Say the Weird Thing!

"You shouldn't publish that.  What are people going to think?"

"At least use a pen name and not your real one."

These are two phrases I heard while writing Candlelight Lounge and Bodyguard Boyfriend.  I realize that my work may not be for everyone, thus the reason we have other products now and do not rely on book sales alone, but I use writing in a different way than people think and I'm about to do something I never do...explain myself.

I think my readers deserve to know where these stories came from, and how I view them as the author.  This blog post will not be formal, nor will it have fancy wording.  This blog post is just an author talking to you.  Take what you want from this, leave the rest.  One of my favorite phrases when brainstorming is, "If it fits, it sits!" much like the meme with the cats who can somehow manage to fit themselves into these strange places.  I write down all of the ideas that pop into my head and live by that motto of if it fits with the storyline, it goes into the book.

When I wrote Candlelight Lounge, I knew I'd get some backlash when people read it.  I knew it...and I wrote it anyway.  I published it proudly, because that novel was my way of dealing with life and a way to cope with the situation I was dealing with.  The original Candlelight Lounge was a gentlemen's club that was torn down.  It had a reputation for being a place filled with utter debauchery and the depravity of the customers who visited there frequently was unmatched.  This is the reason I named the book after this specific club, because I'd never worked there.  I'd never even been there.

Read that again.

I've never worked, or even been to, the original Candlelight Lounge.

As someone who worked in that industry for many years, that novel was a way for me to cope with the rude and disgusting patrons that would enter the clubs where I was working.  Yes, your read that right.  I wanted so badly to find a way to give the girls who work in these establishments a voice.  So, I asked my coworkers for all of their experiences.  I have changed names/details of everyone involved, so any likeness is purely coincidental because I changed the appearances and names, both dancer names and "government names" as we call them at work, to be sure that no one would be able to pinpoint which character was based off of them even if/when they read the book.

This does not mean I hate, or even dislike, men.  I am actually very happily married to a wonderful man who I have children with.  I loathe the scum at the bottom of the barrel that feel entitled to a person's body.  I don't care how much money a patron has, how attractive they might be, or what job title they hold, any person--regardless of gender--that works in the night-life industry has the right to be treated with respect.  These people do a job, a job that the same customers who throw money at them shame them for.

I do not look down on anyone in the industry.  I respected my fellow coworkers just like I would at a normal workplace, and expect that to be returned.  If it's not, I walked away and do my best not to get involved.  This novel was meant to shock those who glorify the industry, but look down on those who work in it.  They are people.

I said what I said.

"No."  That's a full sentence.  It needs no explanation.  If a dog can be trained not to attack its favorite meal when you present it, but wait patiently until its master gives it permission, then people can be trained to respect boundaries.

I used generic names that I've encountered multiple times over the years and combined different workers' stories together while exaggerating details to make this book over the top because that's what the Splatterpunk genre is all about.  Splatterpunk uses graphic and violent scenes to shine light on something that is usually overlooked.

The world I wrote is fictional, and yet I find that people believe it's real because of human nature.  I think that statement speaks for itself.

I had a few girls actually ask if one of the dancers in the novel was dead in the real world because she dies in the book.  They freaked out...because they believed that something like that could happen.  Now, either my book was so well-written those scenes seemed plausible, or this world has some real sick fucks in it.  I'll let you decide, but I'd like to let everyone know that the characters in that book are all fictional.

I published the book, despite so many telling me I shouldn't.  As if publishing that would tarnish my name somehow and associate me with the undesirables.  It is a coping mechanism.  I take real things that happen and then turn up the intensity until they're unrecognizable, because then it didn't happen and it's easier to deal with.

This is not to say that I haven't met some really awesome people in this industry, because I have.  I've made friends and enemies alike, as one does in life, but I have tried not to let the job jade me.  That's another reason for this book.  If I kept all of it bottled up inside it would become poisonous.  I did not write Candlelight Lounge to highlight the good times, because everyone on social media thinks it's really "cool" to work in a strip club.  They see lights and a stage and think the girls there are having fun, and getting paid for it!

WRONG!

The dancers have to pay to work.  Yes, you read that right, too.  Each dancer must adhere to their area's laws, and in some places, a license is required.  A literal license to be naked is required.  I wanted to shed some light on one of the darkest places I've ever been, and to showcase that the dancers working there aren't there because they want to do this.