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Featured Book Interview - September 2005
Coming into Her Own Passion
How an author turned her strip club job into a novel and a TV pilot.
© 2005 by Deanna Carlyle
As Kathryn Howard’s story attests, researching and writing a novel takes guts and an open mind. In this month’s featured interview, Kathryn shares her journey from actress to screenwriter to strip club worker and author of a new chick-lit novel, The Stripper Diaries.
Deanna Carlyle: Thanks for agreeing to do an interview, Kathryn. I have to ask: What inspired you to write The Stripper Diaries?
Kathryn Howard: The novel started out as a screenplay back in 1998 while I was working as a bartender in a bikini bar in Los Angeles. Behind the bar, I was able to observe and take in all of the humor that exists within the exotic dancer business. No films or books that had been done about the business truly captured the comedy, and I wanted to project a different image about the business and about the girls.
 DC: What would like readers to take away from the novel?
KH: I hope to empower women through the stories of the four main characters in the book. I think everyone can find something to parallel their own life with in the novel, and hopefully find ways to remedy some of the issues that we as women have regarding men, jobs, self esteem, other women, and finding your passion in life. I also, of course, hope to make my readers laugh out loud and just get a kick out of my perspective of an otherwise dismal occupation, which would ideally change some of the stereotypes put on the girls who choose this job.
DC: What parts of your novel are semi-autobiographical or based on real life experiences?
KH: I gave my lead character, Alex Parker, some of my own background to create the perspective that I had on the business. I felt it was important for the reader to know where she had been in order to understand the absurdity that she felt about the business. A lot of the stories came from my life, but were embellished to be funnier, or more sad, or whatever was needed to create the desired mood. There’s a little bit of me in all my characters. Writers write what they know, and usually take pieces of their own life and build from there.
DC: What did you learn while working in the strip club business?
KH: That men are idiots and can’t be trusted! <g> No seriously, the best thing I took away from the strip club experience was learning about the power of my own sensuality. At the time I did the bulk of the research, I was in my early thirties, and was coming into my own passion. I was always a little insecure, but I learned men are very forgiving about the ridiculous things we women obsess over, such as our physical flaws. Especially if you blind them with your assets! The time in the clubs empowered me as a women, and gave me confidence and strengths that I now use in everyday life.
DC: Having worked in the business and written a novel about strippers, how do you feel about women who work in strip clubs?
KH: First of all, there are all different kinds of women who are doing this job now. Prior to working in the business, I judged them as most women do, and didn’t have a very favorable opinion of them. Now, I don’t judge. I know they are not there to steal our men from us, so no need to feel threatened by them. These girls are there for one reason, and that is to make a lot of money, and have the freedom to pursue whatever else they want to do.
DC: What do you think about the men who go to strip clubs? How did you portray them in your novel?
KH: Just as the women are all different, so are the men. They are not all serial perverts. The majority are fairly normal guys that stop in for a drink and just want to be in a sensual environment. A lot of guys have jobs where they never have desirable female contact, and use strip clubs as a means for companionship. I met more guys that just wanted to talk to me, and really weren’t all that interested in the seduction or dance routine. Hint, hint: Women, talk to your men. Be interested in their life. Touch them once in a while. You just might be able to keep them out of these clubs! As far as how I portrayed them, I tried to represent all of the different types of guys that go there, but I did have to draw some laughs, so I may have made them a little more pathetic than they really are.
DC: Have you been working on any other projects/works?
KH: I have started a series of gambling books. Kind of a how-to-win on the slots at the Indian Casinos. This project is completely off base from others that I’ve done, but it’s something I know a lot about. Presently, I have a deal on the table to shoot the pilot episode for a TV series based on my book. If all goes well, I will be very involved and very busy with that show, and may have to put writing on the back burner for a little while.
DC: How did you first get into writing?
KH: As the lead character in the book did, so did I abandon corporate America to pursue a career in entertainment. I was a litigation paralegal for a few years in the late eighties and early nineties. I then acted for awhile, but felt like I really wasn’t getting anywhere. Pretty much the only way to break into the industry is to make your own movie, so I turned to writing screenplays with those hopes. I enjoyed writing, but the focus was really to tailor the perfect acting role for myself. The Stripper Diaries was originally titled “It’s All About Passion,” and was supposed to be a film. I decided to write it as a book, after some pressure from a few friends of mine who thought it would make a better novel than film. As fate would have it, it appears it will make it to the screen after all.
DC: Thanks again, Kathryn! I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your TV pilot. Here’s wishing you continued inspiration and success.
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