Parents looking to give their young readers something fun and tooth-rotting Halloween for them should look no further than SPOOPS: The Little Spirits of Hollywood. Written by prolific voice actor AJ LoCascio and illustrated by Laurie A. Conley, the book follows a young girl named Holly Hollowell, who is forbidden from enjoying the Halloween festivities by her strict dentist parents. Luckily for Holly, a magical fairy known as Spoop arrives to turn things around and teach her parents the true meaning of Halloween.
I had the great pleasure of interviewing Locascio at San Diego Comic-Con just a few months ago, but I couldn’t resist another opportunity to sit down and talk more about his debut children’s book, published by Top Shelf during New York Comic-Con.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Taimur Dhar: Everyone has their own writing pace, even if it’s someone like Stephen King, who writes like a machine, or George R.R. Martin, who took almost 20 years to write The Winds of Winter. Spoops is a children’s book, but it must have taken quite a while, so I’d love to hear about your writing process.
AJ LoCascio: It was late. It took me a few months to come up with this idea, as I was thinking about whether it was just Spoops or if I wanted to introduce the characters. The main character, Holly, was completely developed from nothing. It took a while to get there. It was also hard for me to understand why someone would shy away from celebrating Halloween in a non-controversial or weird way, such as her parents being religious. All in all, it took about six years to publish. Every time I send it to a new location, I change it in some way. This iterative process continued for six years. It blows my mind that someone can complete a screenplay in just two weeks. I can’t say I had the luxury of time, but thanks to the pandemic, I had the time. There was a time when a publisher said they would do it, but it had to be 200 characters. I tried it and it was a terrible version. I was worried that they would accept it and get away with it. At the time, I hadn’t published anything, so I said, “I’ll do anything.”
Taimur Dar: You mentioned that other publishers want to shorten it. So I’m curious if there were any changes that other publishers would like. For example, did your publisher want the main character to be a boy instead of a girl?
AJ LoCascio: I kept presenting the book and saying, “Here’s the book. If you don’t like it, I don’t want to work with you.” (About Holly) I’ve never had any backlash. At one publishing company, I was one day away from signing a contract and they said, “Can you fire my parents?” I thought, “No, that’s just the way it is. Absolutely not.” I was so angry that I went somewhere else. I said, “If that’s what you guys want, then you don’t understand this story.” It’s a universal story for both men and women. It’s about wanting to express yourself and being prevented from doing so.
Taimur Dar: One of my favorite animated roles you’ve played is Sanku Crood in Dawn of the Croods. It was a great show, but one episode that really stood out was “The Puppet Disaster,” in which Robin Williams played the ventriloquist skull puppet from Cinq.
AJ LoCascio: That’s very interesting! I knew you would say that. That’s my favorite episode. The funny thing is, we recorded it right before[Robin Williams]passed away, and I was devastated. He was my favorite actor in the world. Then we had to go back and re-record some lines, which was really hard. I was really lucky that Brendan Hay let me do that. He asked, “What do you want to do with this stand-up comedian’s skull?” I said, “Can I do Robin Williams?” In an earlier episode, I was going to play a character like Robin Williams, so as the process went on they developed the character around that. When a girl at my first post-pandemic convention gave me a skull of that character, I started crying. It’s an episode that comes out in a lot of really cool ways. You asked me a question, but I forgot what it was.
Taimur Dar: I was just pointing out that certain episodes of “Dawn of the Croods” overlap a lot with “Spoops” in terms of themes.
AJ LoCascio: If I were to do a special on Spoops, I would force Brendan Hay to do it. Actually, I’ve said that to him several times. There’s a depth to children’s media that I don’t often see. It allows you to feel emotions in a way that traditional media simply cannot. When it comes to children’s media, it can sneak in by surprise. Dawn of the Croods did that really well. I had a lot to do with Thunk. When I first started the show, I never thought something like this would happen. His creativity and need to express himself even when people think he’s stupid. They found a way to not make him a stupid kid. He’s just different from everyone else. A lot of kids who fall on the spectrum come up to me and say, “Thunk is me. I love Thunk.” He’s the kind of person who when you look at him, you think, “What a self-paced person.” He has an intelligence that is not typical intelligence. He is attached to things that others are not attached to. He acts differently and is knowledgeable in ways you wouldn’t expect. This is all about Mr. Croods!
Taimur Dar: Everything you just described about Thunk relates to Holly, the main character in Spoops!
AJ LoCascio: It’s an obsession. I was obsessed with Halloween when I was a kid. I loved making small figures. My parents thought I was weird, not as much as the book. I had to go on an adventure and explore it on my own.
Taimur Dar: In the last few years, many famous actors have worked as comic book writers. You have written children’s books in the past, but do you have any plans or aspirations to branch out into the comics medium in the future?
AJ LoCascio: The funny thing is, acting was a detour that I never expected. I never thought that I would end up acting in some way. My parents basically told me, “If you become an actor, you’ll be hungry for the rest of your life.” They said much worse than that. They really discouraged me from doing that. I fell into it in a way no one expected. One thing I always come back to when I’m alone is writing. I’ve been writing every day for years. Well, not every day. I’m not Stephen King! It’s something I return to in a safe place. Creating a children’s book was extremely difficult for me. Who knows what other projects may come up. But I’ve definitely been exploring some pretty non-traditional comic book ideas. I would like to do more Spoops and other projects. It’s interesting that someone is an actor and writes a script. I think everyone thinks someone hired a ghostwriter. This is not the case. I’m not Jimmy Fallon! (lol). I mean, I’m not famous enough to hire people.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage of NYCC ’25.
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