Tuesday Tips: Some fun, spam-free random generators

[thtwzjustadream.livejournal.com]

Anyone have any favorite 'generators' they visit, for help with names, plot ideas, random inspiration or motivation when writing? Here are a few I've found that either proved very useful and/or were just kind of fun to surf....



Random Name Generators
I'm thinking most who write have a random name generator they like, but if you haven't bookmarked one yet here are a couple I've used. They're ad-free and won't annoy you with pop-up ads and junky banners.
*One geared more toward US names
*One with a wider variety of names

Fantasy Name Generators
Same concept, frillier names. This one is very straightforward to use, and a clean, not iffy site. You can pop up lists of names that are short, long, consonant or vowel heavy, and names that suggest character traits like intellect or lack of it. Along with fantasy names, there are dropdowns for random Hawaiian names, which might just prove helpful on this comm. ;)

Writing Exercises and Prompts
On the WritingExercises.co.uk site, you can generate not only names but entire plots, scenarios, random dialogue, first lines, and get some useful lists.

Fiction Writer's Guide to Psychology
Writing a character in therapy, or one who should be? On archetypewriting.com you'll find info about a great range of psychological matters - right down to a body language cheat sheet sure to come in useful when writing character interaction. There's also a page all about the psychology of villains (how to create an awesome bad guy) and a Muse section with generators and story starters.

Chaotic Shiny
It's a very basically designed page (kind of looks like it transported here from the Internet of 1998). But ChaoticShiny.com has generators that can help you  create a huge range of things, from games that don't really exist to magic spells, superstitions, holidays, even entire civiliations. There's a heavy fantasy bent, but includes other interesting angles like an Inspiration Finder and a sometimes practical, sometimes very silly NaNo motivation generator.

Do you find generators handy when looking for names, ideas, or a kick in the motivation?

Comments

[agdhani.livejournal.com]

I like the psych I can see chaotic shiny being useful somewhere :D Trying to determine the best conflict between antagonist and protagonist is always a challenge.

[thtwzjustadream.livejournal.com]

That psychology page is interesting, isn't it! One of the more unusual writing tip pages I've bumped into. I definitely thought of Moriarty when reading the page on nuanced villains. :). Also, Ben Linus on Lost.

[kaige68.livejournal.com]

I have never actually used a generator. I'm going to have to take a look around at these.

THANK YOU!