Guide
In every Adultora story the heroine has a job and a choice, stated in header. Not decoration — structure. She is bookstore owner in Yaba, teacher in Kisumu, nurse in Soweto, founder in Westlands. Plot moves when she chooses, not when she is chosen.
Respect is written into craft rules. Dialogue is 30 percent plus of every story, so you hear May I and I will think. Hero waits. In Lagos Billionaires Secret Wife, Chidi slides papers and says No signature tonight — ask your mother what she wants. In office story, Kamau waits three days before asking to hold a hand. Even in forced proximity, terms are written: separate beds, shared fridge, honest calendar, cheap pens.
Warm, respectful, hopeful is tone triple. Warm = ginger tea without being asked, carrying a bucket for tap, buying puff-puff for schoolgirl. Respectful = age 22 plus in header, garden civil wedding not pressure, fade-to-black not description. Hopeful = morning. Every story ends at dawn with puff-puff, tea or rooibos and a note window seat saved, no hurry, no claim.
What we never write: school/uniform/teen/16/17, church/mosque as date venue, pastors/imams as lovers, scripture as flirtation, election/tribe conflict, real parties APC/PDP/ANC. Family hall booked before they meet — we rewrite as family business competition, not tribe. Church wedding becomes garden civil wedding. This keeps stories welcome from Abuja to Durban and safe for ad networks.
How we check: every draft scanned for banned tokens and five-entity rule. If story misses Nairobi, shilling or Safaricom, sent back. If dialogue below 30, add conversation every 300 words. Then 10 percent of week batch is read aloud — does heroine say yes with her body? Does hero step aside for old woman? If not, rewrite.
For readers who want gentle but not naive: start with Second Chance (highest-retention trope) or Secret Baby (parenthood, not bed). They are most consent-forward and easiest to share with friend who says I want sweet, not scary.
- Are heroines ever pressured?
- Never — she chooses mid-story and again at the end; no is always heard.
- Why 22+ always?
- To keep all characters adults with agency; age plus job listed at the top.
- Is hopeful the same as naive?
- No — obstacles are real (rent due Friday, load-shedding), hope is what they do.