Authors are often asked where we get the ideas for plots. There is no formula. I’ve written twenty novels and there’s never been two occasions when the idea came to me in the identical way.Sometimes it is a slow smudge of a process; a seemingly great idea reveals itself to be flawed on closer interrogation. With JUST MY LUCK, it was the opposite. There was a blinding flash of certainty that I had an original, relevant, exciting concept. It’s most likely a once in a lifetime thing; a bit like winning the lottery!
I was at a lunch, catching up with an old friend who works for the lottery company in the UK. He was telling me fun stories about what it is like to be up close and personal with lottery winners: their reaction to hearing they’ve won, what they spend on and how the lottery company has a duty of care. It was all utterly fascinating. Then, he casually commented, ‘We always offer to arrange security for their children, if the win is seriously big’. My pulse quickened. Imagine, the best moment of your life – being handed a check for millions and then suddenly realising your family were now at serious risk in a way they never had been before. It must be terrifying, mind-blowing. I knew I had to write about that particular juxtaposition.
My friend elaborated. Having witnessed hundreds of people winning various amounts, he believes winning a million pounds is ‘the dream’. I probed, ‘So winning more than that might be a nightmare?’ He raised his eyebrows, let out a sigh and confirmed, ‘It really can be.’
It didn’t take me long to jump to a worst-case scenario. I started to wonder about lying, cheating, stealing, kidnapping, extortion, murder – the extremes people go to for money. The fact is money can and does corrupt. Money seems to offer such an easy way out of all our problems. However, the subsequent research I did with lottery winners suggests to me that extreme wealth just presents a different set of problems.
By the time I drove home from the lunch, I had the idea fully fleshed-out in my head. Because my very dear friend had inspired me, I was thinking about the joy and value of friendship and what it costs to lose friends. JUST MY LUCK is about three couples who have been close friends for 15 years. Throughout that time, they’ve bought a lottery ticket together every week, always using the same numbers. Then one week they quarrel, two of the couples quit the lottery in a huff. The very next week their numbers come up and Lexi and Jake alone hold the winning ticket. Only they are legally entitled to the £18 million ($25mil) prize, but the others go to extraordinary lengths to get a share. This is a novel about what money can, should and definitely should not buy. It is a novel that exposes that everything comes with a price, even winning.
Adele Parks is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of twenty novels, including Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck, as well as I Invited Her. Just My Luck is currently in development to be made into a movie. Her novels have sold 4 million copies in the UK alone, and her work has also been translated into thirty-one languages. Connect with her on Twitter @adeleparks, on Instagram @adele_parks, and on Facebook @AdeleParksOfficial.
