Did R.L. Stine Have the Writer's Dream Job with his "Goosebumps" Series?

*Originally published on 9/3/10



Back when I was in elementary school, I loved Goosebumps. It was probably a precursor to my love of comics as every month I would go into the bookstore to pick up the latest volume. I would get home, sit down and read it in a matter of hours. I felt oddly compelled to rummage through my parents' basement to dig up all my old copies recently and something occurred to me. As far as writing jobs go, Stine had a perfect setup. It was probably a writer's dream job.

Each book was only about 120 pages on average. While that's not a small amount, it is much easier to produce a 120 page story than coming up with a 400 page manuscript. Considering the books came out every month, Stine had a pretty reliable and steady paycheck coming in. Most writers publish one, maybe two novels a year and hope that gets them through. With Goosebumps, Stine had money coming in on a regular basis, which is something all writers crave.

I'm surprised more authors haven't tried going this route as it seems like a nice gig. If you are able to devote all of your work time to these novellas, you can have it finished in a pretty reasonable amount of time. Fellow author, Stephen King (who Stine has been compared to as they work in the same genre) says that he tries to get 10 pages done a day. At this rate, you can have the manuscript done in a couple of weeks, have a few days to edit and revise it and have time left over.

It would be difficult to come up with a new idea every month, but really, Stine only had so many ideas as well. How many Monster Blood and Night of the Living Dummy stories were there? They were entertaining enough, but they were essentially the same story told again and again.

I could honestly come up with a one hundred page manuscript on a monthly basis. I think most writers would be able to. Not only would they be able to, but they'd jump at the chance. It gives writers enough room to flesh out their characters and story while not needing to be overly wordy in order to stretch the story to meet the minimum requirements.

As reading is on the decline, maybe some shorter books are what's needed to bring back the ADD afflicted among us.

With the spread of e-books, it becomes even more appropriate as consumers wouldn't even have to venture out to the store to pick up the latest copy. If more writers had a set up like Stine did, people may actually have a chance to fill up their Kindles or what have you.

I think fiction writers would jump at the chance to write something like that. I know I would.