Does Anyone Here Use Generators?

veinglory · Feb 20, 2012

No. Thinking stuff up is the fun part so I do it myself.

jaksen · Feb 20, 2012

blacbird said:
When the power goes out.

caw

hehe

And to answer the serious ques. in this post: No, I do not. My brain is me generator.

Filigree · Feb 20, 2012

Same here. My brain is my generator. My fodder is the worldbuilding I've been playing with since 1987. I have too many story ideas as it is.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 20, 2012

I mean with me honestly. I just kind of keep them just when I'm going through Writer's Block. Plus some of the time I feel like writing, but I don't know what to write. I mean most of the generators that I use are for character names more so than anything after looking back. Simply because I had--and still do have--trouble deciding character names.

muravyets · Feb 20, 2012

HoneyBadger said:
Plot generator.

Character generator.

And, of course, there are generators for names, settings, special abilities- the list is almost, but not quite, endless.

I think using a generator as a prompt is fine, but the idea of writing a novel with anything other than a name generator gives me the heebie-jeebies. It just seems... inorganic and counterfeit.

For a novel or any other finished work, no. For exercises, games, that sort of thing, I find them useful and amusing. But they're not going to give you the foundation of a fully realized story. At most, they might be used to produce something experimental, and ultimately shallow and pretentious.

Like I said, I use them for minor character names, as a joke, or for micro-fiction prompts. Even then I don't use plot or character generators. Only names and random words or phrases. In my micro-fiction challenge the theme and five required words were spat out of a generator, for example. I've looked at plot generators and find them pointless.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 20, 2012

I don't know. Maybe I'm just that inexperienced of a writer that I have difficulty coming up with ideas sometimes still. I don't know. Note, I'm not trying to really discredit myself or anything similar to that, but I do think that haven't reached a certain skill level yet that a number of other people have reached. I'm not saying that's good or bad either; just stating what I think is true.

pdblake · Feb 21, 2012

No, having the idea is half the joy of writing.

Alexandra Little · Feb 21, 2012

I use name generators on occasion.

bearilou · Feb 21, 2012

*cough*

Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots by William Wallace Cook is my new favorite thing to goof off with. It looks complicated at first but I sat down one day to master it.

I did.

I even roughed out a short story idea with it just to see what it produced. The jury is still out on if it will be a good short story but taking what I came up with using the 'method' already I've deviated from it. Still...it was a neat process and a good way to launch into a story.

Phaeal · Feb 21, 2012

I like John Galt's static energy generator, myself. Two drops of oil, and it's been powering my word processor for the past five years!

My name generators are phone books, the atlas, and biographical dictionaries. I find names I like, mix up firsts and lasts, alter names to fit the conventions of fantastic societies, whatever's needed.

My main plot generator is NPR (National Public Radio) -- it's playing all day and half the night at work and home, and ideas pop at me out of the incessant murmur of all things considered. When an idea pops, it goes into my personal generator, the bunny hutch Word document, where it can mingle and breed with other ideas until it's big enough to burst through the chicken wire and onto the page.

bearilou · Feb 21, 2012

Phaeal said:
until it's big enough to burst through the chicken wire and onto the page.

I'm traumatized by this imagery now because all I can see is fur and blood and a sad looking pair of limp bunny ears flopped onto the keyboard....

Mark W. · Feb 21, 2012

I think generators can be useful to spark your own ideas. One generally shouldn't use the plots they generate. Most of the time, they are just nonsense. However, sometimes they can spark your imagination and get the ball rolling on something new.

Phaeal · Feb 21, 2012

bearilou said:
I'm traumatized by this imagery now because all I can see is fur and blood and a sad looking pair of limp bunny ears flopped onto the keyboard....

Nope. When it's big enough, the idea employs its razor-keen incisors to slash the wire, then thuds, growling, onto the desk. There it demands infinite carrots and a thousand words a day, or else.

Rhoda Nightingale · Feb 21, 2012

Never have a problem coming up with story ideas. Ever. If someone points me at a prompt, all I can do is think of all the Plot Bunnies waiting to eat me alive if I ignore them in favor of some other story, and then I back away. Slowly.

For names, I either make stuff up or go to BehindTheName.com--and that mostly if I need something foreign or really really old.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 21, 2012

Mark W. said:
I think generators can be useful to spark your own ideas. One generally shouldn't use the plots they generate. Most of the time, they are just nonsense. However, sometimes they can spark your imagination and get the ball rolling on something new.

That's mostly why I use them. Just to get the ball rolling. Even prompts are the same way, but I run out of prompts quicker than I run out of generations from the generator.

Rhoda Nightingale said:
For names, I either make stuff up or go to BehindTheName.com--and that mostly if I need something foreign or really really old.

I would use BehindtheName.com or a site like that but it's so hard for me to decide on a name, foreign or not. It's just so difficult for me sometimes. When I did use sites like that a lot of my characters ended up with "A" names because I usually didn't want to go further into the site to look at the names under the rest of the alphabet. I mean, for me, I like the generator better because I feel like it gives me a better variety of name besides the first few letters of the alphabet. However, that's just my opinion, and that's what works for me.

bearilou · Feb 22, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
When I did use sites like that a lot of my characters ended up with "A" names because I usually didn't want to go further into the site to look at the names under the rest of the alphabet. I mean, for me, I like the generator better because I feel like it gives me a better variety of name besides the first few letters of the alphabet. However, that's just my opinion, and that's what works for me.

I tend to do that as well so I will just click on random letters in the alphabet (or skip to a random page number) to see what comes up.

Dr.Gonzo · Feb 22, 2012

I once played spin the bottle and had to tongue a troll. I make my own decisions now.

areteus · Feb 22, 2012

Tonguing trolls can be fun, if you do it right.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 22, 2012

I don't know how character name generators work, but I really don't want to use one for this. I use character names that match where the character is from, that people really used in that area during the year he or she was born, etc.

Even for fantasy, I don't want names made up randomly, but ones that are consistent with the others, and that match the setting and tone.

It would take a pretty fancy name generator to get this right.

Cranky · Feb 22, 2012

I use all kinds of prompts when I'm stuck for one reason or another. I don't see generators being any different. *shrug*

That said, I don't follow anything to the letter. Not because I am afraid of it sapping any creativity, but because it just doesn't happen. These things tend to take on a life of their own once I start writing.

RemusShepherd · Feb 22, 2012

When I was writing short stories, I used to play around with the Callihoo generators on sff.net. They're fun, and occasionally I'd get a good idea from them.

Now that I'm focusing on novels I've stopped using generators. I generally don't start a novel until I already have characters, setting, and plot already in place.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 22, 2012

Most of my stories are set in a modern setting; I mean I know that doesn't necessarily excuse the popularity(or unpopularity) of a name, but I feel like it gives me more freedom to choose names I guess.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 22, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
Most of my stories are set in a modern setting; I mean I know that doesn't necessarily excuse the popularity(or unpopularity) of a name, but I feel like it gives me more freedom to choose names I guess.

I don't think it's about freedom, but about using a name that strikes the reader as real for that character, in that time and place. When a name doesn't come across this way, I think it needs an explanation.

An unusual name for a given time and place says something about the parents, more than the character who bears the name, and you really have to ask why the parents would choose such a name.

The right kind of celebrity couple might name a kid Petal Blossom Rainbow, but a Southern Baptist family probably won't.

Too many uncommon names in a novel also makes for tough reading. I want to read the story, not spend time wondering why every character in the novel has an unusual name.

Rhoda Nightingale · Feb 22, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
I would use BehindtheName.com or a site like that but it's so hard for me to decide on a name, foreign or not. It's just so difficult for me sometimes. When I did use sites like that a lot of my characters ended up with "A" names because I usually didn't want to go further into the site to look at the names under the rest of the alphabet. I mean, for me, I like the generator better because I feel like it gives me a better variety of name besides the first few letters of the alphabet. However, that's just my opinion, and that's what works for me.

Ah--see, when I go there, I almost always have a first letter in mind already, or a . . . color. I'm a synesthete, so words and letters all have color to me. So when I wind up on a site like that, I'm already thinking, "Okay, I need an orange name, something in Gaelic. Whaddya got for me?" And I narrow it down from there.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 22, 2012

Rhoda Nightingale said:
Ah--see, when I go there, I almost always have a first letter in mind already, or a . . . color. I'm a synesthete, so words and letters all have color to me. So when I wind up on a site like that, I'm already thinking, "Okay, I need an orange name, something in Gaelic. Whaddya got for me?" And I narrow it down from there.

Yeah, I have....nothing, except for the thought that I need name for a character.

And someone mentioned earlier about prompts. I do think that they are helpful too, at least for me, especially when I'm going through Writer's Block. However, I "ran out" of prompts that I wanted to try. That could've had a lot to do with that I only searched for "fiction writing prompts" instead of maybe Flash Fiction prompts, Short Story Prompts (or even Short Fiction, even though that includes, flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, and novellas), etc. So, that could be something to try I suppose. I know that there is a Flash Fiction forum on here, and they tend to provide their monthly prompts (I think) in some threads from what I can see.

Does Anyone Here Use Generators?

veinglory

volitare nequeo

jaksen

Caped Codder

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

Silver-Midnight

muravyets

Old revolutionary

Silver-Midnight

pdblake

Alexandra Little

What a desolation.

bearilou

DenturePunk writer

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

bearilou

DenturePunk writer

Mark W.

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie

Silver-Midnight

bearilou

DenturePunk writer

Dr.Gonzo

Wonderfully Irreverent

areteus

Jamesaritchie

Cranky

RemusShepherd

Silver-Midnight

Jamesaritchie

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie

Silver-Midnight