24 Oct
How to write the main idea of your personalised book (with examples)
The main idea shapes the story more than anything else. See what to include, weak and strong examples, and how to use the optional details.
The “main idea” is the sentence or two that tells our system what the story is about. It is the field that shapes the result the most: a vague idea gives a generic story, while an idea with people, a place and a moment gives a story with your stamp on it. This guide shows what to include, gives examples and explains how to use the optional details section.
What a good main idea contains
- Who: each person's name and who they are to the child (mom, grandpa, the dog).
- What: what happens, in a few words (a trip, the first day of school, a tournament).
- Where: the place, as specific as you can.
- The feeling: what you want the story to leave behind (courage, joy, longing).
- A detail only you know: something only your family would recognise.
Weak and strong examples
| Vague idea | Idea that works |
|---|---|
| A fun adventure | Tom and Grandpa Joe build a treehouse in the backyard and spend their first night in it. |
| Maria goes to school | Maria starts 5th grade afraid of getting lost; her mom gives her a hand-drawn map and she finds out she already has friends at the new school. |
| A soccer story | Rodrigo scores his first goal in practice, wearing the team kit, while the family cheers him on. |
We only use what you write
These books are about real people, so our system only uses what you tell it and does not invent facts about your family: where they live, what they do, what the house looks like. If something matters to the story, write it; if you don't, we don't add it. That helps avoid surprises, like a staircase that does not exist or a sibling nobody asked for.
The “Details (optional)” section
Below the main idea, in the “Story” step of the form, there is a section closed by an arrow, called “Details (optional)”. It is there to fine-tune what the idea alone does not say:
- Location or locations: the place, the city and the country and, if you want, up to 8 reference photos with the name of each place.
- Length of the story: a whole day, just one afternoon, a week of vacation.
- Clothes and objects: for example, the yellow swim trunks at the beach or the kit at practice. For the clothes to look the same on every page, you can create a custom avatar.
- How the characters address each other: whether the son calls his parents by their first names or Manuel calls his sister “sis”.
- Other details: the make and colour of the car, for example.
Step by step to write yours
- 1Write one sentence with who and what.
- 2Add where, and the feeling you want.
- 3Include a detail only you know.
- 4Move the rest into Details (optional).
- 5Generate the story, read it carefully and edit what you like: you can change one word or rewrite a whole page.
Mistakes to avoid
- Writing only the theme (“adventure”), with no people and no place.
- Contradictions, such as giving two different ages for the same person.
- Asking for too much: a short story holds one main moment, not ten.
- Expecting us to guess what you did not write.
In short
A good main idea says who, what, where and how it feels, in a few sentences, and the optional details take care of the rest. Once generated, the story is editable and you have 2 revisions included. Give it a try: the avatar preview is free, with no account, and you only decide afterwards whether you want the book.