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Post by novastar6 on Feb 25, 2017 6:31:29 GMT
His name is a household word. Probably a lot of us grew up reading his books. Most people know him by Goosebumps, I read the Fear Street books.
I've read a lot of stuff about how he writes and his advice for writers, and he seems to have a lot of sound advice in that regard...that said, even on a children's level, his writing is just bad. Even as a teenager I was so annoyed with his main characters in all the Fear Street novels, a bunch of whiny, pathetic, useless girls who quake and quiver until about the last 10 pages. Then recently I read a few of the Goosebumps books...and I didn't read this as a kid, I read the Fright Time books, nobody knows those, doesn't matter, the point is reading them side by side, it's not that they're written for 9-12 year olds that the writing is bad, because Fright Time is written better than Goosebumps...the writing's just bad, a lot of stuff is never explained, a lot of stuff is not resolved, the dialogue is unbelievable even for a 10 year old's level...the car blows up a hundred miles from home, and 5 minutes later nobody even remembers, and if they do it's just so casual 'oh the car blew up, we have to call somebody', what the hell? I really and truly believe if I'd read Goosebumps when I was 10, I still would think they're as bad as I do now. So what I don't get is how he's been so successful. Now there was one book I read, Ghosts of Fear Street, that I thought was pretty good...thing is he didn't write it, some woman did. So the question is are the good ones all written by someone else and are the ones he actually did the ones that stink? I know it's a widely unpopular opinion because everybody is just so IN LOOOOOVE with his books, but I don't like his writing.
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persephone
Freshman
It's a perfect night for mystery and horror. The air itself is filled with monsters.
@persephone
Posts: 97
Likes: 30
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Post by persephone on Feb 28, 2017 9:28:49 GMT
I liked him but, I liked Christopher Pike even more. I still read YA thrillers and mysteries. I read so much that I devour almost any kind of book. I am also on a quest to re read every book I read as a child on up!
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Post by coldenhaulfield on Mar 1, 2017 7:23:50 GMT
^Yes, Pike all the way. The Stine stuff is fun to look back on but nigh-impossible to read, whereas the Pike books are a ton of fun and hold up really well if you're looking for a quick and engaging read.
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Post by PreachCaleb on Mar 1, 2017 16:01:12 GMT
I never read Goosebumps. Even as a kid, I preferred Fear Street. They were better thrillers. 99 Fear Street was a fun trilogy.
I did catch a few episodes of the Goosebumps television show, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Are You Afraid of the Dark.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 14, 2017 3:48:47 GMT
Funny true story.
I was recently on a plane with R.L. Stine. My seat was in coach, so I walked pass 1st class but, as I did so, I noticed someone who looked vaguely familiar--in fact, just like an older version of the R.L. Stine whose picture I used to see on the backs of the Goosebumps books. Well, you know, I thought it had to be a coincidence, so I forgot about it until I landed at my local airport and went to baggage claim. There's a bag that goes through the carrousel, and it looks like mine, so I take a look at it, and the label reads "Stine," spelled exactly that way.
No way, I'm thinking. I put the bag back, of course, but I think, Let's see if the man picks it up.
Sure enough, he did.
Interestin', huh? Maybe this kind of stuff happens all the time, but I've never been on an airplane with anyone even remotely famous before.
As for the man's books, I used to love them when I was little, and I duly watched the TV series too, but, you're right, Novastar, even at that age I thought the writing was lousy. All those choppy sentences and tortured syntax leading to a "twist!" (cliff-hanger) at the end of every chapter--the Uncle Wiggley approach to storytelling, at its worst.
With that said, I am thankful to the man. His books were scary for me but never overly scary, gave me an interest in the mystery and the unexplained, connected of course to the supernatural, and first showed me the power of the twist ending.
So, for those qualities, I must say I am thankful.
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juicebox07
Sophomore
@juicebox07
Posts: 230
Likes: 83
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Post by juicebox07 on Mar 14, 2017 4:38:19 GMT
I never read Goosebumps. Even as a kid, I preferred Fear Street. They were better thrillers. 99 Fear Street was a fun trilogy. I did catch a few episodes of the Goosebumps television show, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Are You Afraid of the Dark. I think I read one or two Fear Street books, but I actually preferred Goosebumps. The books were better than the TV show. I agree that Are You Afraid of the Dark was the better show of the two.
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Post by Marv on Mar 14, 2017 13:31:03 GMT
Read when I was a kid in the early 90s. Haven't since tho. I have fond memories. Goosebumps combined with Are You Afraid of the Dark and A Nightmare on Elm Street probably made me the horror movie fan I am today.
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Post by novastar6 on Feb 3, 2018 20:51:08 GMT
I just got done with the Fear Street Seniors series, well most of it, Fight, Team, Fight is the only one I haven't been able to find. The first few books, I was impressed, they still suck in writing but nowhere near as much as the others do, but I should've known in a series of 12, that wouldn't last for long. Everything seems okay up till 9, 10 just plain makes no sense whatsoever, the (SPOILER) girl gets killed by the floor of the school opening up and sucking her in, and in the next 2 books it's mentioned that she's dead, but never explained HOW, and while most deaths in the books do have pretty logical explanations, being hit by a car, shoved down the stairs, stabbed to death, etc., HOW the hell you gonna logically explain an old curse making the ground swallow somebody? #11 was just painfully bad, 'everybody else has a prom date and I don't, I'm gonna bite off everybody's head who tells me they have a date! *lion roar* I wish I had a date that was totally handsome, that means he's a good guy, I know him so well because we've known each other for 10 minutes................and for the record, this is accomplished writing?
Like I said before, I can't figure out how this guy, with this writing, for all the great advice he has about how to write well, can write so poorly and he's such a big hit.
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Post by politicidal on Feb 5, 2018 2:47:57 GMT
Probably watched a few episodes from the show. Honestly never read any of the books.
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