But what sets him apart isn’t just volume or popularity. It’s how simple he makes writing sound. No tortured genius act. No talk of muses. Just outlines, deadlines, and a lot of jokes, many of them at his own expense.
His advice to young writers is surprisingly down-to-earth: write fast, have fun, and know your ending before you even begin. For anyone staring down a blinking cursor, Stine’s no-frills playbook is refreshingly doable.
So, let’s see what Mr. Goosebumps has to say to aspiring writers.
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Always Know the Ending First
Stine doesn’t leave endings to fate. He believes in knowing how the story ends before writing the first sentence. “I always try to come up with the ending first because then I know how to keep the readers from guessing the ending,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
It also helps keep everything on track. Knowing the ending gives him a target to aim for, helping him avoid those dreaded middle-of-the-book meltdowns. The tension builds logically, the twists make sense, and nothing feels tacked on.
Take Welcome to Dead House, for instance. The eerie payoff—that the entire town is full of ghosts—colors every creepy moment leading up to it.
Write Like You’re Running Out of Time
At his peak, R.L. Stine was cranking out a Goosebumps book every month. That’s not an exaggeration. “In two weeks, I can write a Goosebumps book. It’s like factory work,” he said in a BuzzFeed interview.
But don’t mistake speed for sloppiness. Writing fast forced him to stay in the flow, avoid overthinking, and treat perfectionism like the monster it is. Fast drafting also keeps the momentum alive, especially important when you’re writing stories meant to grip young readers with short attention spans.
Stine recommends setting a daily word count. For him, it’s 2,000 words a day. For you, maybe it’s 500. The point is to build rhythm and complete the task. Because you can’t revise a blank page, but you can polish a messy one.
Scare Yourself First
Stine’s secret test for a good horror idea? It has to creep him out first.
“I started writing stories when I was 9,” he wrote in The New York Times. “I’ve often thought that being such a fearful kid was one reason I enjoyed staying in my room all day, creating my own world. In that way, my fear was an enabler—allowing me to discover and pursue something I would love doing for the rest of my life.”
It’s a smart litmus test. If your own concept doesn’t give you at least a tiny shiver, it probably won’t land with readers either.
That said, his books aren’t about trauma. They’re about fun scares. A possessed dummy? Terrifying. Losing your parents in a shopping mall? Too real.
Interestingly, he believes horror and humor are closely linked. That makes sense. They’re both about building up tension and then releasing it. It’s why Goosebumps stories are packed with both screams and snickers.
Want to try his trick? Write down five things that scared you as a kid, then exaggerate them into something absurdly fun.
Outline Relentlessly—But Leave Room for Surprises
For all his speed, R.L. Stine doesn’t wing it. He outlines every book in detail before writing. “I do a very complete chapter-by-chapter outline,” he told Buzzfeed, “and that’ll take four to five days, but then I’ve done all the thinking.”
These outlines are like roadmaps, with turns, fake-outs, and cliffhangers. But Stine also leaves room for little surprises. Maybe a new joke pops in. Maybe a side character grabs the spotlight. He follows the map, but lets the story breathe.
We can whip out a simple outline inspired by his method:
- Setup: A normal kid encounters something odd
- Escalation: The weirdness intensifies, and adults don’t believe them
- Twist: The threat becomes real
- Reversal: Kid tries to fix it, but makes it worse
- Climax: Face-off with the monster
- Twist Ending: One last creepy reveal (they were the monster all along?)
Kids Love Being Scared, but Not Traumatized
Stine walks a fine line: give kids a scare, but don’t send them running to therapy. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “Any real-life fears—fear of your parents breaking up, fear of being kidnapped—I would never do anything like that.”
That means no real-world horror. No abuse, no death of pets, no violence that lingers. Instead, he leans on the fantastical. Cursed masks, haunted amusement parks. The kind of fear that ends when you close the book.
Take Night of the Living Dummy. The idea of a talking dummy is unnerving, but it’s also cartoonish enough not to cross any lines. The fear is safe, which makes it fun. That balance is why kids keep coming back.
Make Every Chapter End with a Hook
One of Stine’s most iconic tricks is ending every chapter on a “What just happened?” note. Whether it’s a ghostly whisper or someone screaming from the basement, you have to turn the page.
It works. Stine said in his MasterClass: “[My books are] like a roller coaster ride, really. … Kids know what to expect when they read a Goosebumps book. They know they’re going to get on, it’s going to be a very fast ride. There’s going to be a lot of turns, a lot of twists, a lot of turning around, and a lot of screaming. And then it’s going to let them off okay.”
Even reluctant readers can’t resist. It’s like potato chips for the brain.
Take a flat scene from your own story. End it with a jarring sentence—someone disappears, a door creaks open, the lights go out. Suddenly, the whole thing crackles with tension.
Don’t Worry About “Moralizing,” Just Tell a Good Story
Stine’s books won’t be dissected in grad school seminars, and he’s fine with that.
In an interview for The Guardian, he said, “I don’t try to put any messages in these books: the only lesson is to run.”
This mindset liberates writers. You don’t have to be profound. You just have to be interesting. Stine prioritizes clear plots, fast pacing, and big emotions over flowery prose or a moral lesson. And guess what? That formula built an empire.
Goosebumps didn’t succeed because it was literary or it gave valuable life lessons. It succeeded because it was fun. And fun is a perfectly valid literary goal.
Have Fun with It, or Why Bother?
R.L. Stine has been doing this since he was 9, and he’s still at it, not because he has to, but because he likes it.
He told Writer’s Digest, “Don’t listen to writers who say writing is hard. Writing isn’t hard—it’s fun.”
That sense of playfulness bleeds into every book. Even the scariest ones have a wink behind them. That’s part of the appeal for kids and writers.
If you’re stuck, bored, or burnt out, try this: write a short story just for fun. No pressure, no edits, no ambition. Just play. That’s how Stine built a horror empire—by having a blast.
Conclusion
You don’t need a cursed manuscript or a haunted typewriter to write horror. You just need some structure, a deadline, and maybe a dummy character with attitude.
He reminds us that storytelling isn’t about waiting for genius to strike. It’s about sitting down, knowing your ending, scaring yourself a little, and getting the words out. And then doing it again tomorrow.
Which tip are you going to try first? Will you outline like a maniac? Write 1,000 words before lunch? End every scene with a jaw-dropper? Whatever it is, just start. The monster under the bed can wait.
