Ahead of bringing her new show Mess - a celebration of the disorder in our lives - to the Edinburgh Fringe, American actress and writer, and star of CBS's Criminal Minds, Kirsten Vangsness answers five questions...

So, your show is about visible quantum objects - what in hell's name is one of those?

It sounds really impressive, doesn't it? Like I am some wonderful genius. I am not. I just happened upon a really good TED talk about "visible quantum objects". All quantum means is "the tiniest bits of nature," and last time I checked, we are all bits of nature, so it's about all of those bits of mine.

How messy are you in real life?

I wouldn't call myself a disgusting kind of messy - I'm not the "hey, I didn't finish that banana last month so it will sit here until it gets furry." Okay, I guess at times I have been that person. Mostly, I am the "hey, I'm not done reading this book so I'm going to leave it sitting open on the table next to that totally fine, not yet ripe banana so I remember to eat that and read that." So yes, I am messy, and I would say my inner world is also messy hence me doing a play about it all.

We hear you've been writing since fifth grade and your output is often unconventional to say the least - briefly talk us through your writing process.

I wander around the house upset about some person or event that has caused me pain, then I put on some music and I dance around until I start talking to myself about solutions to the pain or words to better express it, and I write all of that down. Most of what I write down is for me to share with only myself, but then there are moments where it's, "Hey! I could maybe perform that bit in public!"

You write a lot for television (including a fair few episodes of the hit US TV show Criminal Minds, which you also star in). What main difference have you found between writing for a TV character, and writing for a character on stage?

When writing for TV, there are RULES. All kinds of rules about structure such as it has to be 42 minutes long, and I can't write that 42-minute episode just about making soup, Harry Potter, and letting my character have sex with anyone I've ever fancied.

BUT THEATRE HAS NO RULES. And that is the difference.

Finally, describe MESS in five words.

Brain-stretching, heart-thumping, lusty, messy, joy-ride.