{"id":6398,"date":"2026-08-21T22:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T22:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6398"},"modified":"2026-08-21T22:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T22:35:27","slug":"alex-aster-on-writing-barbie-worlds-first-ever-ya-book-sending-her-lightlark-movie-producers-really-smart-fan-casts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6398","title":{"rendered":"Alex Aster on Writing Barbie World\u2019s First-Ever YA Book, Sending Her \u2018Lightlark\u2019 Movie Producers \u2018Really Smart\u2019 Fan Casts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tBookTok sensation Alex Aster stepped away from the worlds of her bestselling \u201cLightlark\u201d and \u201cStarside\u201d novels this week to celebrate the debut of her new book, which is based on IP that predates her works by more than six decades: Barbie.<\/p>\n

Read more Chris Aronson Files $4 Million Age Discrimination Suit Over Ouster at Paramount<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAuthor Aster, who has now released 10 titles over the past six years, was brought on by Mattel to write \u201cBarbie Dreamscape,\u201d the first-ever YA series based on the beloved doll. And Aster says she was given creative freedom to do what she wanted with everyone\u2019s favorite pick icon from the start, including deciding what other members of Barbie\u2019s world to include.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cObviously, Barbie was always going to be the main character,\u201d Aster told Variety<\/em> during an interview at Tuesday\u2019s \u201cBarbie Dreamscape\u201d release-day party at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Union Square, New York. \u201cI wanted Ken to make an appearance, but I didn\u2019t want it to be all about Ken because this is first and foremost a journey of self-discovery for Barbie, and I didn\u2019t want her to have to prove her strength based on a relationship and so that\u2019s why she\u2019s alone. Like, she sees a lot of people, she meets people during her quest, but ultimately it\u2019s up to her to find her own strength and find her own destiny. So it was important to me that none of the secondary characters were stronger than her or were going through the entire journey with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Mattel Press, \u201cBarbie Dreamscape\u201d is described as\u00a0\u201ca richly imagined coming-of-age story about teenage Barbie, whose perfectly planned future is shattered when she is declared\u00a0Fateless\u00a0at her enchanted school\u2019s graduation. To earn a Fate, she must journey across treacherous, magical lands in search of the mysterious beings who control the destinies of everyone in Heartland \u2014 and the buried truths that could change her world forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAster says she wanted this book to include new characters as well, \u201cso all of the magical people she meets during the quest across the worlds, I wanted to create them to be inspired not only by Barbie products, but by the animated movies and just how Barbie made me feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I went to Mattel, they let me play with the toys and see everything,\u201d Aster says. \u201cSo it was a mix between me wanting to add something new to this one story and Barbie\u2019s many lives, but also honor the Barbie I knew from movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAster, who says her favorite animated Barbie movie is 2001\u2019s \u201cBarbie in the Nutcracker,\u201d could see the \u201cDreamscape\u201d story being easily adapted into another cartoon by Mattel or potentially the first live-action YA \u201cBarbie\u201d film.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it would be a really great animated movie. I love Barbie animated movies. I think Mattel could make an amazing adaptation, and that would be great to get to see it,\u201d Aster says, adding: \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t animated, if it was live-action, I would love to know what readers would want as a fan cast for a YA Barbie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Harry Potter\u2019 Star Jessie Cave Says It Was \u2018Embarrassing\u2019 to Join OnlyFans to Pay the Bills but \u2018It Has Saved Me\u2019: Lavender Brown \u2018Was a Small Part 20 Years Ago\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tWho would Aster want?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI honestly don\u2019t know,\u201d the author says. \u201cI tried to think about it but I also feel like readers are always so much better at that than authors are because we\u2019re busy writing the books. But sometimes I\u2019ll go online, I\u2019ll be tagged [in a fan-cast post] and it\u2019s like, \u2018Fantastic! You guys should work for Hollywood. You guys are amazing.\u2019 They\u2019re great readers. And readers have a lot of power, too. For my other adaptations, I send a lot of that to the producers. I\u2019m like, \u2018This is what they\u2019re saying. Listen to them; they\u2019re really smart.\u2019 But I don\u2019t have [a fan cast for Barbie], but I\u2019m sure someone will come up with the perfect one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAster says she takes fan-casting quite seriously, and has been keeping her eye on readers\u2019 comments about the upcoming film adaptations of her books \u201cLightlark\u201d (set up at Universal Pictures and Temple Hill) and \u201cSummer in the City\u201d (New Line Cinema). But apart from flagging fans\u2019 preferred actors and reviewing scripts, she\u2019s taking a more relaxed approach to her executive producer roles on both projects. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m definitely fully, totally focused on writing books, so I do not have plans on self-adapting,\u201d Aster says. \u201cThere are amazing screenwriters who are working on the scripts. I\u2019ve read the \u2018Lightlark\u2019 script; it\u2019s really good. So they are so good at what they do, and I\u2019m involved as an executive producer. I\u2019m really lucky that these studios and producers value my feedback, and I think they understand how important readers are. And I\u2019m lucky enough to have a good connection with my readers. So I\u2019ve been really happy so far, but I think it\u2019s either one way or the other: either I focus fully on the books or fully on the scripts or adaptation, and I\u2019ve chosen the books for now. But everything\u2019s really good and all you can ask for is that people love the work as much as you and your readers do, and they\u2019re so talented, and they\u2019ve done such a good job. So I\u2019m really happy at this point with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it comes to her day job, Aster has completed work on her next \u201cStarside\u201d book, \u201cStormside,\u201d which was delayed from its Nov. 17 release date and is currently eyeing an early 2027 launch. Aster says the marathon writing journey for that book took a toll on her she\u2019s still recovering from as she launches \u201cBarbie Dreamscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am done with \u2018Stormside,\u2019 the second \u2018Starside\u2019 book. It\u2019s the longest book I\u2019ve ever written,\u201d Aster says. \u201cIt\u2019s over 1,000 pages on my laptop. It has taken years off my life span. But every book is a new challenge. [\u2018Barbie Dreamscape\u2019] was a new challenge. Even just working within the confines of an IP really, weirdly, felt more freeing. When you have these characters that you\u2019re building in this world that is so well loved, I did just feel like anything was possible, so I really loved working within the IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAster says the experience was such a good one that she would even be open to writing another Barbie book.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI would love to. If Mattel wants me to, I will,\u201d Aster says. \u201cBut I think that this is just one of probably hundreds of Barbie stories out there, and so I\u2019m just really grateful to have made a little piece of Barbie\u2019s world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more How Hollywood\u2019s Veterans Are Chasing Emmy History: Sally Field, Harrison Ford, Martin Short and More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author Alex Aster stepped away from the worlds of her best-selling “Lightlark” and “Starside” novels to launch “Barbie Dreamscape.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4953,4954,4204,4955],"class_list":["post-6398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-alex-aster","tag-barbie-dreamscape","tag-barbie","tag-lightlark"],"yoast_head":"\nAlex Aster on Writing Barbie World\u2019s First-Ever YA Book, Sending Her \u2018Lightlark\u2019 Movie Producers \u2018Really Smart\u2019 Fan Casts - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=6398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alex Aster on Writing Barbie World\u2019s First-Ever YA Book, Sending Her \u2018Lightlark\u2019 Movie Producers \u2018Really Smart\u2019 Fan Casts - 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