Lee Anians-Mueller

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your hobbies and interests.

Hi! I'm Lee Anians-Mueller and I dwell in the state of Missouri, northwest of St.Charles--which is west of St. Louis. I have been active in the performing arts since High School. When I was around 7 years old, I got a super-8 movie camera and dreamed of being the next Stanley Kubrick. I auditioned for "Dramatics" class when I was a sophomore because I believed acting would be important to understand if I wanted to be a filmmaker. I did very well as a young actor on the stage and was drafted by some local Community theatre groups at the time. Acting seemed to be my calling. I continued in theatre went I went to college and even joined an Improvisational/ Sketch comedy group where I tried my hand at writing short skits for the stage. After a few acting roles, I became familiar with the structure of plays and wrote a one-act play. It was produced during a College writer's conference and I gained confidence based on the feedback. I submitted another one-act to a local St Louis competition and it was chosen as a finalist. I worked part-time at a Regional theatre as an usher and got to meet some great people in the acting world. In my spare time, I wrote music reviews and articles for a local entertainment newspaper. In the background, my one true hobby was (and had been) reading. I am an avid reader. I read everything I could get my hands on from Kurt Vonnegut to Dostoevsky. I was asked to fill a role in a local murder mystery play because an actor dropped out. It was during this time, I was certain I could write one of these murder mystery plays. I grew up reading the Hardy Boys' mysteries and had watched many hours of British Mystery series with my mother on television, therefore I made a bet with the play's director that I could write a better mystery play than the drivel we were currently staging. She took the bet and I submitted a script in two weeks. The following year, they produced my play. It went over very well, They asked me to write another one for the following year. This continued for 15 years.

When and why did you start writing books?

As memory serves me, the first book I wrote is when I was about 10 years old or so. I stapled stationery together and composed a dreadful tale about a soldier who goes to war and loses his memory. I gave it to my mom for her birthday. But the first actual book I wrote was around 2012 when I wrote "The Basic On Stage Survival Guide For Amateur Actors". In the world of community theatre, there are many people who are new to the stage and have a million questions such as; How do you memorize lines, what does upstage and downstage mean? What is blocking? I was inspired to write a guide for novice actors. During the pandemic lockdown, when the theatrical world took a break, I made a pivot and decided to return to the narrative world of storytelling, I always wanted to publish a book that had nothing to do with theatre or murder mystery. I thought it best to start small and develop my writing chops a little at a time. Short stories seemed to be the answer. I read a bunch of short stories, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, and Hemingway. For material, I conjured up some memories from childhood, and instead of composing a memoir, I wrote in the third person and fictionalized the main character and events. After a year, I published "Idle Essence Tales Of Marvin" which is a collection of stories, loosely based on events I recall growing up.

What made you decide to tackle writing as a career?

Storytelling has always fascinated me. I found it as a thread in everything I was interested in from filmmaking, to theatrical plays. to creating long-form improvisations on the stage. Everything I did from an early age was some form of storytelling. I managed to find different ways to tell stories. Now that I think about it, writing a book is the most basic way to do it. but it was the last medium I tried,

Which one of your books or characters is your favourite?

I would have to say my favorite character is named Marvin Milstead who first appears in Idel Essence and then reappears in my book "Street Ends No Outlet". As I have said, Marvin is more or less a version of myself but I am able to view him from outside, at a distance. Just as Hemingway used Nick Adams and Mark Twain used Tom Sawyer, it's an interesting psychological way to examine yourself and your life. Marvin is a character I can return to and use in the future when I want to practice my writing skill and self-analysis.

Which one of your books was the hardest to write and stretched you the most as a writer?

Right now I have two different projects but one is historical fiction based on the time as the Civil War was ending. I have to keep in mind the time period and the dialogue. People spoke quite differently and I wanted to keep it as accurate as possible. Also, a lot of research is needed for a project like this - though I am creating a fictional story, I need to be aware of some actual historical events that color that world. If I have my characters travel to a particular town. I need to make sure that town even existed in 1865 and if it did, was it called by the same name as it is today? What kind of clothes did people wear? What materials did soldiers carry? What did they eat? What was the weather like during April of that year? I didn't want to watch a few old Civil War films and think, "I'm good. I got this," I wanted to put the research in and make sure it will be as close as possible.

Who is your favourite author and book?

My favorite book and author change all the time. I could say the one that holds up for me is Kurt Vonnegut. I loved all of his books. I also loved Tom Robbins. Right now. Carson McCullers is my favorite.

What book are you reading right now?

Right now I am reading a few things, "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Underworld" by Don DeLillo, and "A Turn Of The Screw" by Henry James.

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

I get inspired all the time from many areas. I can recall something amusing I saw or experienced. I can see something on the news and I can even have a strange dream that inspires a story. As of this moment in my life, I do not have a problem getting inspired or running short of ideas.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Along with reading, I love hiking in the woods, watching foreign films. and browsing antique stores in any small town I can find.

Do you have any new books in the works?

Always. I'm adapting a screenplay I wrote 10 years ago into a novel. I had started the film and almost had it fully finished but my lead actor, sadly passed away before it was complete. Many people loved the script, so I decided to adapt in my friend's memory and publish it.