Generators

 Ever get stuck on trying to name a character? Ideally, not the main character, but a character they interact with. A minor character, a background character, someone from their past or someone they just hear about in passing. Ever have trouble figuring out a name for them? What about a shop or a location? Or maybe you've got a character name, but no plot. Or, worse, maybe you just can't make the words get onto paper because you don't know what to write. When I get stuck, I turn to generators. 

There's a plethora of different generators floating around on the internet. I'm going to share a few different ones that I use because each of these give a different flavor. I'm also going to include two websites that are purely names found in the real world for when you want to make sure of the meaning behind a name. These can be found here for first names and here for surnames. There is also a place name site related to them which I just saw today. 

In the case of this one, the creator also includes articles about how to make believable conspiracies and other how to articles that give helpful advice for writers. This website is also useful for people who roleplay and are interested in writing fanfiction, and contains generators related to a variety of fandoms. 

Another website that has fandom related generators as well as name generators that will generate real world names and names more geared toward a fantasy setting is this one. This site also includes description generators and generators that help make maps, constellations, flags, and coat of arms. The American English name generator on here has come in handy for creating names for characters in stories in The Agency since there are so many characters. This particular generator creates names that are common in America and has been helpful in creating several of my favorite characters from The Agency, including Ewan Marsh (it provided the last name) and Imogen Hart (for her, it was the full name). 

One that has been helpful to me for creating planets and calendars for my science fiction idea and dungeons for Dungeons & Dragons campaigns can be found here. This website has a few name generators, but is most useful for creating maps and is best used by someone that plans on running a roleplaying campaign. It does have a few things useful for writers, like the planet generator, the science fiction generators, and fantasy world generator, but again, most of these are for maps. 

A site that has been helpful for coming up with shop names and names for land formations is this one. The modern business names found here have been the most useful to me for coming up names for shops in different settings such as the creepy town of Silver Ridge, nestled in the mountains and filled with far more secrets than people. 

The first generator website I found is this one. Even though I don't use it as much anymore, it is still very useful. Divided into different generator categories, it has everything from a few fandom generators to writing prompts to descriptions for characters and creatures. This website was the one that sparked my interest in dragons in the modern day because of the dragon breed generator. It's also rather useful for fleshing out libraries with potential for extras found in the books. 

There's the Plot Generator which generates a wide array of plots from different genres and allows you to lock in the parts you want while generating new bits until you get exactly what you want. It can serve as a source of inspiration for something for you to write or for something you can say your characters read or watched. 

Last but not least is this one. This is more for fantasy writers, but contains a few science fiction generators and roleplay related ones. The one that has recently gotten my attention, though, is the writing exercise generator. It offers different exercises that involve writing for a set number of minutes or set number of words about a few different things and sometimes will say to focus on a certain part of writing such as describing unusual details or on dialogue. Here's one example of a writing exercise generated: Write for at least 3 minutes about a misstep, a cave, and a border. Focus on distinguishing characters through dialogue.

Whenever I'm struggling and want to write, but don't know what or can't find inspiration, I'll use the generator and write for a little bit about whatever is generated. Usually, by the time the time's up or I've reached the word limit mentioned, I'll have an idea about a character or an event. I'll have a jumping off point that can inspire more. 

Much like how Wikipedia can't be used as a source for academic papers, but can be used as a jumping off point that can lead you to other sources, generators shouldn't be used as the sole basis of your writing, but should instead serve to get the creative juices flowing. Whether it's a short story, a series spanning dozens of books and several generations of characters, or a roleplay campaign, everything starts somewhere and sometimes that "somewhere" is a generator website with a writing exercise.