Celtic Spotlight: Freshman Allison Lange

For freshman Allison Lange ’30, storytelling is more than a hobby – it’s a way to create entire worlds, make her friends laugh and turn everyday experiences into something completely original.

Already an accomplished young writer, Allison has explored everything from murder mysteries and science fiction to comedy, fantasy, action, romance and even mafia thrillers. She has written several scripts, including two that have been copyrighted, two more in their final stages and one that has already been published.

Her published work, Dragonfly and the White Chrysanthemum, is a comedic suspense/mystery centered around a group of clumsy friends in their twenties who find themselves trying to solve the murder of one of their own. The characters are closely inspired by Allison’s real-life friends – something that is at the heart of much of her writing.

“My friends are what keep me doing what I do,” Allison said. “It brings me purpose and happiness knowing they are proud to be part of my inspiration.”

In fact, her friends are often the first audience for a new story.

“Every book I’ve written, they have read immediately and said, ‘So when will there be another one?’” she said. “It brings me so much joy to make them happy.”

Allison’s imagination has taken her stories in some wonderfully unexpected directions. The Poison Dart Frog, for example, follows Aimsie, a henchwoman working for a “good” mafia, whose life becomes considerably more complicated when she encounters Marmalade – a sassy, giant frog alien from an undiscovered planet. Another work, The Writer of Dreams, Nightmares, and the In-Between, is a fantasy musical about tiny creatures at war with one another in a backyard.

And sometimes inspiration arrives very late at night. Allison and her co-author (pictured with Allison above) came up with the premise for Dragonfly and the White Chrysanthemum while staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m.

Writing also gives Allison a creative escape at the end of a difficult day. Pieces of her own experiences often find their way into her stories, although they may look very different by the time they reach the page.

“Somehow, even on the worst days, there’s still comedy in every one of my works because that’s who I am,” she said.

Her creativity doesn’t stop with scripts. Allison also writes stand-up comedy, advertising skits and, occasionally, music. She creates the artwork for her scripts and is currently designing a card game based on her published work.

Looking ahead, Allison hopes all of that creativity can someday become a career. Her dream is to write screenplays for movies, although she is also interested in other opportunities within the film and advertising industries.

For now, this freshman Celtic is continuing to write, draw, design – and imagine what story might come next. We can’t wait to see where her creativity takes her!