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If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Hello again,
I am working on a storyline that has a main character that dances to support her family. I know next to nothing about stripping and would very much like the chance to sit down with some of them to chat about it. What would be the best way to approach it? Should I call a club manager or try an agency? Obviously while they are working time is money but do you every have "dead" time before your "shift"?
Someone take pity on me and explain how it works, please.... :-[
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
You might find willing volunteers here!
We all have off time.
Just a tip though, don't try to do this with a girl while she's working.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
I know I would be willing to and I can almost bet Deanna(my stripper wife) would also
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
"Shift"? As in it's not a "real" shift? Ugh. No I wouldn't, simply because I get enough outsiders trying to "understand" as it is, and because outsiders never understand, always bring their own prejudices and presumptions. Male or female makes no difference. Your use of quotes around the word shift is a perfect example - trivial as it may be, IMO it points to what are likely huge misconceptions you have about the industry and the people in it. What exactly makes you want to write about strippers? All the BS you've been fed about us from the media? Are you planning to target the market with more of the same "titilation", or expose the "truth" about strippers? So far no outsider has come remotely close. If you want to write a book with even a glimmer of truth, be a stripper and write your own experiences.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Sorry Bridgette,
I used the quotes because I wasn't sure if that's the word that that you use I wasn't trying to offend - for example - in the military "a shift" is called parading - acting is "being on set" - a doctor goes "on call" - a model goes to a "shoot" , I wasn't sure if it's just called a dance, or a shift, hence the quotes.
If I have misconceptions, that's what I am trying to lose. Case in point, I though women danced only for the money, it can be addictive. Since then I have learned some women get other fulfillment from it, a sense of power, or even just an awakening of sensuality.
Sorry if I offended anyone.
And I did answer you in the other thread, if you are interested
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Depends on what the reason for the interview is, the purpose of the book, whether or not I'll be credited for my input............but probably not. Personally I think that anyone looking to write a book, even a fictional one, about what it's like to be a stripper should go and be a stripper and find out for themselves.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
"... in the military "a shift" is called parading... "
The Navy calls it being "on watch", but then the Navy just has to be different.
Tell us what are your credentials, what part stripping has to play in this writing project, what sort of publication will this be and in what genre, and I might consider it. Be aware that you will still be getting merely a glimpse into another world; to truly understand that world one must live it, not glimpse it.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Lilith,
That is totally fair. My credentials are two years formal training, major in PR, minor in creative writing. I am currently published in two publications, one national, one local. I have been writing and acting all my life and got an idea for a storyline that I feel has enough steam to carry into a novel, then began thinking it could make an excellent screenplay. This will be a mainstream fiction novel, with some romance (not hardcore). Something along the lines of Nora Roberts or Nicholas Sparks or Frank McCourt, I hope.
The project itself will not focus on stripping, which is the only reason I may get away with not actually having to experience it firsthand. If the total focus was to be dancing, I agree complete immersion in the topic is best, however this is not the case her.
I just don't want to paint stripping with the same brush that everyone seems to, and get it wrong, I like getting details right.
I mis-spoke earlier, I should've said in the army they call it parading.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
you haven't told us what part it will play... is the main character a dancer? Is the girlfriend wife or whatever? you seem to be very vague about what type of information you need or want.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Ok, fair enough. I can respect your position, but I still think it's practically impossible to not 'paint it with the wrong brush' if you've never done it. There's just so much that can't be expressed or understood without some type of background knowledge. It's hard to explain but there's a whole world in a strip club, just under the surface, that's never seen by someone who has never worked there. I swear I've always felt like I was walking into another dimension every time I've gone to work (and I am NOT a mystic type, not by a long shot).
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Yep, I'll give it a go. PM me about how you want to arrange an interview.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
I would be willing to give you a shot and talk to you
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poysyn
Something along the lines of Nora Roberts or Nicholas Sparks or Frank McCourt, I hope.
:yuck:
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
I know Susan, I was struggling to think of an author that would write something like this, but couldn't think of anything similar. Usually the stuff I write is more like Stephen King, but once a story gets into your head...
It is the main character. She will find her whole world crashing down around her (husband dies, no job, no money, no job prospects) and dancing will be the first step she takes towards her own evenutal independance
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Poysyn...it sounds like your book is going to be the old cliche of a woman stripping because she's forced into it by having no other options or job skills. This would definitely be perpetuating yet another stripper stereotype. Many of us have other job skills and even degrees but dance because we find it more tolerable than other jobs, more money, more convenient for school or whatever the reason. but I really don't know that many dancers that started dancing because they were down on their luck with no other options. Granted this has just been my experiences and maybe everyone else's are different.
Ps. This is just my two cents and I'm not trying to flame you. :) Good luck with your book.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Starfire,
I took no offense, this is what I am looking for, advice from those who know the subject better than me! I have already changed my storyline a little. I thought I would address the cliches (namely blow most of them away)a little, with some of the supporting characters. Overall I want my character to undergo a large *positive* personality change. She is going to be someone who allowed herself to be taken care of her whole life to this point, and is going to find some real independence in being able to support her family herself. I think most people, if they are honest, are quite fascinated with dancers, but most of the movies out there show them as either idiots, addicts or so severely damaged. Not that there aren't some like that too (acting attracts a lot of damaged people too), but I want to show sort of a sisterhood/support too.
That's the plan, we'll see what the characters do as I bring them to life. they don't always behave as I have planned :)
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Why not just write about a girl who got into it on a whim, because she thought it would be fun and the money looked good, rather than the stereotypical down-on-her-luck girl "forced" into dancing because she had no other options? Most of us didn't start this because we were left destitute, we just wanted something better than what we were doing before and dancing was it. More money, more freedom, more independence, more FUN. Your character is SOOOO typical of the mainstream stereotype, doesn't matter why she wound up broke and desperate, she's still just another example to reinforce the standard stereotype that we all started this because we were broke and desperate. If you're out to blow any stereotypes away, I think your efforts will be lost from the start when you open with.....a stereotype.
This is an example of what I mean when I say you really can't write accurately about this if you've never done it. Apparently the broke desperate girl who found her independence through dancing line appeals to you because you've swallowed the mainstream crap you've been fed about us. Although most of us may have been broke (or near) when we started this, I reckon a large portion were definitely NOT desperate. I know I wasn't - was surviving just fine with my other jobs, dancing just looked BETTER.
For the record, I'm not trying to be bitchy here, just trying to make the point.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Bridgette,
I am sorry that you feel that way. I have already had a few dancers reply to some interview questions, and that’s a story line that I have lifted directly from those responses. I realize that is often a way the storytellers explain away a "fall" into dancing, but it happens, or I would not have gotten that as an answer. I do know that I am not going to please everyone, and obviously you fall into that category, if it helps I do intend to show it as a choice for some of the supporting characters, but I don’t think that’s what you are talking about.
If you would like I will send you my questions and you can feel free to respond and therefore have a chance to add your two cents in a way that would be helpful to me when writing it.
Other than that I guess we’ll agree to disagree.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Allow me to add, when I said agree to disagree I didn't mean about dancing (obviously that would be stupid since you do it and I don't).
But we'll have to disagree on the way to write this story, because in the end, it's me writing it and although I'll be as honest as possible, it's still ultimately a work of fiction.
Why don't we wait until i am done and you can judge the work on a whole, rather than the dribs and drabs I am leaking out while working on it. The creative porcess it's a short jaunt, it's a long journey - and many things can change.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Well, obviously I can't tell you how to write the story. Just making a point. Still, if you get a few responses and some or most or all say they started dancing because they were broke and desperate, it's only a tiny sample of a large demographic. My point was that, as said earlier, if you're out to dispell any stereotypes, I think it'll be lost when the story opens with a standard stereotype.
I'm really not trying to pick on you. I made a scathing post early on, but even then didn't mean any ill will - I can be a bit harsh I'm told ;)
Anyway I'll answer your questions too if you want, you've certainly proven you're not the same type of asshole who comes around once in a while wanting to do "interviews" for his pornographic pleasure ;)
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Still, I'm wondering, why not get a pair of shoes and and an outfit and try it out? As a writer you must know the value of first hand experience vs. second hand experience. You're having her start out in a stereotype I myself belong to, by the way, and the only reason I didn't do it before I was completely broke is because I didn't have the confidence. it wasn't because I felt that the job was dirty, or undignified, I just didn't think I was attractive enough to do it. I thought that might give you some insight as to why one girl (out of thousands) got the job at the time she did. If you think strippings dirty you're not going to do it. Which leads me to my original question, why don't you just get out there and see for yourself?
Best of luck.
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
Hi voodoo,
Your comments are certainly fair. I am not going to try dancing for a few reasons -
- I am out of shape right now and would make a poor showing
- My confidence took a serious beating while preggers and hasn't quite recovered
- My husband would leave me
That's the crux of it, in a nutshell. I don't think of it as a dirty profession, just an unorthodox one. I did consider it for a while while younger (and considerably hotter), but decided against it as I was in the military and it can be considered conduct unbecoming (if you are dancing while enlisted).
I am however, considering checking out waitressing in a club.
Anyhoo, I think it's a profession that if everyone was honest about it, people are fascinated by it and a little in awe of someone with the confidence to do it...
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
You can ask me anything you want.
I agree though that the only real way to know what it's like to be a stripper is to become one. (But this is not always possible.)
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Re: If a female writer wanted to chat/interview you, would you be okay with it?
hey, where in canada do you live? i would be more than happy to chat with you if you live around toronto...