By Ane Mulligan

I have two passions in life: theatre and writing—and if there’s one thing I’ve found during my journey it’s this: People let down their guard when they think they’re being entertained. Story uses our emotions, our senses, and draws us in. Then, when we least expect it, the story touches, teaches, and transforms us.

And that’s why I do what I do—I write fiction and produce/act/direct plays.

Both passions take up large chunks of time. I had been asked by our mayor to start a community theatre troupe. I’d been creative arts director at my church for donkey’s years, and he attended there. It took the poor man several tries, as I was writing full time. He finally wore me down, and about six weeks after incorporating with the state as a nonprofit theatre company, the city unveiled plans for a nine-million-dollar performing arts center.

Wow! We thought we’d be in a church basement or an old school or something (we actually did perform out of an old school the city bought, and we turned the cafeteria into a theatre). Four years later, the theatre opened. So many memories in the past eleven years come from my theatre family, including hilarious happenings on the stage.

Join us today as Ane Milligan talks about her two passions: theatre and writing. #BRRC #Writing #Reading Share on X

Like the time my church presented a passion play I’d written. The play, called He Knew My Name, has the crucifixion viewed from the back of the cross. The focus is on three men and their reactions: one is a Christian, one is a seeker, and one is a skeptic. To pull it off, we built up a one-foot high platform, so once the cross was up, it could be turned to face the rear of the stage. Oh, the best laid plans … when they raised the cross opening night, a pharisee’s robe got caught on the bottom of the cross and slid into the hole. When he jerked it out, the cross dropped suddenly into the hole, and the actor portraying Jesus … fell off.

Or there was the time in CLUE, when the acrylic chandelier I’d purchased fell. We quickly discovered it wasn’t allacrylic, when a dangling doodad cut an actor’s hand, nicking a bleeder. She was fine, but the costume designer had a mad scramble to get the blood out of her costume, while a crew member bandaged her. They had all of sixty seconds to get her back on stage. Theatre is filled with drama … and funny stories.

People often ask me how I get my ideas. The best explanation I have is, “God whispers to our hearts, and our hearts whisper back in stories.” I can find a story in seeing an old house, overhearing a conversation (yes, I eavesdrop), directing a play, or merely people-watching. Stories are everywhere; you just have to look for them.

When God whispers, it isn’t a completed story but merely the seed of one. It’s up to me to plant it in fertile soil, tend to it, weed it, and prune it as it grows. If I sound like a gardener, I’m a wannabe one with a black thumb.

I rarely have a theme when I start a story. Some writers start with a theme, For me, it reveals itself as I write. I don’t plot. I write by the seat of my pants. My books are character driven, so the story arises from what my character wants most.

This book, the fourth in my Georgia Magnolias series and titled Up Level Creek, has the strongest spiritual theme of any I’ve written. Like the apostle Paul learned to be content, my main character must learn that life lesson.

Was it a lesson for my character alone? As often happens, my books hold a lesson God is teaching me. It’s not planned, but as I write, I also learn.

I pray you will love this story. It comes from my heart to yours.

Up Level Creek

She’s a swashbuckling dreamer who wields books instead of swords. He’s a no-nonsense lawman who brandishes a badge for justice. Total opposites with one goal in mind—to clear her name.

Christy Adams has lived on Sugar Hill all her life, running the TaleSpin Book Shop with her aunt. With the hard economic times, Christy’s days are filled with work and serving in soup lines while she dreams of visiting Paris and Rome. Then, a book and a decision propel her to places she never dreamed of going.

Will Slocomb has lived on Sugar Hill all his life. He didn’t have much time for girls when he and Christy were in school. Now, he’s achieved his law enforcement dream, he’s set his eyes on her … until a book and a decision cross the line between love and duty.

 

 

 

Ane Mulligan has been a voracious reader ever since her mother instilled within her a love of books at age three. Together, they would escape into worlds otherwise unknown. Then, when Ane saw PETER PAN on stage, she was struck by a fever and never recovered—stage fever. Now, by night she wears a director’s hat at a community theatre and by day, a bestselling, award-winning novelist. She lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband, a rescued German Shepherd, and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Facebook, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.