When a struggling Broadway talent agent reluctantly agrees to represent a male stripper, she finds out there's more to her new client than oiled abs.
Season 1 of Strip in the City
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Today might be the worst day of my life. I just lost my biggest c...
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Hi everyone 👋 welcome to yet another one of my writer reveals. This time, I thought I'd talk about some of the world building I've been doing.
I wanted to call this chapter, A Guide toAJ's Imaginary World of Male Strip Clubs, but sadly, it was too long.
Note: All of these strip clubs are fictionalized. Any similarities to real places is purely coincidental and not intentional.
From Hot to Not I've been thinking a lot about the Oiled Olive, which is considered to be the most affluent male strip club in NYC. They have the hottest guys, the best routines, and access to great costumes and choreographers. Even the building itself caters to the female gaze with its lovely architecture and call backs to a Broadway theatre.
Hell, there's even consent forms.
It's the kind of strip club that Maren can feel comfortable inside and enjoy herself, while sipping sparkly cocktails and out of penis straws. Which screams classy. I know. 🤣
So, if the Oiled Olive is the premiere experience in the male stripping world—the place where you'd imagine seeing a Channing Tatum look alike, this prompted me to consider what the worst male strip club in NYC would look like.
Hmm. 🤔 I'm sure you're imagining pretty much what I came up with, and making the same face. 😖
By definition, this club would have to be the opposite of the Oiled Olive. It would need to have not so cute dancers, terrible routines, cheap costumes, and no choreographer.
The building itself would need to be outdated and the sound system would crack quite often. Maybe the stripper poles aren't compliant with current safety codes.
But, how would a place this awful stay alive in a place like NYC and with Yelp reviews being a gold standard?
I decided the place could only stay alive because of a dedicated core group of clients that came after bingo night to see a cheap show. These women had been coming for years and they loved it.
And so, Blanche's Boudoir was born.
Blanche's Boudoir My goal was to create a place that had more history and character than the Oiled Olive.
I didn't want Blanche's Boudoir to be a nasty place that had always carried a bad reputation. I was more interested in writing about a club that had fallen from grace and needed new life blown into it.
So, I decided to come up with some backstory for the place.
Long ago, when male stripping first became popular, Blanche's Boudoir was the hot club in NYC. In fact, it was the site of the very first international male stripping competition.
Note: the current international male stripper of the year for 2022 is Will Parfitt, who I mentioned having erm...researched for this book. I'm not sure if there is a real competition, where strippers battle it out for the title, or if it's just like People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive and they just make the decision on their own.
Regardless, in my fictional world, there's a strip off! Because why not?!
I'm invisioning men from all over the world vying for their chance to be crowned International Stripper of the year. Now, will I eventually write a book that centers around this fictionalized competition? I mean, I might.
(By I might I mean I absolutely will 🤣)
But here's the cool part: if you think it would be fun to read about this ramshackle club, you're in luck!
Blanche's Boudoir will highlight in Dance Around It 2!
Will the historic strip club that has fallen into disrepair get a new chance at life? Or will it shutter its doors for good because of successful clubs like the Oiled Olive?
Correction of the record: I know I told you in an earlier writers reveal that we were going to be reading about Tan and her doctor. Well, after writing an entire outline, I realized it didn't feel in line with this book, (and because I missed writing about strippers!)
So, I've changed up a few things, and have updated the earlier writer reveal where I talk about Tan's new story.
That's all for this week! Thank you so much for walking through some of my thoughts on fictional NYC male strip clubs.
