Guide
How to make a survival story video for YouTube with AI
Have an AI write the story as plain narration, then paste it into a tool that reads it aloud and draws it, such as Alpy. Ask ChatGPT, Claude or DeepSeek for a day-by-day survival story written to be spoken, about 140 words per minute of video. Paste it into Alpy, pick a storyteller voice and a stick figure, and Alpy narrates every day and draws a scene for each part of it, with the same survivor throughout. A free preview shows the first 10 seconds before you pay.
Last updated 16 October 2026
Try Alpy with a free preview →How to do it, step by step
- Get the story written for listening. Use the prompt below in ChatGPT, Claude or DeepSeek. Ask for plain paragraphs, not a screenplay: what you paste is what gets read.
- Read it once yourself. Check that each day moves the story on, that the numbers stay consistent (food, days, people), and that nothing repeats.
- Paste it into the studio. In Alpy's studio, choose AI voice and paste the whole reply. Labels, notes in brackets and stage directions are left out of the narration, and the studio shows what will not be read. Delete any title line yourself. Up to 2,700 words.
- Pick the Storyteller delivery and a voice: Ballad (a warm British storyteller) or Ash (warm and steady) suit survival stories. Each has a sample.
- Pick a survivor. The Classic Stickman or the Stickman for a modern apocalypse, the Ancient Stickman for prehistoric survival. The same character appears in every scene.
- Watch the free preview, then finish. The first 10 seconds are narrated and drawn before you pay. Finish the video, redraw any scene you do not like (five redraws a video are free), and download the MP4 with title ideas, a description and a thumbnail.
A prompt that writes a story worth narrating
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or DeepSeek, changing the scenario and the length:
Write a first-person survival story for a narrated YouTube video, about 10 minutes long (around 1,400 words). Scenario: the power goes out worldwide and never comes back. Days 1 to 20. Rules: - Plain paragraphs only. No title, no headings, no markdown, no stage directions, no notes in brackets. - Start each day with a line such as "Day three." - Open with the most gripping moment, then go back to Day 1. - Every day must change something: a new problem, a decision, a discovery, a loss. - Keep numbers consistent (days of food left, people met, distance walked). - Concrete and visual: say what the narrator sees, holds and does, in short sentences. - End on a turn that makes the viewer want the next part.
How long to make the script
| Video length | Words, at a storyteller's pace |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | about 700 |
| 10 minutes | about 1,400 |
| 15 minutes | about 2,100 |
| Up to 20 minutes | up to 2,700 |
The Storyteller delivery reads about 140 words a minute: a 1,859-word survival story came out at 13 minutes. A high-energy delivery reads faster, so the same script makes a shorter video.
What makes these videos work
- One survivor the viewer follows. The same face in every scene is what turns 13 minutes of drawings into a story. A recurring character does that for you.
- A clock. "Day 7. Four cans left." A visible countdown of days, food or distance keeps people watching to the end.
- Places that stay put. The shelter on Day 3 should be the same shelter on Day 12. Alpy keeps a place looking the same across scenes until the story moves on.
- A series, not a single video. Day 1 to 20, then Day 21 to 50: each part ends on a turn, and the next part has an audience waiting.
Mistakes to avoid
- A title or section headings you want read aloud. Day and chapter markers are read ("Day 3" on its own line, bold or not, is spoken as "Day 3."), but other headings and the title are left out. Put anything you want heard into a sentence.
- A screenplay instead of narration. Scene headings, character names and camera directions are left out, and what remains may not make sense. Ask for first-person narration.
- Real disasters told as fact. A fictional apocalypse is fine; presenting invented events as news is not, on YouTube or anywhere else.
- One-word days. "Day 9. Nothing happened." gets a vague drawing and loses viewers. Cut those days or give them something to show.
Where Alpy is not the right fit
- Six AI voices, not a large voice library, and no voice cloning
- Horizontal 16:9 only, no vertical Shorts
- One deliberately simple drawing style, not polished animation
- No free plan beyond the preview
Questions
- Can AI make a survival story video for YouTube?
- Yes. An AI writes the story, and Alpy reads it with one of six AI voices and draws a scene for each part with one recurring character, as a 16:9 video up to 20 minutes long. The first 10 seconds are a free preview.
- How many words is a 10-minute story?
- About 1,400 words at a storyteller's pace, around 140 words a minute.
- Can I use a story from DeepSeek, ChatGPT or Claude?
- Yes. Paste the reply: labels, notes in brackets and stage directions are left out of the narration, and the studio shows what will not be read before you start. Delete a title line if there is one.
- Can I narrate it in my own voice?
- Yes. Record or upload yourself reading the story and Alpy draws the video around your recording. Alpy never clones a voice.
- Can survival story channels be monetised?
- Yes, when the stories are original and the channel is not mass-producing near-identical videos. YouTube excludes repetitive, mass-produced content; whether a channel is accepted is always YouTube's decision.
- How much does it cost?
- The preview is free with no card. Finishing one video is $7 a video or $29/month; a 13-minute story is one video up to 20 minutes.
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