Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
At least I can write.
I have a great office.
I feel happy to terrify kids.
The only lesson is, you gotta keep at it.
I should be concentrating on writing pages.
I'm a total Disney freak. I want to live in Disney World.
I'm obsessed with radio. It's a good start to Sunday morning.
Sometimes it helps to scold yourself, to give yourself advice.
I've never dreamed of a story idea. I have such boring dreams.
I've lived in New York for 40 years. I came right after college.
After spending 22 years in Ohio, I love everything about New York.
Everything that has happened to me has been amazing and surprising.
A real New Yorker likes the sound of a garbage truck in the morning.
Making my class laugh and getting in trouble. I was the class clown.
I always just wanted to be funny. I never really planned to be scary.
I've made myself laugh from some ideas - but I've never scared myself.
Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.
I guess I'm way too kind and generous, and a saint - if you can believe that!
I've had a very sheltered life. What can happen to you if you stay home writing all day?
I believe that kids as well as adults are entitled to books of no socially redeeming value.
Well, when I was 13, for my bar mitzvah I received my first typewriter. And that was special.
I haven't written a young-adult book in years. I'm also doing six 'Goosebumps' books a year now.
I do like a lot of things that a lot of adults would scoff at. 'SpongeBob SquarePants,' 'Looney Tunes.'
People always ask, 'How do you write so many books?' And I say, I work a lot. I work six or seven days a week.
I drive a lot in the summertime, but after that, I don't drive if there's snow predicted for anywhere in 500 miles.
I love theme parks but I'm a real chicken on rides. I'd rather invent scary rides for my books than go on them for real.
When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and try to put those feelings into books.
I used to get a haircut every Saturday so I would never miss any of the comic books. I had practically no hair when I was a kid!
Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different styles.
Many adults feel that every children's book has to teach them something.... My theory is a children's book... can be just for fun.
You guys are just jealous because i'm a natural athlete and you can't cross the street without falling on your face." -(Bird) Doug
So many people in their 20s and 30s, on Twitter, say 'Please write something for us,' so I have to listen to them, they're my audience.
You have no control [over natural disaster]. That's what's scary about it. You're helpless. That feeling of helplessness is really scary.
If you do enough planning before you start to write, there's no way you can have writer's block. I do a complete chapter by chapter outline.
I've never turned into a bee - I've never been chased by a mummy or met a ghost. But many of the ideas in my books are suggested by real life.
If you want to be a writer, don't worry so much about writing. Read as much as you can. Read as many different writers as you can. Soak up the styles.
Twitter is fun because it lets me stay in touch with all my original readers who grew up with my books. I love hearing from readers instantly on Twitter.
I've killed hundreds of teenagers. Hundreds. And I didn't know why. Why did I enjoy doing it so much? Why? And then I realized - I had a teenager at home!
I started writing when I was 9 years old. I was like this weird kid who would just stay in my room, typing little funny magazines and drawing comic strips.
I have a cheat-sheet for each one of my characters about their personality, the way they look, etc. So there is no possible way that I could have writer's block.
I read everywhere. I read every day. I read on the couch with my dog in the afternoon and at night. I try to read at least two to three hours a day. I read only fiction.
I feel that good fantasy will always be in demand. I think children especially need literature that helps them escape from the real world, which is very scary to them right now.
It's my job, too, to keep up with pop culture and what the kids are into 'cause you don't want to sound like an old man trying to write for kids. I spend a lot of my time spying on them.
Believe it or not, my introduction to scary literature was 'Pinocchio.' My mother read it to me every day before naptime when I was three or four. The original 'Pinocchio' is terrifying.
I got the chance to do things that I dreamed of when I was a kid: I got to travel around the world; I had my own 'Goosebumps' attraction at Disney World; I've been on TV and had three TV series.
When I was a kid my family was really poor and I remember one Halloween I wanted to dress up really scary and my parents came home with a duck costume. I wore that costume for years! I hated it.
When I was a kid, there were these great comic books called 'Tales From The Crypt' and 'The Vault of Horror.' They were gruesome. I discovered them in the barbershop and thought they were fabulous.
Most fears are basic: fear of the dark, fear of going down in the basement, fear of weird sounds, fear that somebody is waiting for you in your closet. Those kinds of things stay with you no matter what age.
The next day, Greg is so large that he cannot even ride the car to school because he can't fit in the car. His parents believe this to have been caused by a food allergy and resolve to take him to the doctor later.
When I write for kids, I have to make sure they know what can't happen. They have to know it's a fantasy. But when I write for adults, they have to think it's real. Every detail has to be real or they won't buy it.