

They gasp.

Right?

And then they laugh.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: It's like the same visceral reaction.

>> Clay Smith: Well, if you scare the right person, they laugh.

>> R.L.

Stine: Well.

[Laughter] Yeah.

Good point.

But see, there's something wrong with me.

No, no.

Come on.

There's something wrong with my brain.

Because horror, I never get scared by horror.

I don't, I don't get scared by a Stephen King novel or a horror movie.

Horror makes me laugh.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: I just think it's funny.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: But that's wrong.

I mean, people come up to me and they say, "After I read your book, I had to leave all the lights on.

I locked my doors."

I've never had that feeling.

I don't know what that's like.

[Laughter] >> Clay Smith: Well.

But how-- I mean, how do you know when you've crossed the line for a kid, when you've, you've written some that's a little too harsh?

>> R.L.

Stine: Well, I've done it so long now, but, I have one rule for "Goosebumps."

And that is the kids have to know that it's a fantasy.

They have to know that it could never happen.

And if they know that, they know this is just a fantasy story, I can go really far with the scares.

You know, I just-- but you don't them to think this actually could happen and could be real.

You know, you have to keep the real world out.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah, well, we did a, you know, we had another event in our children's programming today earlier today, for -- middle grade readers with Tiffany Jackson and Paul Tremblay, who we had to think a little bit about it because both books are pretty, I don't know, gory is the right word, but they go to a level of horror >> R.L.

Stine: Yeah, they are.

I read Tiffany's book.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

That is harsher than, than what you do.

And so, you know, you're really going after a different -- aesthetic or-- >> R.L.

Stine: Well, of course, in "Fear Street," I kill a lot of teenagers.

[Laughter] Why?

Why do people like that so much?

[Laughter] No.

They love it when you kill teenagers.

They love that, you know, the "Fear Street" movie is on Netfli It's a bloodbath.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: Really?

I'm actually shocked by those movies.

The "Fear Street" movies.

They're actually R-rated.

It's just teenagers getting sliced.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: Right.

I've never done anything R-- Even my life isn't R-rated.

[Laughter] I don't know.

I don't know how that happened.

>> Clay Smith: You've been writing for a while, and I'm interested to know if you think that the boogeyman or the monster in- during your writing career has changed, because in -- "The Last Sleepove the latest book in your "Goosebumps House of Shivers" series, -- there is a real ghost.

>> R.L.

Stine: It's a ghost story.

>> Clay Smith: It's a ghost story.

But the ghost is using very modern tech to scare the, the humans in the house.

>> R.L.

Stine: It's a smarthouse.

Everything.

>> Clay Smith: Everything is programmed.

And so you're commenting obviously on sort of the encroachment of tech in our lives and, and the ways in which tech can actually be quite scary.

And you would not have written about that, I think, in the 80s or-- >> R.L.

Stine: But it is an old-fashioned ghost story.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: Really.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: You know, but with all the technology added.

You have to be so careful.

And technology ruins these stories.

The cellphone ruins every story you could possibly write.

>> Clay Smith: Right.

Because you can't do that.

>> R.L.

Stine: I used to, you kn I used to write these teen books there was poor girls getting very frightening phone calls.

You say, "Who is that?

Who's calling me?

Who is it?"

Now you look on the screen.

[Lau You know who it is.

The book is over, right?

Your book is ruined.

You know, five teenagers in a cabin.

One of them is a murderer.

He's killing them one by one.

911.

You call on the phone and you're-- I spent a lot of time, like getting cellphones out of the story.

Finding a way to get rid of them so they don't ruin the story.

It's very dangerous, too, for a writer, because the technology changes every two weeks.

Right?

It's totally different.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

And kids are up on the latest tech and they're going to judge you.

>> R.L.

Stine: I looked at some old book, some book I wrote in 1989, and this girl is saying "I'm the only girl in my class with a palm pilot and a beeper."

[Laughter] That's horrible.

Right?

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: What is that?

>> Clay Smith: You, you get pretty great letters and comments from your readers.

I think you brought some.

Do you want-- >> R.L.

Stine: Would you like to hear?

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: I brought some real letters from kids.

These are-- I'm not making these up.

>> Clay Smith: Don't-- This is n going to be sentimental.

[Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: There won't be a dry eye in the house.

Right.

That's what I do.

These are real letters.

Maybe I need my glasses to read, I don't know.

"Dear R.L.

Stine, I really enjoy your books, but I'm having trouble keeping up with them.

Do you think you could stop writing for a while?"

[Laughter] Encouragement from your readers.

Right?

"I love your books.

You're the scariest man on earth.

I want to know everything about you.

Do you have hair?"

[Laughter] Why?

Why?

Why?

"Dear R.L.

Stine, Have you written anything I've read?"

[Laughter] "Dear R.L.

Stine, I'm 10 years old and in the fifth grade.

I'm writing to you because our teacher told us we had to.

[Laughter] I don't know if you remember me or not, but when you came to my school, I'm the one who stepped on your foot."

[Laughter] I do remember that.

These are good.

These are real.

I'm not-- These are real letters.

Here are a few more.

"Dear R.L.

Stine, You are my second favorite author."

[Laughter] That was the whole letter.

[Laughter] Talk about keeping you in suspense, right?

[Laughter] "Dear R.L.

Stine, I'm your biggest fan.

I read your book so much, I need my parents to escort me to the bathroom."

[Laughter] I don't get that one.

I really don't.

I don't get that one at all.

Here's my favorite.

My all-time favorite letter from a kid.

You've probably heard me tell this.

From a boy.

"Dear R.L.

Stine, I've read 40 of your books, and I think they're really boring."

[Laughter] It's a perfect letter.

It's a perfect letter.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

Budding literary critic over there.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

>> Clay Smith: -- Is it really true that you-- the first step in writing a book for you is that you come up with the title before the narrative, the plot?

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

I don't try to think of ideas anymore because I've done every story a human can do.

There's nothing left, right?

There's nothing left.

So honestly, I just try to think of titles.

And then the title leads me to an idea.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: You know, I had this-- I was walking my dog in the park, and these words flashed into my head.

"Say cheese and die," right?

Why?

Why?

I don't know.

I'm walking the dog.

So I'm thinking, "Well, what if there's an evil camera?

And what if kids discover it?

And what if it takes pictures of bad things that happen in the future?"

And that's how-- it came from the title.

And I've done-- That's really how I work.

It's backwards for most authors.

Most authors have an idea, they'll write and then later think of a title.

But I have to have the title first.

Sometimes I'll have an idea for a story, and I can't think of a good title and I throw out the idea.

>> Clay Smith: Oh, that's great.

Okay, I've got one more question.

>> R.L.

Stine: Okay.

I'm working on a 'Goosebumps."

I'm right in the middle of it now for next year called "What We Do at Night."

And everyone hates that title.

[Laughter] No, they hate it.

They say that's not like-- But the cover is done, so that has to be the title.

[Laughter] Yeah.

So that, that's for next year.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

So last question for me and then we'll open it up to you all.

And we've got mics here on, on both sides of the stage.

-- You know, I read both of these books, -- in "The Last Sleepover," Emily, our protagonist, is a little girl who -- gets into a closet in her house and never comes out of the closet.

And so she is a ghost, but she's also sort of living like -- we don't quite-- She's gone from human-- >> R.L.

Stine: We don't have dead kids in "Goosebumps."

I've never done-- You know, usually if you're a ghost, it's from a long time ago.

>> Clay Smith: Right.

>> R.L.

Stine: No one ever dies in "Goosebumps.

>> Clay Smith: She's been in this house for 10 years.

And she never reappeared.

In the first story in this book- it's actually a sort of homage to what you just said, to your own childhood.

Where there's a little boy who goes to the comic store, goes in the discontinued room where the discontinued comics are, and enters a sort of imaginary escape where he is being haunted by all of the discontinued heroes or sort of villains, I guess, of these comics.

And the thing that I admire about both of those is is that its this existential kind of horror.

Emily is stuck in this closet for 10 years.

And Rory or I think, Tony is stuck in this discontinued, you know, sort of hellscape for- And he doesn't know how to get back in.

He doesn't know where to go next.

>> R.L.

Stine: Never get home.

>> Clay Smith: And I wondered about that, you know that sort of existence itself being sort of scary.

You know, we don't know where we're going in life and-- >> R.L.

Stine: Well, you know, what's scary to kids?

Getting lost, not knowing how to get back.

Being somewhere strange.

Yeah.

It's basic.

>> Clay Smith: Well, it scared me, and I was reading both of these books.

So, -- let's start over here.

>> R.L.

Stine: No, you're right.

That's like the basic scare.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

Not knowing, getting lost and not knowing where to be.

Okay, so let's ask our first question.

>> Hi.

-- Sort of two questions.

The first is -- how do you two know each other --?

And the second is, -- are there-- >> R.L.

Stine: We know each other?

>> You seem to get a lot of fan mail.

I'm wondering if there is any stories that kind of stand out from the rest of us kids saying that, like, this particular story scarred me for life.

>> Clay Smith: Is there, like-- >> R.L.

Stine: Story-- what?

>> Like, -- any particular stories that you wrote that, like people are writing to you saying like, this was the one that, like, you know, was very scary for me.

>> R.L.

Stine: Well, I hear about "Slappy the Dummy."

You know, which I don't really-- How do we know each other?

We did that event a couple years ago.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

Bob came to the Library of Congress-- >> R.L.

Stine: So I came to the Library.

>> Clay Smith: A few years ago and.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah, right.

>> Clay Smith: I'm sure he's right.

I did dress up as a mummy which was the weirdest.

>> R.L.

Stine: You know.

I don't really understand Slappy the Dummy.

I don't know why he's scary, I don't really get it, you know.

But it was in my contract, this is true, that every other "Goosebumps" book had to be about Slappy.

Every other one.

I've written 15 books about a dummy that comes to life.

[Laughter] I even killed him once.

[Laughter] No, I wrote "The Ghost of Slap-- I was sick of him.

No.

Hey, don't.

No one heard that.

No one heard that.

>> Clay Smith: You know that violates your contract to, to kill Slappy.

>> R.L.

Stine: No one heard that.

>> Clay Smith: Okay.

Over here.

>> Hello.

My name is Eileen.

I guess I would ask, considering your history, -- what would you say to parents who try to restrict what their children like, read, or have exposure to, whether in film or books or, or entertainment in general?

>> R.L.

Stine: You're not going to get me in trouble with parents.

[Laughter] No.

No way.

There's no way I would talk about that.

But, I mean, you know, you do find the best thing to get kids reading, which is, you know, getting harder and harder is to let them pick what they want to read.

>> That's great.

>> Clay Smith: Yeah.

Deserves applause.

[Applause] >> R.L.

Stine: But I'm not telling parents that.

I'm not giving advice.

No.

No way.

>> That's a very good answer, sir.

You are an aut >> R.L.

Stine: Oh.

I'm glad.

No, it's really true.

And you can see if you let them pick what they're going to read, they're, you know, they'll read more.

>> Yeah.

I just watched "Footloose" recently, and it's not a scary--.

Well, I guess you could say the hair is scary in it, but, you know, they start burning books, so you start thinking like, we don't want to worry about that.

We want our kids to be able to grow their own education the way they'd like to.

So, we appreciate your stories.

>> Clay Smith: Thank you.

>> R.L.

Stine: Thank you.

>> All right.

Hello.

My name is Ilya.

I have a question about if you had to translate the sort of, the great format that you've perfected over, over all the "Goosebumps" books that you used to scare kids.

If you had to scare adults, what are some of those simple fears that you tap into?

Like you mentioned, being alone for kids.

Is it like taxes for adults or what are you-- [Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: Hey, listen, I've written four novels for adults and no one's noticed.

[Laughter] No, they were horrible flops.

Horrible flops.

And I once swore I would never write for adults again.

Why would anyone want to write for grownups?

>> Clay Smith: Well, they're terrible.

>> R.L.

Stine: My audience is the best.

Why would you write for them?

And then I have to say, I am writing-- I'm writing a thriller for adults for next year.

>> Okay, awesome.

I look forward to it.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah, I don't know.

I said I wouldn't.

But I'm going to.

You know, I'm an adult.

You know, I know what's scary.

>> Clowns are still up there.

Even from a kid, clowns are still up there for me, so I translate.

>> R.L.

Stine: Well, listen, you I don't get that either.

I don't get Slappy.

You know, I have some friends who are circus clowns.

They're the sweetest people on Earth.

They are.

Why should clowns be scary?

Really?

>> It's when they're carrying the ax and it's like the makeup's coming off.

That's like, at that point.

>> R.L.

Stine: I'm telling you, sweetest people on earth.

>> Thank you.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

>> Clay Smith: Okay.

>> Awesome.

Hello.

So we actually met earlier during the book signing.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

Hi.

>> From Columbus.

But just a quick question.

So, like you said, next year you're going to be releasing a thriller book for adults, but have you ever thought of switching or trying another genre?

>> R.L.

Stine: No.

>> No.

[Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: No.

No, well, I w know, I don't really care about scary stuff.

I'm not really into horror.

Don't tell anyone.

You know, I just care about funny stuff.

You know, I was always funny.

And I wrote joke books for kids, and I did a, a humor magazine for 10 years.

I was always funny.

It wasn't even my idea to write scary books.

It's embarrassing.

>> Whose was it?

>> R.L.

Stine: What?

An editor.

>> Oh, okay.

>> R.L.

Stine: My editor came to lunch, and she was angry at somebody who wrote teen horror.

And I just.

I wrote funny stuff.

>> Yeah.

>> R.L.

Stine: Oh.

I'm sorry.

And, she said I'm never working with him again.

He'll remain nameless.

Christopher Pike.

>> Okay.

[Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: And she said, "Go home and write a teen horror novel called "Blind Date.

She gave me the title.

I didn't know what she was talking about.

What's a teen horror novel?

And I had to run to the bookstore.

And buy Lois Duncan, Christopher Pike, and all these people to find out.

And then "Blind Date" came out, and it was the number one bestseller.

>> Wow.

>> R.L.

Stine: And I thought, "Wait a minute.

Forget the funny stuff."

[Laughter] Right?

I've been scary ever since.

>> That's wonderful.

Thank you so much.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

>> Clay Smith: Okay.

Over here.

>> So -- first off, I just want to say it's amazing to have you here.

I grew up on you.

We used to walk two miles to the library every summer day during summer vacation, while I was in elementary and middle school just to read your books.

And they gave me an outlet to get away from my home life.

That was very abusive.

But I guess most of us here grew up on you.

What advice do you have for the adults that used to read your books.

-- Because you are a staple, I think, in everybody's lives here.

>> R.L.

Stine: What kind of advice do you want?

>> I don't know.

>> R.L.

Stine: Why do people want advice from me?

[Laughter] I never give advice.

No, you know, I know you're adults.

I know what I am to you.

I'm nostalgia.

How would you like to be nostalgia?

[Laughter] No.

That took a long time to get used to, believe me.

But now I'm very proud of it.

I'm very proud of the different generations.

-- And it's, it's almost too nice for me.

When I did the signing this afternoon and these people coming up and saying, "You are my childhood.

Thank you for getting me through a hard childhood."

It's almost too much for me.

It's just it's too nice, really.

But here's what I'm going to quit when somebody comes up to me in line and says, "My grandmother loves your books [Laughter] That's it for me.

That's when I quit.

[Laughter] >> Clay Smith: Over here.

>> Thank you.

>> Clay Smith: Thank you.

>> Hi, I'm Victoria.

So really quick, before I ask my question, when I was like 10, I watched like the first season of "Goosebumps" and I was never able to watch it again because it scared me so much.

I had such bad nightmares from it.

But-- >> R.L.

Stine: Oh, you're going to send me your shrink bills?

[Laughter] >> Anyway, my best friend is obsessed with your "Fear Street" like, trilogies and your book series.

If you had to pick a "Fear Street" book to live in, which one would it be?

>> R.L.

Stine: To live in?

No.

[Laughter] No, I don't want to live in that.

No, I-- But I'll tell you my favorite "Fear Street" that no one ever mentions.

It's called "Switched."

It's very early.

About two girls who switch bodies.

They go out in the woods and they switch bodies.

And the one girl doesn't know the other girl has just murdered her parents.

And now she's stuck in her body.

No one ever mentions that book to me.

It's my favorite one.

>> Thank you.

[Laughter] >> Clay Smith: That shut the crowd down.

[Laughter] >> Clay Smith: Okay.

>> Are any of your books based on actual murders?

>> R.L.

Stine: -- One "Goosebump book was inspired by something that happened in real life.

Only one.

"The Haunted Mask," which is about this girl, Carly Beth, who wants to be scary at Halloween time.

And she pulls on a green rubber- She pulls on a mask and it sticks to her face and she can't get it off and it turns her evil.

And that book was inspired by my son Matt, when he was-- [Laughter] No, no, really when he was-- >> Clay Smith: I'd love to welcome Matt to the stage.

[Laughter] >> R.L.

Stine: He was a little guy.

He was like four years old and it's Halloween time.

I'm watching him from the doorway and he's down on the floor.

And he tried on a green rubber Frankenstein mask and he couldn't get it off.

And I'm watching him.

He's tugging, he's tugging.

And I thought, "What a great idea."

I should have helped him.

[Laughter] I should have helped him, right?

Instead, I went making notes.

Great.

Great story.

And that's the only one that's really inspired by something real.

>> Thank you.

>> Clay Smith: Okay, I think we've got time for maybe one on each side.

>> So this is a good follow-up.

My name is Jay, by the way.

But this is a good follow-up to that.

-- Have you, is it true that you your characters in the past on your son and his friends?

And do you still do that ever?

>> R.L.

Stine: I used-- well, he's 45 now.

[Laughter] >> Any grandchildren?

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah, right, I do.

I'll take my grandson.

My grandson, Dylan came to a talk I gave at Barnes and Noble in New York.

And afterwards I said, "Dylan, did you like the ghost story I told?"

And he said, “I liked it when you told it last year.” [Laughter] That's mean.

Wait, what was your question?

[Laughter] >> If you incorporate any people you know as character >> R.L.

Stine: No.

No.

Not really.

Not really.

But when he was in school, Matt, I had his school directory with all the names of all the kids at his school, and I used all their names.

[Laughter] In "Goosebumps."

>> Thank you.

>> Clay Smith: Okay, our last question over here.

>> Hello.

My name is Drew, and -- I'm honored to meet you, Mr.

Stine.

And my first, my first book, and I've seen this in both the TV show and the book, "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom."

That was my favorite.

>> R.L.

Stine: Yeah.

>> And hold on.

If you wanted to become something other than an author, what would it be?

>> R.L.

Stine: I don't know.

You know, it's all I've ever done.

It's the only thing I'm good at.

You could ask my wife.

[Laughter] I don't know.

I think if I-- I would like to be a seal in the Central Park Zoo.

[Laughter] >> I'd come see you.

>> R.L.

Stine: They have a great life.

>> I'd see you.

>> R.L.

Stine: They swim.

People throw fish at them.

I don't really have a serious answer.

>> Clay Smith: I just really want to thank you for coming back to the festival, being one of our headliners.

>> R.L.

Stine: I always enjoy talking with you.

[Applause] Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

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