Indie-Licious Interview: Sibling Talent! ~ IndieLicious

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Indie-Licious Interview: Sibling Talent!

Bailey Ardisone is a collaboration between two sisters who were born and raised outside of Chicago, Illinois. They took the last names of their two grandmothers to form their pen name and combined their creative forces to write the first book in their series, called Sweet Oblivion. Though the name Bailey Ardisone applies to both of them, for the sake of answering questions they will each take on one of the names to make things easier.

Bailey:
The older sister of the two in Bailey Ardisone, has always loved getting lost in books, movies, music, and art. Fantasy is her favorite genre. She gets her love of words from their grandmother who together used to write poems, short stories and even greeting cards. Her biggest goal would be to travel and explore the world. She loves going to the beach, enjoys football Sundays, and spending time with friends and family.

Ardisone:
The younger sister of the two in Bailey Ardisone, has always held a strong love for anything art related. Whether it be drawing, music, or constantly day-dreaming, her mind never stops imagining wonderful stories and possibilities. She finally got to put some of those ideas to use with her new found love of writing novels. Some other things she is forever obsessed with are Japanese Anime and Manga, animals, traveling, her home city of Chicago and anything in miniature form. One thing she can never get enough of is sleeping/taking naps and sour skittles.

Such an interesting combination idea to create such a wonderful name - Bailey Ardisone. First, let's see what sets these two imaginative sisters apart by asking some "stop-the-presses" questions.

About the sisters:

1) Favorite food?

Bailey: Pepperoni Pizza, or anything sweet!

Ardisone - Soup is my favorite. Oh, and Italian beef from Portillo's in Chicago. Yum!

2) Favorite music?

Bailey: Alternative Rock/Punk

Ardisone: You might be surprised to learn my favorite genres of music are Punk Rock, Emo, Grunge, and Ska, just to name a few ;) Music is a huge love of mine!

3) Favorite book?

Bailey: This question stumped me, I really cant answer that. But I can say this: I love fantasy!
Ardisone: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, and The Star-Crossed Series by Rachel Higginson.

4) Do you share similar imaginations?

Bailey: Honestly, I think we are totally different, but we work together well. Because we are different we can come up with ideas and are able to help each other out.
Ardisone: I feel that although our personalities are different, we still share the same imaginations. So my answer is yes, because we both are insanely in love with fantasy.

5) How was the co-writing experience? Who had the master plan? And will you ever work together again?

Bailey: It was completely a collaboration. My sister had the idea to write a book together, she also started the idea about the main male in the story. I had already picked out a few names for characters that I liked, and then together we sat down and brainstormed the rest of the story! Will we ever work together again – Yes, we have to finish The Sweet Series!!!

Ardisone: It's great - we are able to brain-storm and feed off each other to create a better book. That saying "Two Heads Are Better Than One", is totally true if you have similar wants and desires when writing a book. I had the master plan and came up with all the details and meat of the story, but you can also give credit to my husband who would not stop pushing me to try writing. Then with the combination of my ideas and my sister's old-world elements, we were able to create something that we both personally love to read ourselves! In the second book, my sister has been adding some wonderful ideas too! It really takes both of us working together and will continue to do so in the future, because like she said - we still have yet to finish the series.

About Sweet Oblivion:

1) Is Sweet Oblivion a stand-alone novel, or part of a series? Ardisone: It is the first novel in a series. Originally it was going to be just a trilogy, however we feel it may end up more than that because there is so much story to tell! We hope readers want more as well.

2) How do Narielle and Naminé interact with each other? Ardisone: They don't! These two characters each have their purpose in the story, but you have to find out how their stories unfold and connect by reading until the end ;) Currently, they don't know of the other's existence.

3) If Sweet Oblivion was made into a movie, who would be your cast of characters? Ardisone: Oh, gosh! This is tough. A hot British actor for Mycah for sure, but I have searched far and wide for current actors that could play each character and I have yet to find any! I have found models/photos that look similar to how we see them in our heads (http://www.facebook.com/TheSweetSeries/photos_albums?ref=hl) but they're not actors. Well, some of them are but they would be too old if used presently =( I will keep searching!

4) Have your main characters inherited any of your traits? Ardisone: There are a few elements of us in each of our characters I would say. When our mom read it, she would point something out and declare, "That's so you!" to each one of us. So, yes. I would definitely say that is the case.

5) What's in store for Nari and Naminé in the next novel in the series? Ardisone: A LOT! There will be many questions answered and a huge adventure to be journeyed. Sweet Escape is going to be really fun to read! We hope =)