Getting started: setup and your first story

What do you need?

• An email address. InkStak accounts are for parents and guardians; children don’t need their own.
• About five minutes. The free plan includes 5 stories a month, with no credit card.
• An idea of who the story is about, if you have one. If not, InkStak has six ready-made characters to start with.

Step 1: create your account

1. Go to app.inkstak.ai, or tap Start free on any page of this site, and create your account.
2. A Welcome to InkStak window opens. Tick I confirm I am 13 years of age or older.
3. Below it is a box for a parent or guardian email. If you fill it in, InkStak sends that address a link to confirm, and you see Check your email.
4. Tap Continue.

Step 2: choose how to start

Next, InkStak asks How would you like to start?

Quick Start

1. Under Pick a character, tap Start with them on one of the six ready-made characters: a scientist, a princess, an otter, a weather robot, a young explorer or a small dragon. Each comes with a portrait already drawn, and you can change anything about them later.
2. You land on the story screen with that character picked. Go to step 3.

Customize

1. Choose your author name. It is how your stories appear in the Community feed. Tap Set name, or Skip for now. (If you already have one, this step is skipped.)
2. Your story settings. Turn Kid Reads on if your child will read the story to you, and pick their reading level (L1 Beginner, L2 Early Reader, L3 Growing Reader, L4 Independent). Turn it off if you will read it aloud, and set their age from 2 to 12. Then choose a Default Story Length (5 or 10 minutes, or Custom), a Default Genre and a Default Illustration Style.
3. Want more control? Turn on Advanced at the top for every story setting: rhyming, the word page, how far into a reading level, the minimum number of pictures, picture or chapter book, and your own illustration style. Tap Save and continue, or Skip.
4. Now, who is the story about? Tap Start with them on a ready-made character, or Create my own character to make one from a photo or a description. Maybe later takes you to the story screen.

Step 3: make your first story

1. On the Create screen, check the character is picked. The first character you pick is the main character.
2. Check the reading level or age, the genre and the illustration style. Your setup choices are already filled in.
3. Under What happens?, write one sentence: “Wren finds a torn kite in an old windmill and asks a shy girl to help her fly it.” No idea yet? Tap Surprise me.
4. Tap Tell Me A Story. The story arrives in about a minute, and the pictures appear scene by scene while you read.
5. If you used settings that differ from your defaults, InkStak asks Use these settings next time? Tap Save as my default, Not now, or tick Don’t ask again.

See a whole book made this way: Wren and the Windmill Kite.

Changed your mind?

Nothing in setup is permanent. Change your story settings any time in Account, under Story Defaults, or go through setup again with Run setup again at the bottom of that page. Your stories and characters stay as they are.

Ready? Start with InkStak. For more on every screen, see the help pages.