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.
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.
Well, when I was 13, for my bar mitzvah I received my first typewriter. And that was special.
Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different 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.
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.
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 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!
Kids think you just sit down and start writing. I always tell them you never do that.
I always just wanted to be funny. I never really planned to be 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.
It's hard for children's authors to be accepted when they try to write adult books. J.K. Rowling is the exception because people are so eager to read anything by her, but it took Judy Blume three or four tries before she had a success.
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 really wanted to be a cartoonist, and I was in 4th or 5th grade and I would bring my drawings in, and I'd look around, and everyone could draw better than me. Everyone. My drawings were just awful. So that's why I had to write.
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.
I'm a total Disney freak. I want to live in Disney World.
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.'
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.
