In an interactive story, you write the premise and the reader decides what happens next. Here are the steps of Create Story, and how to write a synopsis people want to start.
Before you start
Create Story is a Privee+ feature in the Studio tab, next to Create Character, Create Photo and Create Group. Start From scratch, or use Describe & generate: describe your idea and Privee generates a starting point. If you use it, reread every field so the story sounds like you.
The four steps
Basics is what people see while browsing:
- Title, up to 200 characters. "The Harbor Inn" beats "A Mystery Story Set in an Old Inn by the Sea".
- Tagline, up to 300. One or two lines that sell the premise.
- Rating. For an all-ages story, pick the safe option.
- Genres, up to 2, like a mystery with a fantasy setting.
Story holds the Synopsis (up to 4,000 characters), the Style and your Style notes.
Cover is the first thing readers see. Pick a picture that hints at the mood, with one clear subject and a simple background. Design your character's picture has more.
Review is your last check. Published stories are locked.
Style
- None: no preset tone.
- Custom: your own notes set the tone.
- Action-packed: fast, with big moments.
- Approachable & Charming: warm and light, good for all-ages stories.
- Dark & Foreboding: tense, for spooky or mystery stories.
- Refined & Literary: careful, descriptive prose.
- Gritty: grounded and rough around the edges.
Style notes cover the rest, like length and rhythm: "Narrate in the present tense. Keep descriptions short. End each reply with a choice for the reader."
A synopsis with a hook
Say where we are, who's there and what they want, what's gone wrong, and who the reader is. Start just before something happens and don't script the ending. Use names rather than he or she, so the AI knows exactly who is meant.
Saltmarsh is a fishing town with one road and one inn, and last night's storm closed the road. Maggie, the innkeeper, has kept the town's IOUs in a ledger for thirty years. This morning the ledger is gone. Maggie's nephew Dev wants to wait for the police. Maggie wants it found today, quietly. The reader is a guest who arrived just before the storm, the only person at the inn whose name isn't in that book.
Two people who want different things, a deadline and a role for the reader. The tagline writes itself: "The storm closed the only road out of town. By morning, the innkeeper's ledger was gone."
For the people in your story, see Write a character personality.