Reddit story template

Reddit story video maker: paste a story, get a narrated short with captions

Paste a Reddit post or your own story. GhostShorts does not write it for you: it narrates your text with an AI voice, adds word-synced captions and a looping background clip, and renders a 1080x1920 MP4. Renders usually take about a minute. The first ten seconds of the voiceover are free to hear before you pay anything.

Paste your story

The facts

Input
Your own story text: a title of up to 200 characters and the body. Typed, pasted, or autofilled from a Reddit link.
Output
One 1080x1920 MP4 at 30 fps: AI narration, word-synced captions, a title card and a looping background clip.
Render time
About a minute. Measured on production over the 60 days to 2026-09-24: p50 61 seconds, p90 99 seconds, across all templates.
Free step
The first ten seconds of the AI voiceover reading your own story, before any payment. It is your text, not a canned demo.
Price to make one
One video from your monthly allowance. Starter is $19.99 a month and includes 30 videos; the AI voiceover and the captions cost no extra credits.
Narration languages
The voice reads your text in whatever language you wrote it. On the API this template takes an ISO 639-1 language code.
API and MCP
Yes. reddit_story on the REST API and on the MCP server, plus a free narration teaser at POST /v1/previews.

One real example

14 seconds

What went in

Title
I made my friend fail med school
Story
The creator's own text, about a roommate called Justin, two years of shared sleepless nights and endless med-school demands, and the week of year exams that went wrong.
Voice
One AI voice, picked from the voice list in the wizard.
Background
Minecraft parkour, from the background library.
Captions
One word at a time, centred.

The title above is the card the video renders. The story summary is read from the captions in this clip, not from a saved draft.

Reddit post → short-form video

AI Reddit Story Video Generator

Paste the drama. We’ll cut the video.

47 voices Captions Free preview
01
Start with a Reddit story
Example story, replace with yours
02
Choose the background video
03
Choose the AI voice

How it works

Four steps, all of them in the Reddit Story wizard.

1

Paste the story

Fill the Content section: a title and the body. A paste-a-link shortcut can autofill both from a Reddit post.

2

Pick a voice

Choose an AI voice in the Voice section, then hear the first ten seconds of it reading your own story for free.

3

Set the look

Pick a background clip in the Background section and a caption preset in the Captions section.

4

Generate Video

Press Generate Video. The render takes about a minute and lands in your library as a 1080x1920 MP4.

Who it is for

People who already have the story: a subreddit regular with a post that did well, a storytime channel that publishes daily, an agency producing the same format for several accounts. The work it removes is the narration, the caption timing and the export, which is the part that takes an hour in an editor and a minute here.

What it is not

It does not find stories for you and it does not scrape Reddit. You paste the text, and a paste-a-link shortcut only autofills a card you can still edit. It does not write the story either: the AI here reads, it does not author. It will not post to TikTok or YouTube for you, and it has no voice cloning, so the narration is one of our AI voices rather than yours.

Simple Plans for Serious Growth.

Voice, images, scripts and captions are included on every plan, within fair-use limits. AI credits pay for motion, premium models and extra redos.

Starter Plan

Perfect for getting started

$19.99/month
  • ✓ 30 videos / month
  • ✓ AI voiceovers included (fair use)
  • ✓ AI images included (fair use)
  • ✓ 30 AI credits for motion
  • ✓ Clipping: 300 source-minutes
  • ✓ Access to growth tools
  • ✓ Captions in 102+ languages
Get Started

GhostMode Plan

For professional content creators

$79.99/month
  • ✓ 120 videos / month
  • ✓ AI voiceovers included (fair use)
  • ✓ AI images included (fair use)
  • ✓ 180 AI credits for motion
  • ✓ Clipping: 1,800 source-minutes
  • ✓ Access to growth tools
  • ✓ Captions in 102+ languages
Get Started

Need more mid-month? $9.99 adds 5 videos + 20 AI credits, and never expires.

Need more power?

Enterprise Plan

Custom solutions for teams and agencies

✓ Custom video and AI-credit allowances✓ API access (approval-based)✓ Higher concurrency limits✓ Priority rendering queue✓ Dedicated support channel✓ Volume-based pricing✓ Early access to new features✓ Batch optimization support
Contact Sales

What Creators Are Saying

Real results. Real reach. Built with GhostShorts.

"

Made a Reddit story short in the middle of my chem class. 100K views before I got home.

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@etherstories

"

Honestly thought this was just another overhyped AI tool. But it actually delivers and is super easy to use. I already created 10 shorts in 1 day.

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@clip.lott

"

Tried a couple viral formats on the app. A month later... 10 million views. This app is stupid easy to use.

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rakaii.fxx

"

Making edits CapCut felt homeworkish. GhostShorts is easy af, almost feels likes I am on autopilot.

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@sturdylives

"

All I do is copy a Reddit post, paste it in, export, done. It's stupid easy.

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@RedditBook

"

Used to doom scroll all night. Now I post the same type of videos I used to binge.

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@tgpu

"

I run a few fake text story channels. Jesus I've hit over 5 million likes on just one of my channels alone. It's ridiculous.

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@textsfella

"

GhostShorts saved me countless hours of editing time. Highly recommended!

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@2ndchildhoodpodcast

"

I cut my content creation time by 80% after switching to GhostShorts. It's the only tool that actually keeps up with how fast I work.

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@mcfreakery

Frequently Asked Questions

We are here to help you with any questions you may have. If you don't find what you need, please contact us at [email protected]

Paste the story into the Reddit Story wizard as a title and a body, pick a voice and a background clip, then press Generate Video. GhostShorts narrates the text, times the captions to the narration word by word and renders a 1080x1920 MP4 you download and upload to TikTok yourself.
Hearing the first ten seconds of the AI voiceover reading your own story is free and needs no card. The full narration and the downloadable MP4 need a plan. Starter is $19.99 a month and includes 30 videos.
There is a paste-a-link shortcut in the wizard that autofills the title and body into the card you can see and edit. It is an autofill, not a scraper: nothing is posted anywhere, and you can change every word before anything is narrated.
No. Narration comes from the AI voice list in the wizard, and you pick one voice per story. You cannot upload a recording of yourself for this template.
Yes. The voice reads the text in whatever language you wrote it, so a Spanish story is narrated in Spanish. On the API the reddit_story template takes an ISO 639-1 language code alongside the text.
About a minute. Measured on production over the 60 days to 2026-09-24, the median render finished in 61 seconds and 9 in 10 finished inside 99 seconds.
The videos are yours to post, schedule and monetize. Two honest caveats: the story is yours to have the right to use, and platforms increasingly demote channels that publish the same template with only the words swapped, so vary the voice, the background and the hook.
First-person, narrative subreddits: r/AITA, r/tifu, r/relationship_advice, r/pettyrevenge, r/MaliciousCompliance, r/confessions, r/entitledparents, r/ProRevenge and r/nosleep. Sort by Top for the past week to find stories the community has already voted up. The wizard takes a story body of 800 to 5,000 characters, so split very long posts into parts.
Crediting is good practice rather than something GhostShorts enforces. Many channels name the subreddit and the poster at the start, and the wizard has an optional author field that appears on the title card. Rewriting the story in your own words, and skipping posts the author has deleted, are the other habits most channels in this niche follow.
Minecraft parkour is the classic choice because it moves constantly without pulling focus from the narration. The background library also has Subway Surfers, GTA V, Mario Kart, satisfying clips and Backrooms footage. Faster clips suit high-conflict drama, calmer ones suit emotional stories, and the Backrooms suit horror.
Match the voice to the tone of the story: a calm, measured voice for a dramatic AITA or revenge story, a livelier one for a funny r/tifu post. The wizard has 47 AI voices across 9 languages, and you can set the narration speed to 0.85x, 1x, 1.1x or 1.25x. You hear the first ten seconds of your own story in the chosen voice before paying anything.
Yes. GhostShorts has an API and an MCP server. Connect it to Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT (via API) or n8n and ask for a video; see ghostshorts.com/developers.
API and MCP

Make this from ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor

The same template runs through the GhostShorts API and MCP server. Connect it once and ask your assistant for a video; it comes back as a finished MP4 on the same plan and credits.

claude mcp add --transport http ghostshorts https://api.ghostshorts.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <your API key>"

This template is available as reddit_story on the API. Plain-text guide for agents

Link straight in: ghostshorts.com/reddit-story?title=…&story=…

Why Reddit stories work on TikTok and YouTube Shorts

Reddit is one of the largest collections of anonymous, first-person storytelling on the internet. People post workplace drama, relationship dilemmas, confessions and revenge sagas there that they would never put under their own name on Instagram. That unguarded honesty gives the stories real stakes, twists and moral questions, which is exactly what holds a viewer in the first few seconds of a short.

The format is also faceless. A Reddit story video is a voiceover reading the story, captions for people watching on mute, and a background clip that keeps the eyes busy. Nobody needs to appear on camera, so the skill that matters is picking good stories and telling them well.

Some subreddits come with engagement built in. An r/AITA post asks the audience to judge, so viewers comment with their verdict. Revenge stories from r/pettyrevenge and r/ProRevenge deliver a payoff people want to share. Long r/nosleep stories split naturally into parts, which gives viewers a reason to follow for the next one.

Best subreddits for short-form story videos

Not every subreddit translates to video. The ones that work are narrative, emotionally charged, and written in the first person. These are the communities Reddit story channels pull from most often.

SubredditContent typeBest for
r/AITAMoral dilemmas, interpersonal conflictVideos that pull viewers into the comments
r/tifuFunny personal mistakesLighthearted, shareable videos
r/relationship_adviceBreakups, trust issues, relationship dramaEmotional stories and follow-up parts
r/pettyrevengeSmall-scale revengeShort videos with a satisfying payoff
r/MaliciousComplianceFollowing the rules to an absurd endWorkplace humor
r/confessionsAnonymous secrets and admissionsCuriosity-driven hooks
r/entitledparentsRun-ins with entitled behaviorRelatable frustration
r/ProRevengeLong, planned revenge storiesMulti-part series
r/nosleepHorror fiction written as real experiencesHorror channels and binge series

Tip: sort a subreddit by Top, past week, to find stories the community has already voted up. A high score and a busy comment section are good signs a story will hold attention as a video. Keep in mind the wizard needs a story body between 800 and 5,000 characters, so a very short confession needs a little more context, and a very long post should be split.

How long should a Reddit story video be?

Length decides completion rate, and completion rate decides reach. Too short and the story feels rushed; too long and viewers leave before the payoff. Here is how to think about it per platform.

TikTok: 45 to 60 seconds is a good target

TikTok accepts much longer uploads, but a story that lands its payoff inside a minute keeps most viewers to the end. The shortest story the wizard accepts (800 characters) already narrates for close to a minute, so for TikTok, trim toward the minimum rather than past it.

YouTube Shorts: up to three minutes

Shorts now accepts vertical videos up to three minutes, so a slightly longer story fits. Shorts are also searchable on YouTube, which makes the title matter more than it does on TikTok: put "Reddit story" and the subreddit name in it.

Instagram Reels: up to three minutes

Reels also takes videos up to three minutes, which makes it a good home for stories that run a little past a minute. The same MP4 works on all three platforms, since it is already 1080x1920.

Fitting the story to the length

You have two levers. The first is the text itself: cut the backstory, keep the conflict and the payoff. The second is narration speed, which you can set to 0.85x, 1x, 1.1x or 1.25x in the Voice section. A faster read trims a story that is just over your target without cutting any words.

Splitting long stories into a series

Some of the best Reddit stories are far too long for one short. An r/ProRevenge or r/nosleep post can run to thousands of words, and the wizard caps a single story at 5,000 characters anyway. Treat that as a growth tactic rather than a limit: paste each part as its own story, end every part on an open question, and finish the narration with a line asking viewers to follow for the next part. Part one hooks them; following you is the only way to hear how it ends.

Can you use Reddit posts in your videos?

This is the most common question from new Reddit story channels. Here is a practical answer, not legal advice. A video built on someone else's post is a derivative of their writing. Reading a post word for word with nothing added is the weakest position. The more you transform it, by choosing what to keep, rewriting it in your own words and framing it, the better your position and the less your channel looks like reposted content. Most channels in this niche follow a few habits.

Credit the source

Name the subreddit and, if you like, the original poster. It builds trust with viewers and shows respect for the author. The wizard has an optional author field that shows on the title card.

Paraphrase when you can

Rewriting the story in your own words while keeping the plot adds originality. Everything you paste stays editable in the wizard until you generate the voice, so rewrite it there before anything is narrated.

Skip deleted and private posts

If an author deletes their story, respect that and do not rebuild it from an archive. Stick to public posts the author chose to share.

Or use your own story

The template does not care where the text came from. A story you wrote yourself, or one a follower sent you with permission, sidesteps the question entirely.

Editing by hand vs the Reddit Story template

Before templates like this existed, a Reddit story video meant recording or buying a voiceover, syncing captions by hand and timing a gameplay clip under it. Here is how the two approaches compare.

StepEditing by hand (CapCut, Premiere Pro)GhostShorts Reddit Story
VoiceoverRecord yourself or pay someone per scriptOne of 47 AI voices across 9 languages
CaptionsSync by hand or run a separate captioning toolTimed to the narration word by word, with editable text and caption presets
BackgroundFind, download and trim gameplay footagePick from the library: Minecraft, Subway Surfers, GTA V, Mario Kart, satisfying clips, Backrooms
ExportSet up a vertical export yourselfA 1080x1920 MP4, usually in about a minute
Learning curveEditing, audio sync and caption timingPaste, pick a voice and a background, generate

Consistency is what grows a channel on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and volume is where the time saving shows up. If you prefer to finish videos by hand, the two approaches combine well: generate the narrated, captioned MP4 here, then import it into your editor to add your own touches.

Tips for Reddit story videos that get views

Making the video is half the job. How you open, title and post it decides whether it reaches a hundred people or a hundred thousand.

Hook in the first two seconds

Do not open with "So this Reddit post says...". Lead with the most surprising part. For an AITA post, open with the dilemma: "My sister uninvited me from her wedding because I refused to dye my hair." Rearrange the text in the wizard so the hook is the first line the voice reads.

Match the background to the tone

Minecraft parkour suits most stories. Faster clips like Subway Surfers or Mario Kart fit high-conflict drama, satisfying clips fit calmer or emotional stories, and the Backrooms suit r/nosleep horror. For stories that are mostly a conversation, try the text message format instead, and for Roblox audiences there is Roblox Rants.

Check your captions on a phone

Captions are a retention tool as much as an accessibility one, because plenty of people scroll on mute. Pick a caption preset that reads at a glance, then check the result on an actual phone screen, not a monitor.

Post consistently

Consistency beats perfection. Pick a cadence you can keep, such as one video a day, and test posting times against your own analytics rather than a generic chart. Making several videos in one sitting is the easiest way to stay ahead.

Use titles and hashtags that say what it is

On TikTok, mix broad and niche tags: #redditstories, #aita, #storytime, plus the subreddit name. On YouTube Shorts the title does more work than hashtags, so write it like a hook: "AITA for kicking my roommate out at 2 AM?". On Reels, end the caption with a question such as "Who was in the wrong here?" to invite comments.

Vary the template

Platforms increasingly demote channels that publish the same template with only the words swapped. Rotate voices, backgrounds and caption styles, and give every video its own hook.

Paste a story and hear it back.

The first ten seconds of the voiceover are free. The render takes about a minute after that.

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