Chatting with Characters

First time here? Welcome. Take a breath — you've got this.

Storychat is home to thousands of AI characters made by people all over the world. Send a single message and a conversation is already underway. This guide shows you how to make that first chat feel more natural, more immersive, and — most importantly — never cut short. No complicated setup required. About three minutes is all you need.

Tip: Just pick any character and start with a simple "hi." There's no right or wrong way to do this. You'll get the hang of it as you go.

The chat screen can look busy, but the heart of it is simple. To start, just remember these three.

• The message box — where you type what you want to say and send it.

• The model icon, bottom-right — the button that swaps the AI's "brain" for a smarter one. (More on this below.)

• The wand icon — your helper for when you're stuck on what to say next; the AI suggests something for you.

Everything else becomes second nature once you start using it.

Sometimes you want more than back-and-forth dialogue — you want to feel like you've actually stepped inside the story. When that's the case, reach for asterisks (*).

Anything you wrap in asterisks reads as "an action happening right now, or a private thought." Because it's clearly set apart from spoken lines in quotes, the character picks up on the mood far more easily.

Try writing it like this:

*slowly opens the door and peers inside* Is anyone there?

*heart pounding, but trying hard to act calm* It's fine, it's nothing.

Asterisks for actions, descriptions, and inner thoughts; plain text outside quotes for the words you actually speak — split it up this way and the character's reactions visibly come to life.

Why this matters: The AI reads the format of your writing to tell whether something is spoken dialogue or an action. Signal it with asterisks and you'll cut down on the character misreading the moment.

A conversation can be going great and then — "uh… what do I even say now?" — you freeze. It happens to everyone.

When it does, tap the wand icon near the message box. The AI generates three reply suggestions that fit the current flow.

• Send one as-is if you like it,

• tweak it to sound more like you, or

• just use it as inspiration and write your own.

Think of it as a little bit of grease for when the words won't come — no pressure to use it.

The AI model is the character's "brain." The better the brain, the more natural the replies, the longer it remembers, and the more nuanced its reactions. Tap the model icon in the bottom-right of the chat screen to switch models.

And here's the most important promise of all — your conversation never gets cut off.

Every plan (free included) gets unlimited messages on the Default model. That means even if you run out of premium allowance or SP, you can keep chatting on the Default model. Your conversation never stalls or locks up. (On the free plan, the Default model runs at standard speed.)

Why this matters: This isn't the usual "hit your limit and your chat freezes." The Default model is always there underneath, so you can pick the story back up anytime.

Step up to a smarter premium model and you get better reply quality and stronger memory — but it draws down your usage. Premium models run on two resources.

1. Weekly Premium Allowance — premium usage that refills automatically every week. The higher your plan, the more generous it is.

2. SP (Story Points) — the permanent points that never disappear, for when you want to keep using premium models after your weekly allowance is gone.

Here's the order it works in: premium model → draws from your weekly allowance first → once the allowance runs dry, it draws from SP → and if SP runs out too? It automatically switches to the free Default model and your conversation carries right on.

Heads up: SP is deducted once per message (your message + the AI's reply, counted together as one). And the heavier your settings, the faster you spend your allowance and SP — for example, deeper memory, longer replies, and bigger (richly detailed) characters all push the cost up. Don't worry, though: the estimated cost is shown on screen before you send.

• Keeping it casual or trying to conserve your limits? → The free Default model. Unlimited and always on.

• Serious roleplay where reply quality and memory matter? → A premium model. It uses your weekly allowance first, then continues on SP when that runs low.

[Related: Choosing an AI Model] · [Related: Story Points and Costs]

Your plan decides "how often, and how well" you get to chat. The essentials are laid out in the table below. Prices shown are for monthly billing; the figure in parentheses is the per-month equivalent on annual billing.

Heads up: The Weekly Premium Allowance shown here is a relative size comparing plans against each other (Standard → 5× → 20×). It isn't pinned to an exact SP number — chat with heavier settings and it draws down faster.

SP is a permanent point balance that never disappears. Like a prepaid card you've loaded up, it never expires — you draw on it whenever you need it. Here's where it's mainly used.

For reply length, Short is free for everyone, and only Medium · Long · Extended cost +10 SP per chat.

Why this matters: Longer replies, smarter models, and image generation all use more computing power, so they carry a cost. But the Default model and Short replies are always free — meaning you can chat endlessly without spending a cent.

[Related: Story Points and Costs] · [Related: Reply Length] · [Related: Mood Snap]

• Make use of the Lorebook. It's like a notepad that helps the character remember its world, lore, and relationships. You can add up to 200 entries per character, and it's available on every plan, including the free one. [Related: Lorebook]

• If memory feels too short, turn up the Memory Dial. You can raise it from your plan's default all the way up to 1M. Just note that bigger memory spends your allowance and SP faster. [Related: Longer Memory]

• Set up "you" with a Persona. It helps the character recognize you consistently. [Related: User Personas]

• Check the estimated cost before you send. The heavier your settings, the higher the estimated SP shown on screen. If it feels steep, just dial the model or reply length back down.

No AI is perfect — neither are people, right? Every now and then a character may act off, or a reply might come out oddly short — and most of the time, one or two settings fix it.

• Reply quality disappointing you? → Bump up to a premium model from the bottom-right.

• Character keeps forgetting things? → Turn up the Memory Dial, or put the key details in the Lorebook.

• Replies suddenly went plain? → Your allowance/SP may have run out and switched you to the Default model. No worries — the conversation keeps going, and you can bump back up to premium whenever you like.

At a glance: Use asterisks (*) for actions, tap the wand when you're stuck, switch to a premium model when you need quality — and no matter what, the Default model keeps your conversation going.

Anything odd or missing? Let us know — reach out to support anytime and a real person will help you out.