Joanna Rees
The Key to it All is a big, sweeping story about five random strangers who each get sent a mysterious silver key. They don’t know who has sent it to them, or why they’ve been chosen. When they plug the key into a computer they get access to an exclusive, personalized web page, asking them to name whatever it is that they desire. They soon realize that they can each unlock a door to luxury and privilege beyond their wildest dreams. However, as they each start to use it, their moral choices start to become hazy and they all start to question the gift. Who is behind it? And why have they been chosen to receive it?
Can you tell us about each of the five random people that get a key.
When writing, escapism is key for me. I’ve written 12 novels now, and some of them have been about situations that are similar to situations in my own life. Now I like to write about people and places that I don’t know at all and that have nothing to do with me.
I sit at home in my tracksuit bottoms typing and in my imagination, I want to go to the most far-flung and exotic locations I can think of. So then, starting with the locations of my characters, I wanted to find people who felt ‘normal’ enough to be realistic and worked on getting a really interesting a varied mix of narrators.
So I have Julia, who is a school teacher in Rio; Christian, who is Danish, but is an aid doctor in deepest darkest Africa; Scooter, who is a down-on-her-luck actress in New York; Harry, a banker from London and Kamiko, a gaming freak, who works in a sushi factory in Japan.
The story is very unusual, so how did the idea develop?
It’s actually based on an anecdote I heard a friend telling in a pub. The Key 2 Luxury, is actually real and was developed as a gift for top level business people. It’s sort of an instant upgrade perk, where lots of high-end brands sign up for a marketing opportunity. I heard about this guy who used his key to get into Pascha in Ibiza, and got upgraded on BA to first class flights. I’m not sure how much of it was true, but that was the spark of the idea.
I’m a bit of a plot magpie, so I used some aspects of my favourite plot dynamics to make the story have that big epic feel. There are definitely touches of ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as well as ‘The Count Of Monte Cristo’ in there.
Both you and your partner write, so how much of helping each other is part of your writing process?
A huge part. I’ve been so lucky to have Emlyn at home with me since the beginning of my career, when we first wrote the rom-com ‘Come Together’ and I persuaded him to give up his job and hang out with me in the day. Since then, we’ve written a whole bunch of books together and separately and have had three children. In the old days we’d loaf around in cafes and discuss our plot, but these days, we have to be a lot more disciplined. Writing is very much a ‘bums on seats’ kind of a job. If you’re not sitting in front of your computer, it won’t get done.
I would waste loads of time if Emlyn wasn’t upstairs working too. We meet for tea breaks and always have lunch together. As well as helping to motivate each other, getting occasionally competitive about word count, we also help fix each other’s plots and give reassurance and the occasional confidence boost when needed. I don’t think I could write without him.
If you had a key to luxury and privilege, what form would that take?
I’m lucky enough to write my crazy fantasies, so I don’t have to live them out for real. To be honest, I don’t think I’m cut out for huge luxury. I wouldn’t like the idea of loads of staff hanging around and tending to my every need. I’m uncomfortable with the idea of extreme wealth, when there are so many people in the world in need of help.
For me, the greatest luxury and privilege is having lots of time with my family. Being together with the kids and having a laugh is my ultimate treat and that doesn’t have to involve money, or luxury. It’s all about love at the end of the day. Which is very much the moral of the book.
How do you think you would react if you were given a code and a web address to achieve the things promised in the book?
I would be as distrustful as some of my characters are. But again, I couldn’t help but be curious and see what happened. I wanted each of my characters to have a very different reaction to the key to each other, so I toyed with all different aspects of how it might feel to be put in that position.
What is next for you?
After the success of ‘We’re Going On A Bar Hunt’, the parody book I wrote with Emlyn, we have another similar type of book in the pipeline together.
I’m very much in my stride writing these kinds of stories and I’ve been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to write more Joanna Rees books for Pan Macmillan. I’m writing ‘Burning Paradise’ next. I’m getting as much drama as I can in it and this planning stage is key for that. I want my readers to feel like they’ve watched a box set by the time they’ve finished one of my books.