R.L. Stine: 2012 National Book Festival

from the Library of Congress in Washington DC hello and everybody hear me I think good well here we are at the last wonderful author of the day how many of you all have enjoyed the National Book Festival and if you've had a great day it's especially important to thank the people who have volunteered and you know them by their pink t-shirts go pink power so say thank you to them big round of a pie the National Book Festival could not happen without them and I don't think the video recording folks ever get things so I think we should thank you as well thank you so I'm Mary Quattlebaum I'm a regular reviewer of middle grade and why a fiction for the Washington Post again welcome to the National Book Festival and I have to say a few you know nice things about the Washington Post they are a charter sponsor of the festival and they've been a sponsor for all 12 years of the festival's existence hey I want to say something about RL Stein in advance he would love to be able to have photos afterwards and do autographing he simply can't because he and his lovely wife have to make a plain so I know it's going to be really tempting to mob him please refrain from doing so because he has to run out as soon as he gives his talk and does this Q&A session so thank you for understanding that and I also have to let you know that we're being video recorded you know were we're going to be on the Library of Congress's website and in their archives so just to let you know when you ask questions that you are being recorded okay well I'm here to introduce someone who really needs no introduction that would be our else die the our L stands for Robert Lawrence but he has said that we can call him Bob Bob doesn't just chill your spine he can tickle your funny bone and he has been chilling and tickling for hundreds of books in series like Fear Street rotten school and the nightmare room he has written dozens of joke books too and in 1992 he launched his wildly popular Goosebumps series who likes more than four hundred million copies of his books have been sold around the world four hundred million copies that is a lot of zeros and on a personal note I also have to thank Bob one of my nephew's was a huge fan of the Goosebumps series for several years Brad my nephew would say Aunt Mary do you know what I really want for my birthday or Christmas or whatever I would really like some more of those Goosebumps books and so I was always delighted to give him some so join me in welcoming RL Stine thank you thank you thank you very much thank you all for staying so late I don't know do you think we can be scary on such a beautiful day I'm not so sure this has really been terrific it's been an amazing day here I always like to start out when I speak to people by reading a poem by a different author I like to read this poem called haunted by shel silverstein and the reason I like this poem is that it's scary and funny at the same time which is what I try to do in my books this is haunted I dare you all to go into the haunted house on howl and Hill where squiggly things with yellow eyes peek past the wormy windowsill will creep into the moonlit yard where weeds reach out like fingers and through the rotted old front door a squeakin on its hinges down the dark and whispering hall past the musty study up the winding staircase don't step on the step that's bloody through the secret panel to the bedroom where we'll slide into the ragged cobweb dusty bed ten people must have died in and the bats will screech and the spirits will scream and the Thunder will crash like a horrible dream and we'll sing with the zombies and dance with the dead and howl at the ghost with the axe in his head and come to think of it what do you say we go get some ice cream instead thank you I love that poem how many of you have ever read a goosebumps book oh my goodness thank you very much thank you and how many of you see my haunting our TV show on Saturday nights oh great that's great it's on the hub every week how many here's one more question have any of you ever seen a ghost I mean no not on TV not Casper not Casper I mean for real anybody ever see a real ghost yeah so many hands I might of I'm not sure I might have I'm gonna tell you a true story that happened to my brother bill and me when we were kids back in Ohio it was Halloween time and Bill and I were very excited because it was the first Halloween we were allowed to go out trick-or-treating by ourselves no parents so we were pretty thrilled and we both dressed up as ghosts we pulled sheets down over our heads and we got big shopping bags to carry all the candy that we were going to get and I took a can of that silly string do you know what that stuff is it's spray yes sprays out string it sprays just in case we had to string somebody and I tooked it under my costume and Bill and I walked out it was a cold October night the ground was all crunchy hard from the frost it was a kind of cold that clings to the back of your neck but we were so excited we didn't care about any of that we always started a trick-or-treating at mrs. Dawson's house right across the street from us and we looked over and this night the house was dark totally dark no light in any window I said bill I guess she's not home we'll have to start somewhere else so we started down the block and we were very poor and lived in a very poor neighborhood of very tiny houses which is only great at Halloween because you get to cover a lot of houses right you don't have to go up any long driveways and we went four or five blocks down the street collecting candy and then came back trick-or-treating collecting candy came back the other way and when we came back there was a light on an orange light on in mrs. Dawson's front window and I said I oh I guess she's there let's go over there and as we cross the street I could see the light was coming from a big orange jack-o'-lantern in the window it was all fiery yellow and it had a big grin a big jagged grin on its face and we walked up to mrs. Dawson's front stoop and I knocked on the door and we waited we waited she didn't come I rang the bell I knocked I waited bill and I were looking at each other she didn't come to the door and bill said she's in there Bob go ahead string her so I took out the can of string and I raised it to her door and then I stopped because the jack-o'-lantern in the front window had changed it wasn't yellow anymore it was a bright scarlet red and it had this hideous scowl on its face and I dropped the can of string and Bill and I took off we didn't understand what's going on here and we took off running down the draw five-way we were halfway down the drive when the front door swung open and mrs. Dawson stepped out and I can picture I can still remember she had this long gray nightgown I remember this long gray nightgown fluttering fluttering in the wind and she said why did you wake me and I said oh I'm sorry mrs. Dawson I'm sorry we didn't know you were asleep I'm really sorry but I have to ask you one question how did you do that with your jack-o'-lantern and she said jack-o'-lantern I don't have a jack-o'-lantern and we looked in a front window it was entirely black totally dark well Bill and I ran back across the street ran into our house and ran up to our room and we dumped all the candy out on the floor and we didn't say another word about it we didn't want to think about it and we divided up all the candy and the next morning I woke up it was a school morning and I thought you know I really should go apologize to mrs. Dawson for waking her up last night so I got dressed for school and I had breakfast and then I walked across the street and there was a big truck in her driveway and people were moving furniture back and forth and I went up to one of the workers and I said what's happening here kid what's happening and he said well I guess you're getting new neighbors kid and I said why what do you mean and he said oh I'm sorry didn't you know mrs. Dawson died two weeks ago that's that's my true ghost story thank you thank you very much do you think I made up part of that true story do you think I made up a lot of it maybe I don't know this is a 20th anniversary of goosebumps can you imagine man I know that's a lot of books right I think I've done over a hundred of them I've done I've obviously done every story you can possibly do there's nothing left but I keep going somehow I keep doing them and to celebrate the anniversary we did a hardcover the first-ever hardcover goosebumps book called wanted The Haunted mask and it's a brand new Haunted mask story with all new characters but the same Haunted mask how many of you have read the original Haunted mask or no how many of you have seen the TV show the goosebumps show about the Haunted mask I'll tell you a very a funny story about you know this is a story about a girl who wants to be scary at Halloween and she pulls on this really ugly green mask and then it sticks to her face and she can't get it off and it becomes part of her skin and it turns her evil and this was the very first goosebumps TV show that we ever filmed and I remember there's a scene maybe you remember very early in the show there's a scene where two boys are teasing Carly Beth in the lunchroom and they give her a sandwich with a worm in it and she doesn't know it well we started to film this scene we had a wonderful young actress named Katherine long playing the part of Carly Beth and we made a sandwich and we put a plastic worm in it and we took it down to the set and she came to us and she said you know what I don't think I can do this scene right with a plastic worm I think I need a real worm so we said okay said alright and we went out and we got a worm and we put it in the sandwich and we started to film and the two boys gave Carly Beth the sandwich and she picked it up and bit into it and shoot it up yup right but you wanna hear the really sad part here's the really sad part we had to shoot the scene 12 times yeah it was 12 worms that's pretty bad right it's a little bit of true horror I thought I'd read to you today a little chapter from the new one wanted the Haunted mask which is about a girl named Louanne who goes with her friends to a friend Polly's house for a really boring Halloween party the party is so boring that she and her two friends go up to the Attic to get away from the party and up there they find a trunk the trunk has old Halloween costumes and masks in it and they put on the things from the trunk and go back downstairs to scare everyone but Louanne quickly finds out she has a problem with the ugly green mask that she is put on the voices faded into the background I suddenly felt a little scared see I could feel my mask moving kind of changing a heavy feeling of dread formed in the pit of my stomach I didn't want to believe it that the mask was growing warmer and warmer and I could feel it's shrinking tightening to my face Brad and Marcus had pulled a joke about how their mask wouldn't come off but this was no joke this was really happening to me I reached my hands up to my neck and searched for the bottom of the mask I knew I couldn't tug it off from the top I had to grab the bottom and slide it up pull the mask off from the bottom but wait no oh please no my hands fumbled at my neck I slid them up then down then back up where was the bottom of the mask I couldn't find the place where the mask ended and my skin began my hands were shaking like crazy now my panic was making my whole body tremble I felt the mask tightened some more it was alive yes the old mask was alive I felt it moving warming up stretching itself melting to my skin helped me to scream burst from my throat I pulled and strained frantically at the mask but it was no longer a mask it was attached to me it was part of me helped me I really need help the mask melted to my face Brad and Marcus burst out laughing other kids started to laugh no really I really need help this old mask it's alive more laughter oh please LuAnn Polly's mom said chuckling and shaking her head the boys already pulled that joke take off the mask and come join everyone I can't I screamed I can't take it off please I'm not joking I gripped it with both hands and pulled with all my might suddenly my fear gave way to something else suddenly I was no longer terrified now I was angry I felt about to blow up yes explode explode and screaming anger what am I going to do I've never felt anything like this in my life I bawled my hands in two tight fists i clenched my jaw as my anger boiled I made one last attempt to pull off the mask I scraped it with my nails ripped my fingers at the eye holes but there were no eye holes there was no mask it was my face now the hideous sharp-toothed green scaly face was my face I couldn't hold myself in any longer my body churned as if I was vomiting my anger an animal roar burst from deep inside me a terrifying menacing bellow of horror but I couldn't stop the anger I lost myself lost luann lost myself in the boiling sea of anger I raised my eyes to the costume kids in Pawleys living room they were still laughing that idiots the stupid jerks they thought I was putting on some kind of show I'll show them it isn't pretend I leapt over the banister and landed on a boy in a mummy costume we both toppled to the floor I wrapped my hands around his throat and squeezed until he squeaked then I jumped to my feet I lowered my shoulder and ran into a couple of girls they fell backwards and slammed into a wall kids weren't laughing anymore now they were screaming now they were backing away and fright ha I leaped up and ripped streamers off the ceiling I knocked over a table and sent a lamp crashing to the floor stop LuAnn stop I heard mrs. Martin screaming I grabbed a pumpkin pie off the food table and smashed it in her face then I hosted up the food table and kept it on its side all the food and drinks slid to the floor the punch bowl shattered into a million pieces sending the orange drink pooling over the carpet kids screamed in terror I saw a couple of girls run out the front door I didn't care I couldn't control myself I ripped a poster off the wall and smashed its glass frame against the banister I loved it Polly's mom was wiping pie off her face I heaved a vase at the wall she spun toward me and sprang forward trying to tackle me with a cry I dodged past her outstretched arms I took a flying leap and dove right through the living room window glass shattered and crashed all around me I landed on my knees then I climbed quickly to my feet and took off roaring down the street screaming like a crazed animal and that's a chapter from one of the Haunted mask thank you somebody tell me we have what I have a little time to answer questions and again I apologize I'm gonna run out of here as soon as I'm done and I'm not gonna stop for anything so I know I'm really sorry but I have to do that also while I'm here I have to say that so after 20 years of goosebumps many my readers from back in the day are in their 20s and 30s all right now these are my guys this is these are my kids back from the 90s and I so many of them hey thank you and thank you guys thanks all for coming man it's been a great day for me seriously maybe a little too nice I don't know but I thought I would write something for my original readers so I wrote an old-fashioned horror novel for adults called red rain and it's coming out October 9th it's about thank you well maybe you better wait till you read it I don't know it's about really evil kids which I thought people would appreciate for me anyway it's called red rain and I hope you I hope you like it and now if people are lined up with questions go ahead what would you like to know what's your favorite author my favorite author I have a lot of favorite authors I guess the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury he wrote some wonderful but you wrote one of the scariest books ever written called Something Wicked This Way Comes it's a wonderful amazing book and I have to sit tell my grown-up audience you he wrote a book a really underrated book called dandelion wine which is which you can't read with it it's like you cry on every page it's so beautiful you have to stop reading it's I read it once a year just to remind myself what good writing is like thank you I'll try to look for that book thanks Wow oh my goodness your books and scary stories to tell in the dark and I was just wondering who some of your favorite influences were in that genre well I have a lot of em ray bradbury was certainly one of the influences before that I read only comics when I was a kid yeah I loved comics when I was a kid there were these incredible horror comics Tales from the Crypt and and the book the vault of horror and they were very influential on me they were gruesome bloody horrible comics and and then they always had a funny twist ending and I think they were very important in my life and I have a lot of heroes but another one is Rod Serling of course the Twilight Zone I mean that's just a brilliant brilliant series thanks um what's your favorite horror movie if you had to pick favorite horror movie yeah oh I have a number of them I think the shining I really like that one and just a fun a funny horror movie that you would like arachnophobia especially if you hate spiders that film has thousands of spiders thousands of spiders and I think it's I think it's really fun yes I can't really hear you yeah it got a little noisy why did you choose to make books why did I choose to scare kids hey somebody's got to do it right I don't know I started writing these books I didn't understand why they liked them I used to know I would go to school I'd say why do you like these books and every time every single kid said I like to be scared so that's why I write them am I going to write what the new haunting our shows start we're doing a third season of the haunting hour in fact even more maybe we're doing a lot it's doing great and I think they start in October the brand-new episodes ever inspire you to write the books like a scary teacher would you say that again anyone ever inspire you to write the books like a scary teachers I you know what I used to write stuff when I when I was a kid I would write little magazines and little comics and bring them into school and the teachers begged me to stop please Bob please don't bring this stuff to school please and that really encouraged me I think if they hadn't asked me to stop I probably might have stopped yeah are you gonna make any a movie for it a new mess for the new Haunted mask I don't know maybe maybe I don't know I that I have no answer for I don't know what's what with movies yes I'm a school librarian and I have to say that's a first that is really nice what a nice crowd the kids I need to read to all the kids in the room and so I want to turn some kids onto your books but not scare the pants off some of our kids who aren't ready for horror what would you recommend I read aloud to the kids to turn them on some non scary type goosebumps no books that you think would be a good introduction to your kind of writing probably Bunnicula those are good my books what would be an introduction oh I would start off with something like cuckoo clock of doom that's a nice easy one there's a funny one called chicken chicken you know and I think those are like lighter and are more fun and aren't very creepy hi Hey so I'm 25 and I just did the math then I realized that as old like since I've been able to read there Vinglish those books so I'm making you feel old now how do I feel there was a wonderful cover artist named Tim Jacobus and he did the first 87 cover paintings he's amazing and you know why they were so good they were good because they were really scary but funny at the same time they had a lot of humor to them he was just wonderful wonderful covers that's why he did them and no one ever asked me about the covers used to always argue about our favorite book which one was your favorite to write or to read my favorite that's hard my favorite book to write was actually a book I wrote last year called it's the first day of school forever which is about this poor boy who keeps living the first day of school the worst day of his life over and over again and I just somehow it just came and I just had a great time and I had a great time writing it there are a whole bunch of books like that I I don't really know if I could say which what other books what book I loved the most because I read all the time I'm always reading you do look scary sometimes what was that do my own book no no hey you know so I don't get scared this is the weird thing I mean I I don't get scared by books and I don't get scared by movies when I know when I go to a scary movie I'm the one laughing you know the jaw jumps up bites the girl I'm laughing I'm not I never get scared at movies I don't know if you always I think there's a very close relationship between humor and horror and for me it's just it's all Horrors very funny so I don't scare myself also you know I do so much planning in my books that I can't I don't really get surprised when I'm writing them because I plan I do chapter by chapter outlines of every single book I write so when I sit down to write the book I know everything that's going to happen in the book I've got it all planned out and as a result kids always asked me about writer's block what do you do about writer's block but if you have a whole outline and you've planned your whole book there's no way you can get writer's block you've done all the hard stuff the reading part the writing part is fun I think we have time for two more questions then I have to run when you're not writing and reading what are we doing I'm not writing well I you know I live in New York City so there's a lot to do you know I enjoy New York a lot but so we do everything in New York I love going to movies and taking my dog for long walks in the park and going to the football games and you know having a good time but I write maybe six days a week I write I write all the time and the last question the last one where did you come up with the idea for horror land for horror land I love Disney World no really I want to live there I love it and I thought wouldn't it be great if there was a theme park like Disney World but it was all horrifying and horrible things happen to you and so that's why I came up with Goosebumps HorrorLand thank you very much what a great audience thank you this has been a presentation of the Library of Congress visit us at loc.gov

Channel: Library of Congress

Views: 19,755

Rating: 4.7662339 out of 5

Keywords: \library of congress\, \national, book, festival\

Id: eg-EnaJF6QE

Length: 34min 4sec (2044 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 07 2012