He answered.

"I'm doing 12 of these brand-new ones and these books have two stories in every book, not just one," Stine explained.  "There's a story in the front -- a complete story with all the old characters: Slappy the Evil Dummy, the Haunted Mask, Monster Blood and a lot of new villains.  And then, just when you think it's safe to close the book, there's a second story that takes place in Goosebumps Horrorland.  And that story continues."

LISTEN to Stine explain the new Goosebumps series

"It's called EnterHorrorland.com and you can actually go into Horrorland Amusement Park on this Web site," Stine said.  "And you can ride the rides and have all the scares and play the games and look for clues as to what's really going on in the books."

After dozens of books, how does the Columbus, Ohio, (and Ohio State University grad) native keep coming up with fresh ideas?

"I wish I knew, I don't know," he said.  "Everybody asks me that.  I don't know.  I need ideas and I get them.  Something that really helps me is that I always think of the title first.  Some title will pop in my head -- I was walking the dog in the park and this title popped into my head -- 'Say Cheese and Die.'  And I thought, 'Oh, what could that be?  Maybe it's about an evil camera.'  I think by thinking of the title, that sort of leads me to the stories and that's how I get ideas."

LISTEN to Stine talk about his writing process

"I sit down and I outline every book," Stine says.  "I do a complete chapter-by-chapter outline of everything that happens in the book.  Every chapter ending, I have the ending, who's in it.  I spend a lot of time planning it.  Everybody hates outlines.  When you tell kids about outlines, they hate it -- everyone does.  But I can't work without it.  I have to have it all figured out, so when I sit down to write the book, I've done all my thinking.  I've done the hard part.  And then I can just enjoy the writing part."

And writing is all he's done since he was a child.

"I was 9-years-old," Stine said.  "I had found this old typewriter and brought it into my room.  And started typing little joke magazines and funny stories.  Typing.  Typing.  I don't know why -- I was a weird kid.  I don't know why I thought it was so interesting.  But I've been writing ever since, I just loved it and that's all I've ever done."

Children who grew up with the original Goosebumps series were slammed by loads of merchandise from bed sheets to sneakers to action figures and board games.  But a favorite for Stine was when Goosebumps invaded Disney.

LISTEN to Stine discuss all the Goosebumps products

"I'm usually not home (in New York City) or anything -- that's my busy time.  This year I'm going to be at a book festival in Austin, TX, for Halloween."

So what does it take to scare the man who has been striking fear into the hearts of children for years?

LISTEN to Stine talk about Halloween and what scares him the most

For more information on R.L. Stine, you can visit www.rlstine.com or head over to www.EnterHorrorland.com for more information on the new books.

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