I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the release of the R.L. Stine Teaches Writing For Young Audiences MasterClass. I had literally just ordered a huge stack of Goosebumps and Fear Street books. They were a treat for finishing the first draft of a new novel and I was also keen to study how R.L. Stine writes for young readers.
So when I saw this in my MasterClass All Access Pass area…
I felt like a kid at Christmas. I immediately put everything else on hold and dived straight into R.L. Stine’s MasterClass.
This R.L. Stine MasterClass review will be the first in a series of reviews. This review will give you my quick overall impression of the course. Later reviews will show you how I’m progressing with the course’s homework and the ultimate assignment (writing a book for young readers).
Now let’s get into the review.
R.L. Stines Teaches Writing For Young Audiences MasterClass Review
R.L. Stine needs no introduction.
He is the Stephen King of children’s books.
Either you grew up reading Goosebumps and Fear Street (and watching the TV shows) or your kids did.
You might even still be reading R.L. Stine’s books today, like me.
What a crazy coincidence that I had literally just ordered these great R.L. Stine books before the course was announced:
- Deep Trouble
- Monster Blood
- Give Me A K-I-L-L
- The Haunted Mask
- Say Cheese and Die!
- The Ghost Next Door
- One Day at Horrorland
- Welcome to Dead House
- Stay Out of the Basement
- Werewolf of Fever Swamp
- Night of the Living Dummy
- The Horror at Camp Jellyjam
If you’re looking to reacquaint yourself with R.L. Stine’s books, those are all great options.
So no one could have been more pumped for R.L. Stine’s MasterClass than me.
But did the course meet my high expectations?
The R.L. Stine MasterClass starts strong and only gets better
You know the MasterClass is going to be a good one when, in the introduction video before the course has even kicked off, R.L. Stine immediately dispels the myth that writing is hard or has to “come from deep inside you”.
He tells us that he has written 330 books and he hasn’t written a single one from his heart.
Good news. You know there’s going to be no woo-woo, wait-for-the-Muse nonsense here. This course promises to give you hands-on practical advice from a master writer on how to go from having no ideas all the way up to having a completed finished book that speaks to younger audiences.
I’ll go through the different modules briefly, but first here’s a quick overview of what you get with the R.L. Stine Teaches Writing For Young Audiences Masterclass:
What do you get in the R.L. Stine Teaches Writing For Young Audiences Masterclass?
The biggest attraction for the R.L. Stine MasterClass is obviously the video modules.
We get 28 beautifully produced videos with R.L. Stine teaching and talking directly to us.
The video modules make up 4+ hours of content. Personally I binged the course in two sittings.
Because R.L. Stine is such a compelling speaker, because the videos are so beautiful, and because the content is so illuminating and educating, bingeing the masterclass is not hard to do.
What I typically do with these MasterClasses is watch it all the way through in a few sittings and take notes.
Once I’ve finished going through, then the real fun begins.
R.L. Stine walking us through why he makes certain decisions when revising his books.
In addition to the video modules, you also get a 63-page course workbook.
This workbook is fantastic and is filled with assignments laid out in a logical order that aim to take you from having no ideas to having a book.
The workbook contains a review for each of the video modules, detailing all the principles and lessons learnt. Then you get a bunch of exercises designed to improve a specific facet of your writing.
You also get homework reading lists and movie and TV show watching lists.
Heads up – there is a lot of recommended reading (and watching) in the course book. As you might expect, R.L. Stine’s books make up a large amount of the reading but there are tons more recommendations that you might not expect.
In addition to all this, each chapter of the workbook has an exercise that is designed to get you closer to finishing a book for children.
Your class project for the R.L. Stine MasterClass is to develop a story idea, put together an outline, create a character sheet, write a first draft and revise it.
On top of all that, you also get access to R.L. Stine’s outline for one of his Goosebumps books and a character cheat sheet for one of his Fear Street books.
And if that wasn’t enough, you also get access to “Office Hours” where R.L. Stine will answer student-submitted questions.
Seeing as the MasterClass is brand new, there currently aren’t any answers from R.L. Stine – which is good news. If you submit your question now, you’ve got a high chance of R.L. Stine actually answering it!
What does R.L. Stine teach you?
R.L. Stine basically holds your hand and shows you how to get from the idea stage all the way to a finished book.
I’m currently making my way through the homework assignments and I’m in the outlining stage – specifically I’m brainstorming the twists and surprises I’m going to put in my book.
I estimate that I’ll have a finished first draft of a book within a month.
It’s really hard to choose a favourite part of the masterclass because it was all fantastic and you really need to experience it as a whole.
But if I had to choose a few favourite video modules, they would be:
- The Idea Store
- Making Monsters
- Mixing Horror and Humor
- Developing a Book Series
- How To Scare Your Readers
- Writing for Different Age Levels
- Outlining: Surprise Endings and Cliffhangers
- Case Study: Comparing Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction
You can check out the full class syllabus here.
R.L. Stine is a fantastic teacher
“There are three different departments in the idea store. There’s experience, memory, and imagination.”
R.L. Stine’s teaching style is kind of genius.
His lessons are memorable, motivating, and practical.
It’s impossible not to feel inspired and capable when taking this masterclass.
R.L. Stine is full of tricks and analogies that will change the way you approach writing a story. Whether it’s the metaphor of an “Idea Store”, techniques for creating whole novels just from a title, or his approach to outlining (very similar to James Patterson’s), all of his lessons will make you think, “I can do this.”
Many of the individual video modules are worth the price of entry alone.
If you’ve been struggling with getting ideas, R.L. Stine’s advice will immediately solve that problem. He even has a whole module called “Twenty Story Ideas for You” where he encourages you to use ideas he has used many times (they’re all fantastic by the way).
If you’ve been struggling getting started, R.L. Stine’s outlining method will get you fired up.
If you’ve been struggling coming up with a decent ending to your book or your middles always seem to drag, again, R.L. Stine has the remedy.
The R.L. Stine MasterClass is perfect for those writing for younger audiences
I can see the R.L. Stine MasterClass being a wonderful writing course for anyone interested in the craft. Especially if you grew up loving R.L. Stine’s books (I grew up devouring Goosebumps).
However, there are definitely two types of writers who will benefit from this masterclass more than others:
- Beginner/first time writers
- YA writers/those writing for middle-grade
If you’re a beginner/intermediate writer, you get a complete toolkit that will result you actually writing a book (and quickly).
If you’re writing for a young audience, R.L. Stine’s advice (just like Judy Blume’s) is invaluable.
Even if you’re not writing for young audiences, R.L. Stine will probably convince you to make the switch (especially after the module entitled ‘Kids Are the Best Audience’).
You learn how to capture and keep kids’ attention (even when competing with smartphones, tablets, and TV).
You learn how to write for middle grade and how it differs from writing for teenagers.
You learn why how far you can push horror in middle grade books, what you can and can’t include, and how and why you should balance horror with humour.
One reason kids like Goosebumps so much is that they identify with the monsters, not the protagonist. I think they identify with these raging creatures, ‘cause they all feel out of control at some times. – R.L. Stine
You learn the techniques that make a book a page-turner.
You learn how to differentiate yourself from the other middle-grade and YA fiction out there.
You learn how to keep up with youth culture, write characters children identify with, create universes kids want to live in, create monsters that resonate, how to write realistic young dialogue, and so much more.
Should you enrol in the R.L. Stine MasterClass?
If $90 isn’t too much for you to invest in a course that will give you a finished kids’ book by the end of it – yes!
Even if writing is just a hobby for you, that’s not a huge amount to spend if you learn a bunch and it improves your enjoyment of the craft.
I’ve spent so much in pursuit of improving my writing career over the years. Writing software, thousands of books, several laptops, editors, cover designers, formatting software.
The price of MasterClass is nothing compared to all that. Especially if you get the All Access Pass, which lets you enjoy all of the courses MasterClass have to offer (all of the writing courses are phenomenal).
For me, the R.L. Stine MasterClass was more than worth it.
I don’t drink or spend money at the club on the weekend. But I do love sitting down with a pad and pen, brainstorming with a cup of tea, and then bashing away at the keyboard for a few hours every day.
And the feeling of having a finished manuscript in your hands that you’re proud of and can’t wait to show off…
It’s the best feeling in the world.
If that sounds like you, I highly recommend this course.
Let us know what you think of the course and let me know what you managed to write by the end of it!
You can enrol in the R.L. Stine Teaches Writing For Young Audiences MasterClass here.
