Chronycles -StorySpark AI, an app designed to help journalists brainstorm creative story ideas using different kinds of inspiration, is now available for use.
Available in English and French, the app is the brainchild of Investigative journalist Kunle Adebajo.
He explained that the app was inspired by the concept of story ideation techniques at journalism workshops, during which he always engages participants in a brain exercise to find interesting ideas at the intersection of two random topics.
“I doubt anything like this already exists. Most of the AI tools I could find and have seen are geared towards generating entire stories for you or helping you improve an existing draft. But what if all you want for a start is a refreshing idea you can pitch?,
” I recently saw a vibe-coded app where you could generate bedtime stories to be read to your kids using emoji prompts. I thought that was cool and incorporated it. You can also upload images into the app and use them as inspiration for non-fiction storytelling,” Adebajo stated in a X post on the new app.
How it works:
Step 1: Choose your inspiration
First, pick the type of prompt you want to use. You have three options at the top of the main panel: text, emojis, and images. With the text and emoji prompts, simply click on 2 or 3 of the suggestions. You can also type your own topics or emojis in the input field at the top, preferably one at a time. If you want to narrow down the story ideas to a location, you can include the name or flag of the country/region in your suggestion. Under the image section, click the upload area to select 1 or 2 pictures from your device. The app accepts PNG, JPG, and GIF files up to 10MB in size.
The Generate Story Ideas button will become active when you’ve met the selection criteria.
Step II: Generate story ideas
Once you’ve set up your prompt, click the blue Generate Story Ideas button. The AI will take a few moments to think, and then it will present you with a list of 3-5 unique story ideas, each displayed on its own card with a creative title and a summary.
Step III: Dive deeper with a research plan
Found an idea you love? You can expand on it! On each story idea card, you’ll see a Tell me more button. Clicking this will ask the AI to generate a detailed research plan specifically for that story. The plan includes a potential overview, outline, and list of sources to guide your research. Once generated, the button will change to Show Plan/ Hide Plan, allowing you to toggle the research plan’s visibility.
