RL Stine MasterClass Review: Is It Worth Trying?

Many people regard R.L. Stine as the king of teen horror middle-grade fiction novels, being the author of the popular Goosebumps series of books alongside many other teen horror novels, he is undoubtedly the best influential fictional horror writer in the industry. 

After a tremendous amount of anticipation, R.L Stine’s MasterClass on scary writing for young audiences is finally here for aspiring novelists and fans to jump right into to explore the process of horror writing as explained by the acclaimed horror author himself. 

Stine isn’t the only novelist who has dedicated his MasterClass to educating audiences about writing skills, methods, and techniques, however, how does he stack up to his competition?

Keep reading this RL Stine MasterClass review and learn how to combat writer’s block with some great ideas!

Who Is R.L. Stine?

R.L. Stine has had an incredible knack for writing ever since he was gifted his own typewriter at nine years old where he would begin typing short stories and joke books.

It was when he moved to New York City as an adult that Stine began grabbing the attention of avid young readers around the city with his early teenage horror novels including The Babysitter and Blind Date where he would expertly represent the fears and anxieties of teenagers through a horror story. 

Stine soon skyrocketed into writing popularity when he began writing Goosebumps in 1992 which has gone on to become a worldwide phenomenon for the way he was able to write a story that seemed terrifying and gruesome without there being much gore or any violence, making him incredibly unique in the world of writing.

400 million copies of his books being sold, it’s no wonder his online class has been so hotly anticipated. 

What Is Included In The R.L Stine MasterClass

While his job is to scare people, in R.L. Stine MasterClass series R.L. Stine hopes to teach the audience that writing doesn’t have to be so scary when you know the right methods and techniques for writing your own story. 

Stine teaches writing with almost four hours of content to get through along with a few assignments to break up the pace, Stine guides aspiring writers on his own experience and the creative process behind writing for kids and teens as he discusses how he gathers twenty-story ideas and inspiration for his work.

He writes an effective and memorable story, and what challenges all writers must overcome along the way. 

Designed as more of a sit-down discussion kind of class for middle-grade readers, this MasterClass is mostly directed towards those who want to learn the best techniques for writing with a younger demographic in mind. 

Positives Of R.L Stine’s MasterClass

Fantastic Pacing 

Writing is a lot harder than it can first seem which can make it easy to feel overwhelmed when looking into the numerous techniques, methods, and ideas required to even get started.

Being a writing veteran, Stine knows this and so he paces the lessons in a way where you won’t be bombarded with information immediately. 

Instead, each lesson gradually builds on what was taught before, and with each topic being covered in 10 minutes on average, it makes it a lot easier to understand and remember what you learn rather than having to take everything into account at once.

One of the earliest examples of this is when Stine discusses how he starts a story by thinking of the ending first before then expanding on why this is effective and how to think of an ending in the following lesson. 

Homework & Assignments

A lot of MasterClasses will be fairly hesitant to include too many assignments between their sessions which can make for a missed opportunity to make the course as engaging as possible.

This is not the case with R.L Stine’s MasterClass where each lesson comes with a writing exercise and while these are optional, they are an excellent way to keep you engaged in the lessons while also giving you a fantastic opportunity to replicate what you learned in the previous lesson.

Large Variety Of Content

At 28 episodes long, R.L Stine’s MasterClass is one of the longer writing courses on MasterClass, however, this does mean that instead of bunching a few different topics into a single episode it can end up being too vague in terms of the actual content.

Stine instead spends a good amount of time discussing each lesson in incredible detail, and with how much there is to talk about, you can be sure you won’t be finding any filler episodes. 

Not only does Stine have episodes dedicated to finding ideas, outlining plot twists, constructing middle-grade characters, and other crucial areas of storytelling.

He also has episodes dedicated to things like how to overcome writer’s block and even case studies where he will compare some of his novels to other middle-grade books to point out any similarities or differences. 

Because of the sheer variety of content packed into these lessons, you won’t just be learning how to write a novel, but you will also be understanding the trials and tribulations that come with becoming an author, making it an excellent course if you have hope of becoming a novelist, or you already are one and just want more hints and tips from an expert in the field. 

Warm And Friendly Atmosphere

Right at the beginning of the course, Stine mentions that you can call him Bob for the remainder of the sessions, which gives you a story idea of how friendly and inviting he is as a person.

Despite being one of the best-selling fictional authors out there, Stine never just assumes that those watching have as much experience in writing as he does and is instead always very considerate in conveying exactly what he means in a relaxed and casual manner as if you were sat around a spooky fireplace learning from the master of horror himself. 

Negatives Of R.L Stine’s MasterClass

Writing Process Isn’t For Everyone

Stine admits right at the beginning of the course that the way he thinks of ideas and writes his stories is quite unique and won’t be for everyone, which does mean that depending on your writing preferences, there could be other classes that are more worthwhile. 

With this being said, regardless of how you prefer to write this class will still equip you with all the information you need when it comes to storytelling, however, because a lot of the course centers around Stine’s creative process, if you already have your way of writing then it might not be ideal for you. 

Other Writing Masterclasses To Take Next

Here is a list of some other writing courses that you can take to improve your writing skills:

Margaret Atwood MasterClass
Malcolm Gladwell Masterclass
Billy Collins Masterclass
Salman Rushdie Masterclass
Aaron Sorkin Masterclass
James Patterson MasterClass

Final Thoughts

While it might not be suitable for authors who already have their preferred style of writing, if you’re an aspiring novelist who hopes to write books and compare young adult audience, this class is packed full of a tremendous amount of content that is all taught in a clear and easy to understand way from one of the fields most experienced experts. 

Along with the assignments and PDF documents to grant you even more information outside of the lessons, R.L. Stine’s MasterClass is one of the best writing classes you can pay for and is well worth the money for how much content is included in each of the 28 episodes.