About Lumière Books
AUTHORING | EDITING | TYPE-SETTING | BOOK COVER DESIGN | ONLINE PUBLISHING
OUR STORIES
We create authentic African stories for and about black men and women, drawing inspiration from real-life events, people, and places, to create relatable characters, plots, and worlds and produce well-told, well-written, and relatable stories in easy-to-read online and physical books.
Our stories explore issues common to black women: gender-based violence, culture & tradition, childhood trauma, poverty, motherhood, love, sex, education, and so on.
STORIES YOU WILL LOSE AND FIND YOURSELF IN
What Love Is (1)
Explores narcissistic abuse in intimate relationships, its correlation to toxic parenting, and its effects on the mental health of young women.
What Love Is (2)
A story about dating relationships and the numerous lessons they teach as we search for love and ultimately ourselves. A celebration of love in all its forms.
Babusi (1)
A story about black men, for the women who love them. The tale explores the effects of unresolved childhood trauma and the general way young black men are raised on their mental health.
Law of Addiction (1)
This story explores the 'thrill of the bad boy' and endeavors to shed light on why young women are attracted to them, highlighting the dangers of such relationships and why women stay.
PUBLISHING SERVICES
EDITING
There is nothing as off-putting as a poorly edited book. We edit the story as well as the language and grammar to produce well-told, intriguing stories that keep the reader engaged.
TYPESETTING
Did you know? Not all fonts fonts are suitable for use in writing. Garamond and Baskerville Old Face are two of the few recommended fonts. We offer typesetting services to authors to help them produce readable books.
BOOK COVER DESIGN
A book’s cover is one of its main marketing campaigns. Poorly designed covers imply a poor story, which may not always be the case. Our book cover designs are nothing but a photographic representation of the awesome story inside. People do judge a book by its cover.
ONLINE PUBLISHING
We offer web design services to authors to allow them to publish their work online. Websites allow a business regional and global market reach and are an effective marketing tool complete with data collection and analysis capabilities.
HOW TO WRITE FICTION
CHOOSE A STORY IDEA
Every story starts with an idea. It may be inspired by a real-life experience, another story, a news article…anything really. Don’t worry about what the critics will think. Follow your gut, choose an idea that sings to you, and write a story you would want to read.
DEFINE THE CENTRAL CONFLICT
What is the protagonist’s main goal and why? What’s stopping them from achieving it? The more the protagonist cares about this goal, the more invested the readers will be in the story.
CREATE AWESOME, WELL-DEFINED CHARACTERS
Figure out who they are, what they look and sound like, what their hobbies are etc. Are they an introvert or an extrovert? What are their flaws and motivations? If they have a flaw that is linked to the central conflict then the stage is set for great character transformation as the story progresses.
DECIDE WHERE AND WHEN THE STORY HAPPENS
Define the time and create the world. Stories happen somewhere and at some point in time.
OUTLINE
Plan your key plot points to avoid major roadblocks along the way. You can use the three-beat structure, that is:
i) Inciting Incident
ii) Midpoint Turn
iii) Climax
DRAFT
Pick a POV and create your first draft. Then put it away for a while, and come back later with fresh eyes.
REVISE & EDIT
Revise, revise, revise. But it is also good to know when to stop. Apply your edits and publish the story already!
