Getting Started with LongStories: Create Your First Video

Introduction

LongStories lets you create long-form AI videos with narration, visuals, and characters — all from your browser, no traditional editor needed.

If you've just logged in, the interface can feel like a lot: universes, characters, a step-by-step creation flow. This guide walks one complete path — from a blank account to your first finished video — covering just enough to get you moving without getting lost.

What is a Universe?

A Universe is a reusable creative environment. Think of it as a "show world" that stores:

• Your visual style
• Your default narrator voice
• Script guidelines and overall tone
• The characters that belong to this world

When you generate videos inside a universe, LongStories reuses those settings so your videos feel consistent across episodes. If you're making a series, a channel, or any recurring content — always work inside a universe.

Just want to explore first? Skip universe creation and start in the Open Universe — the flexible default — or browse the LongStories Universes and Featured Community Universes on the Universes page. Great for quick experiments before you commit to a style.

Step 1 — Create a universe

Go to: Universes (sidebar) → Create Universe

The wizard walks you through four steps:

1. Basic Information — name your universe and, more importantly, describe what kind of videos it will create. This intent description is what the AI builds your universe from, so a sentence or two about the content, tone, and audience pays off. Use a name that describes the world, not one video: "Space Adventures", "3D Story World", "Neon City Episodes". This is also where you set privacy — Public Universe or Private Universe (private universes require a Pro plan or higher).
2. Visual Style — choose an existing style, let AI create one from your description, or let AI decide. This becomes the default look for every video in the universe, so you never re-type it in a prompt.
3. Narrator Voice — browse the voice library and pick one that fits your tone. On paid plans you can also import custom voices.
4. Review & Create — check everything and click Create Universe.

After you click create, the AI turns your intent, style, and voice choices into full script guidelines, visual directions, and profile images. This takes a minute or two — then your universe is ready.

Step 2 — Create characters (for consistent storytelling)

Go to: Characters (sidebar) → Create Character

Characters keep the same face, style, and voice across your scenes and episodes. Two ways to create one:

• Upload Image — upload a clear, front-facing photo and the AI analyzes it and builds the character details automatically. Review and edit anything that feels off.
• Create Manually — describe the character in text: appearance, clothing, personality. Be specific — "young scientist, messy hair, round glasses, yellow jacket, always curious."

Give them a voice (optional but powerful): the last step of character creation lets you assign a voice. When the character has dialogue in a script, LongStories automatically uses that voice for their lines. If you skip it, the AI casts a fitting voice the first time they speak.

For a full walkthrough, see Create Consistent AI Characters in LongStories.

Step 3 — Start your video

Open your universe and work through the creation steps. First, select your characters if the story uses recurring people — if you skip this, the system invents characters on the fly, and they won't stay consistent across videos.

Then choose how to feed in the story:

For your first video, From an idea is enough. Come back to scripts when you want exact control.

Step 4 — Duration and animation

Duration sits right below the prompt, from ~15 seconds to ~15 minutes:

• Keep early tests short — 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
• The longest options are unlocked by higher plans (locked ones are marked Upgrade; ~15 minutes needs Creator Max or Studio).
• Longer videos mean longer generation time and more credits.

Animation is its own step:

• Storyboard — images only, great for planning shots.
• Fast Animation — budget motion, quick animated drafts.
• Pro Animation — cinematic motion, for final versions.

Start with Storyboard or Fast Animation. Save Pro for when you're happy with the result — you can even generate a storyboard first and animate the approved frames later from the same project.

Step 5 — Voiceover

The Voiceover step has a With Voice switch:

• On — LongStories narrates your video with AI voices. You can change the narrator, set the script language, or import a custom voice (paid plans).
• Off — a silent video with no narration, useful if you'll add your own voiceover in an editor later.

For your first video, leave it on — that's the full experience out of the box.

Step 6 — More settings

• Video Format — Vertical (9:16) for Reels, Shorts, and TikTok; Horizontal (16:9) for YouTube.
• Captions — styled captions on your video. Strongly recommended for accessibility and muted viewers.
• Lipsync — sync mouth movement to narration.
• Multi-cut — multiple camera cuts for a more cinematic feel.

Step 7 — Generate and wait

Click Generate Video, review the summary, and confirm. LongStories then:

• Parses your idea or script into scenes
• Generates the images
• Applies animation and motion
• Renders voice, music, and captions

Generation usually takes 4–15 minutes — shorter videos are faster, and you'll get an email when it's ready. Treat it like a render: hit generate, then go do something else.

Common beginner mistakes

Updated on: 11/08/2026