JeanzBookReadNReview: AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Thursday, 16 May 2013

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - BAILEY ARDISONE

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.

What is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
Bailey – I was born in Illinois, but currently live in Florida

Ardisone - I was also born in Illinois, just south of Chicago, and currently live in Florida, just south of Tampa.

How does the writing process work with two authors?

Bailey - At first we got together regularly and discussed ideas we had and went from there. It is somewhat simple with The Sweet Series because there are two different character point of views and two stories happening together.

Ardisone - Yes, we discuss what we want to happen in general, and send each other chapters when we are finished and see how one another feels about them.

How do you come up with the Title and Cover Designs for your book/books?Who designed the Cover of your books?

Ardisone - I wrote a poem some years ago using the line "like drowning in sweet oblivion." I purposely put this line or a variation of it in the book twice, because it was dear to my heart. I have always loved the word oblivion, and thankfully when I suggested it to my sister she agreed that she loved the word/title too. I designed the cover. I love to do anything art related, though I am not that great at it! haha

Do you ever disagree on the direction of a character or the plot?

Bailey - Definitely. It happens sometimes, but we want to stay true to the story, not necessarily our opinion of a certain character.

Do you market the book any differently with it having two authors?

Ardisone - Yes, it takes some extra effort marketing two authors. It is a struggle, but everyone has been so kind despite the extra challenge!

Do you write alone as a sole author of a book too? If so which do you enjoy most?

Bailey - I do write alone as well. They both have their perks and challenges.

Ardisone - Neither of us have published a book on our own, however I know I definitely plan to in the future and I am sure my sister will as well! So please keep your eye out for us! ;)

How do you decide who writes which part of the book?

Bailey - At first we each decided to write the scenes that we saw in our heads and go from there. However, right now we are focusing on writing certain characters.

If there's a disagreement, say about plot, title, cover etc how do you solve it?

Bailey - We try to stay true to the story and the characters that we created. We know the direction we want, we just have to stay on course and make sure we don’t make a character do or say something that would not be true to who they are.

Do you enjoy writing with another author more than writing alone?

Bailey - It depends. As I mentioned before, they both have their perks and challenges.

Ardisone - I greatly enjoy writing on my own, but it is loads of fun discussing your thoughts and ideas with someone who shares the same amount of interest and love in your story!

How do you find your perfect author partner to write with?

Bailey - Find someone with imagination and creativity and also one who will listen to your ideas too. It’s fun to bounce ideas off of each other.

Who decides which name goes first on the book?

Bailey - We decided to write under one pen name, using the names of our grandmothers.

Ardisone - Yes, it is interesting because the reason we did that was because we were going to stay anonymous. However, it ended up coming out who we really were. It has caused more challenges, but I am proud to borrow our grandmother's names and give tribute to them.

Do you get together in the same room to do the writing or is it all done via computers?

Bailey - We each write separately. However, ideas are discussed in person or via the computer.

Do you have a certain routine you have for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?

Bailey – Normally I can’t have anything going on in the background – no noise whatsoever. Sometimes though I can have soft music, but generally I need silence.

Ardisone - I LOVE to listen to music. I absolutely love piano music or cello music. I will often listen to emotional music to stir my own emotions for the story, and use them to write. I have also written with the TV on low in the background. It is not as easy for me to write in silence.

Do you read all the reviews of your book/books?

Bailey – Absolutely! Reviews are very important to us! We want to know what readers like or didn’t like about our books.

Thank you so much for having us, Jean! This was so much fun! =)