Story Something Quietly Opens Up, Turns Your Kids Into Heroes

I don’t have kids (yet), but I’d be all over this if I did … and if I were a native English speaker: TC50 finalist Story Something is cautiously opening up to the masses during the holidays – intentionally.

While the service is still ‘most definitely in beta’ according to co-founder and CEO Jim Rose, it gives you a pretty good idea of what the startup’s building.

As our initial review of Story Something lays out in detail, the service generates personalized stories for children that make them the heroes by putting them at the center of the narrative. The hero takes on the child’s name, and a story is generated which can be viewed on the Web or e-mailed to the parent.

The startup is launching in open beta with 55 stories, some of which get featured on the homepage. Stories come in two flavors: ones that are not interactive and fairly short, and ones that are a bit longer and allow the parent or child to have some control over the storyline by giving options that effect the narrative.

Rose tells us they decided to launch close to the holidays because of the fact that many parents will be travelling with their children, and their stories can help in keeping them entertained in the car, on the plane, and so on. Story Something also published a special holiday-themed story (of the kind that lets you choose your own adventure) for the occasion. If you have kids, you’ll want to check this out.

Story Something will focus much of their attention to increasing the available library size and soliciting feedback from parents and authors in the coming weeks and months.