Story Generator

Guided article

Story Generator takes a handful of choices — what kind of story, who is in it, where it happens — and turns them into a complete book: written chapter by chapter, illustrated, and narrated aloud so you can read it, listen to it, or download it as a PDF. It is built around a deck of picture cards, so making a story feels closer to playing a game than filling in a form. The card library is kid-friendly, which makes it a favorite for story time, but nothing stops you from writing your own custom idea on a blank card. This guide walks you through the whole journey: opening the app, building your story from cards, choosing a narrator voice, watching the book generate, and finding everything again later in your library.

9 min read 1,821 words Apps

Mrs. NetShow

Take this one step at a time. You do not need to fill every field perfectly on the first pass.

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Before you start

A NetShow account. The story-building app is for signed-in users. If you are new, the Story Generator product page has a Get started free button that takes you through signup.
Credits for generation. Each chapter you generate is paid for from your credit balance before writing begins. See What it costs below.
A little patience. A full book is written, illustrated, and narrated one chapter at a time. The app's own estimate is 8 to 10 minutes for a complete book, and you can watch the progress live.

Once you are signed in, open the app from the product page — the button reads Open Story Generator — or use the App link in the bar at the top of any Story Generator page. That same bar also gives you Library (your finished books), Help (this Help Center), and Full NetShow (back to the main dashboard).

Step-by-step: make your first story

Open the app. You land on Toy Story - AI Story Time, Step 1. This is where you set up how the finished book will sound and look before you pick any story cards.
Choose your setup options. Pick the number of chapters, a voice provider, and a narrator voice. When you change the voice, a short sample loads in the audio player next to it — press play to hear the narrator before committing. Every option on this screen is explained in the next section.
Press "New Story." The card deck opens with the question What Kind of Story Do You Want to Hear? Tap one card — a bedtime adventure, a silly tale, whatever fits — or use the blank question-mark card and type your own kind of story. You must pick one card here before Next will move on.
Pick your Characters. Choose up to 4 character cards. Four blank cards let you type custom characters of your own (a name works fine). Tap a selected card again to unselect it.
Pick your Ideas. Choose up to 4 idea cards — things or moments you want woven into the storyline. Custom cards work here too.
Pick a Plot device. Choose 1 card that gives the story its engine — the problem, quest, or twist the characters follow.
Pick your Settings. Choose up to 2 places where the story happens. Then press Generate Story.
Review your story recipe. The app shows the combined description it built from all your card choices in a read-only Prompt box. If something looks wrong, use Back to change your cards. Happy with it? Press Generate Story again.
Watch it being made. The screen switches to Story Generating... with a progress bar and a running status line that tells you what is happening right now — writing chapters, creating artwork, recording narration. A dialog reminds you this typically takes 8 to 10 minutes. Partway through, a Show Manifesto button appears: it opens the story's plot outline — title, characters, and chapter summaries — while the rest of the book finishes.
Enjoy your book. When the progress bar completes, press Show Story to open the finished illustrated book in a new tab. Back on the progress screen, the small player controls let you play or pause the full audiobook narration, restart it from the beginning, or save the narration as an MP3 file.

Your book is also saved automatically — you never need to keep the page open once generation has started. Find it any time under Library.

Every option, explained

Step 1 setup options

Select Your Language — a language menu offering English, Urdu, Spanish, and French.
Select Number of Chapters — how long the book will be, from 1 to 4 chapters. More chapters means a longer story, a longer wait, and a higher cost (pricing is per chapter).
Voice Provider — where the narrator's voice comes from: OpenAI, Microsoft, 11Labs, or Google. Switching providers reloads the voice list below with that provider's voices.
Select your image style — the artwork direction for the book's illustrations, from Default through choices like Realistic, Anime, 3D Animation, Comic Book, Fantasy Art, Origami, Pixel Art, and more.
Voice menu and preview player — pick the narrator's voice from the list (with OpenAI, for example: alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, shimmer). Each time you change it, a short greeting sample loads in the audio player beside the menu so you can audition the narrator first.

The card decks

Each deck screen works the same way: tap a card to select it (it highlights), tap again to unselect, and use the arrows at either end to scroll through the deck. The + button on a card shows its picture full-size. Back and Next move between decks. Each deck also has selection limits, and the app tells you when you hit one:

Deck	You can pick
What Kind of Story Do You Want to Hear?	1 card
Characters	up to 4 cards
Ideas	up to 4 cards
Plot devices	1 card
Settings	up to 2 cards

You must select at least one card on each deck before moving forward — otherwise the app shows a "No Option Selected" reminder.

Custom cards. Every deck includes blank question-mark cards with a text box. Select one and type your own kind of story, character, idea, plot, or setting — your words go straight into the story recipe. A selected custom card must have its text filled in before you can continue ("Please enter the value of selected option"). You can also tap a custom card's picture to swap in an image of your own; this personalizes the card in front of you while you build — the finished book's illustrations are always generated by AI.

While the story generates

Progress bar and status line — updates every few seconds with the percentage complete and the task currently running.
Show Manifesto — appears once the story's outline is ready. It opens a window with the plot breakdown, and includes a light/dark switch and A- / A / A+ buttons to adjust the reading size.
Show Story — opens the finished, illustrated book in a new browser tab once generation completes.
Player controls — play/pause the full audiobook, restart it from the beginning, or save it; saving downloads the narration as an MP3 file.

Your Library

Library (also reachable from the See My Creation button at the top of the app) lists every book you have made, newest first, six per page, each with its cover, title, and setting. Hovering a finished book shows View Book; a book still being made shows Processing instead. Each book card offers four actions:

View Book — opens the illustrated book in a new tab.
Download PDF — a print-ready PDF with the cover and every chapter.
Download Audio — the complete audiobook as an MP3, named after your book's title.
Show Story Plot — the same plot breakdown you saw in the manifesto, any time.

What it costs

Story Generator is pay-as-you-go — there is no separate subscription for it. The rate shown on the product page is $1.50 per chapter: you pay only for the chapters you generate. Inside the app, that spend comes out of your account's credit balance at 3 credits per chapter, charged when you press the final Generate Story — a 4-chapter book costs 12 credits. If your balance is too low, the book does not start and you are not charged; top up your credits and try again. Plan and credit details live in the Billing & Plans guide.

Troubleshooting

The progress bar sits at 0% and never moves. The most common cause is not having enough credits for the chapters you chose — the generation never actually starts. Check your credit balance, top up if needed, and generate again with the same cards.
"No Option Selected." Each deck needs at least one card selected before Next will work. Pick a card (or a custom card) and continue.
"Please enter the value of selected option." You selected a blank custom card but left its text box empty. Type your custom text into the card, or unselect it.
The voice preview does not play. Voice lists for Microsoft, 11Labs, and Google load live when you switch providers; if a list fails to appear or the sample stays silent, switch back to OpenAI, or reselect the voice to reload the sample.
"Something Went Wrong!!" appears during generation. The generation hit an error. Check your Library first — the book may still appear there — and if not, reload the app and build the story again.
A book in the Library shows "Processing." It is still being written and assembled. Give it a few more minutes and refresh the page.

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