Dance Around It (Strip in the City, Book 1)

Writer Reveal | imagining the oiled olive

First off, thank you so much for being here!

I can't tell you how much fun I had envisioning the male strip bar where West Tenney would work. So settle in for the *hopefully* hilarious origin story of

The Oiled Olive

Beginnings
So there I was, sitting at my mother-in-law's house, creating an outline for my very first romcom, and I realized the plot was kinda bland. Talent agent meets boy on the worst day of her life, and boy just happens to be an actor, and.... happily ever after? No, that wasn't going to work. It just wasn't exciting enough. I needed more tension.

I went back to the outline and I realized I needed to make West Tenney somehow less desirable in Maren's eyes. Because let's be honest, if you're a fan of West from my other books, you know he's practically perfect in every way.

*except for the whole family situation*

But I knew that West loved to sing karaoke and he also doesn't mind taking his shirt off onstage (a la his cameo in Riding South), so I decided after he left the Navy, he could be convinced to work as a male stripper. I figured his rent was high, he wasn't getting any bites acting, and he needed some experience on stage.

Male stripping seemed like a viable option.

Once the idea seeped into my brain, it wouldn't leave, and I knew I was on to something. I was going to have my perfect love interest moonlight as a stripper.

BINGO.

Tension, baby.

Research
As someone who has never been to a male strip club before, I realized I had a lot of research to do. Going to an actual strip club wasn't going to happen because I'd need to get over my giggle fits, which I didn't see happening anytime soon.

So, I settled for the next best thing. Virtual learning.

✅ Watch Magic Mike
✅ Watch TikToks staring Will Parfitt (a Channing Tatum look alike who works at a strip club in Australia)

✨✨✨

From Idea to Page
Then, of course, I needed to come up with a name for the strip club, which I felt like was the most important part. 🤔 Decisions, decisions.

So, I did what every writer does when they need to figure out a name for a male strip club—I called my mother. (Or maybe that's just me 🤣)

She was more than happy to help me crack this nut, so to speak. We cried laughing together on the phone for thirty minutes while we went through name after name. Eventually we started looking up male stripper names too, which was even more fun.

My personal favorite was Sir Cum-frence 💀 Get it?

Then I asked my writing friends and my best friends for ideas. I was surprised at how willing everyone was to help me name this club! There were many great suggestions. Honestly, they say laughter is the best medicine, and I had never giggled so much in my adult life.

✨If you ever want to share a laugh with your friends, try to come up with ten strip club names. Guarantee you'll nearly pee yourself laughing.✨

Some of my favorites?

1. The Roost
2. Hot Nuts
3. Clydesdales
4. Guns and Buns
5. The Hammock

All gems, let's be honest. But I really wanted something that had alliteration like Magic Mike.

Hot Herb wasn't doing it for me.
Naughty Nick felt too much like a dirty Santa.
Delicious Dave was honestly kinda gross.

And so I ended up choosing The Oiled Olive. It felt like the right blend of dirty, funny, and oddly classy?

Design Inspo

I went to NYC to see a Broadway show, and afterwards my friend and I went to this really cute bar. I used it for the inspiration behind the decor of the Oiled Olive.

What do you think?
Have any good suggestions for male strip club names?

Or stripper names? 👀

Thanks for joining me in my very first writer reveal!
If there's something you're dying to know more about, leave me a comment and I'll try to answer it!
Unless the question is, "Did you actually pee yourself when you were talking to your mom and coming up with names?"

🤣🤣🤣

xx
AJ