An evening with R.L. Stine

A few months back I saw a teaser about the Green Bay Book Festival "UntitledTown" on Facebook. It said R.L. Stine, Christopher Moore, Roxane Gay, and more were coming to the book festival. I was excited R.L.Stine was coming because I read his Fear Street books in Middle School. I would love hear one of my favorite childhood authors talk.

Since this was a premier event, you needed tickets. As soon as tickets went on sale, I got a pair. Tickets were $30 for VIP and General Admission was free. For $30 you got a closer seat and a guaranteed book signing. I was willing to take my chances with General Admission where you may get an opportunity to get a book signed.. it all depended on how long it took to get through the VIPs since he was only scheduled to sign for 45 minutes.

Heather and I drove up to UW-Green Bay and sat in the back of the Weidner Center. I figured closer to an exit gave us a better chance of getting a book signed since the Weidner Center held 2000 people. It didn't matter where we sat because R.L. Stine was hilarious. I never laughed so hard at an author event.. especially for a horror writer. Apparently he find horror funny which is in part why his books are so good.

R.L. Stine spoke for about 30 minutes and had us laughing from the beginning. He answer some of his most asked questions like "where do you get your ideas?" -- Anywhere... walking the dog is always a good way to get an idea because you never know what snippet of conversation is going to spark an idea. He talked about growing up with a love of a typewriter and how his teachers begged him to stop writing. If that wasn't a deterrent to keep writing he didn't know what was.

After about 30 minutes, Rachel Manek (I think.. it was one of the Good Day Wisconsin people) sat down with R.L. Stine and had an informal Q&A Session. All the questions were submitted before hand and she draw them from a box. If she read a question that he already answer when he was talking he good humorly accused her of not paying attention backstage. It was fun banter between entertainment personalities.

Once the Q&A ended, Heather and I mad a mad dash to the line for book signings. The VIPs all had green bracelets. Even though there was a rope that separated the two lines, it was hard to tell which line was which. The VIP crawled along and finally after a good hour, the last of the VIPs got their books signed. R.L. Stine wanted to sign our books to but the organizers and R.L. Stine was trying to figure out the quickest way of doing this. At first, they said he was going to walk through the line and sign everyone's books. Then he walked out to see the line and scratched that idea. R.L. Stine ended up standing at the beginning of the line and we each could get one book signed and no pictures so they said. I could have had my picture taken if I really wanted I supposed but I was okay standing next to him while he signed my book.

This was probably an unforgettable evening. I never expected R.L. Stine to be so funny or so talented. Would I have paid to get VIP Tickets? Probably not. Even if he didn't sign books past his 45 minute signing window, it would still have been a great evening. Whenever you get to sit in a room and hear a writer, actor, everyday Joe talk and keep the audience in stitches, it is a great night. I am ever grateful to the UntitledTitle Book Festival for being R.L. Stine here and I will keep eye out for more great authors at upcoming book festivals.