Q & A with alum and author Marissa Stapley

New York Times bestselling author Marissa Stapley (external link)  ‘03’s latest novel “Lucky (external link) ,” follows a character who faces difficulties throughout the novel where luck isn’t always on her side. 

What was the inspiration behind writing “Lucky”?

I was working on another novel at the time, which I'm now working on again, and I was with my family, we were travelling in the U.S. I happened to hear a radio report about a lottery ticket that was the highest payout in that state's history that had gone unclaimed or was about to have 24 hours left. They were talking about it on a morning show and the morning show DJs, they're like, ‘Well, this is so interesting,’ and they were talking about the reasons that lottery tickets go unclaimed. They were saying the general things like sometimes they're lost, people don't realize they bought it and then one of the DJs said, ‘You know, I have an interesting theory that sometimes people don't come forward because they're wanted for a crime.’ As an author, and I think as a journalist too, you're kind of trained to be looking for the story. I immediately was like this is a story, so I just sort of banked that idea, and could not stop thinking about it. And then I was taking a bus trip a few months later and Lucky honestly just popped into my head, she was like ‘I'm a con artist,’ and her story just started coming to me. I started texting my agent and saying, ‘I got the idea, I think I have to stop writing the book that I'm writing right now and I think I should work on this.’ She had actually said to me with the book I was working on, ‘I think this is the best idea you've ever had.’ And she texted and said, ‘No, I think this is the best idea you've ever had, go for it.’

So I just started writing “Lucky” and it just was so much fun. I was having some hard times in my personal life, my mom wasn't well and I was really struggling with the other novel. So Lucky was just such a gift. It just was kind of one of those once-in-a-lifetime, creative experiences where it just came to me and everything that has happened since has been kind of like winning the lottery. So I feel really lucky.

How was the process of developing Lucky as a character?

I will say because of what was going on in my personal life, it's the one book that I don't know that I can even remember in a weird way. I once described it as kind of like the shoemaker's elves, you know that story, I would wake up and I would have written it. It was kind of like that. I would be at the hospital with my mom and I would somehow still be writing that book and she was really encouraging me to do it. Lucky, as I said, sort of came to me as this fully formed character who I felt I really understood and knew. Whereas with any other book and the book that I'm currently working on, so much time is required to get to know the characters and thinking and give it the kind of space that can sometimes be really challenging to give it. But Lucky, she was just always so fierce and she was just always there. So every time I sat down to write I felt like I knew exactly what she was going to do and why. I guess I'll never really know why that is. I mean, I suppose because it was my fourth novel, I had a couple of practice novels in a drawer and maybe that was the moment I kind of hit my stride as a novelist.

In what way does “Lucky” differ from your previous work?

Well, I think it was the first time I ever just had one central character, she was very solitary, and she was on her own. So whereas with Mating for Life (external link) , my first novel was a real ensemble, with a mother and three sisters plus chapters dedicated to the women around them, it was almost like linked to short stories. Things to do when it's raining (external link)  was written from the perspective of four different characters, so even if Mae was at the center of everything, there were other characters I was exploring. So this was the first time there was just one and that may have been why it felt so, even though it wasn't really easy, why it felt like so much less headspace was required for Lucky that I could just focus on her and her alone. So that's probably it and I would say “Lucky,” it is kind of the culmination of all of my books. You know, the exploration of, your inner life, what family means and then The Last Resort (external link) , having that thriller element and then “Lucky,” it's not exactly a thriller, but there is this crime element and this page-turning aspect.

What has the reaction from readers been like?

Well, I mean, it is interesting, because people may just pick it up and say, 'This was so so much fun. Like, this was a fast, fun read.' And that's fine with me because I don't mind. But every once in a while, I do try not to read the reviews anymore, but somebody might contact me and say, 'You really made me think about the idea of resilience or forgiveness.' And it's not just a page-turner to me there's so much that goes into writing a page-turner and I talk about this a lot actually, with my writing friends, who are also writing what's considered commercial fiction. I always say just because something is easy to read does not mean that it was easy to write. In fact, it's the opposite. It's very hard to create something that really flows kind of through a reader's mind, and they don't want to put it down. So, I think the reaction has been 'Whoa, like, so much fun, what a story.' And that is, that was my intention. So I'm so glad that I was able to pull that off. I was lucky. And that people, readers like Reese Witherspoon (external link)  had the reaction that she had, which is that she loved it.

What advice would you give someone who wants to become a writer?

I often think about my journalistic training at (TMU), and I think about how one of the things my editors and agents will say is, ‘You're so good with your deadlines.’ I think all writers, whether you want to be a journalist, often think, ‘Okay, I want to write a book,’ and you might think that journalism is so different. There's really something to be said for being trained to sit down and create a story every day. So whether it's being able to hear something on the radio and realize that could be a book. That wonderful moment of "Lucky," just coming to me like a creative rainstorm is just an incredible moment, but that's only 5 per cent of it and the other 95 per cent is getting your butt in the chair and getting the work done; and being determined and resilient and not giving up. Which is really the best advice I can give anyone who wants to be any kind of writer. And you have to do it because you love it because it's a challenging way to make a living and those Reese Witherspoon moments happen if you're determined enough, but they're certainly not happening every day.