Random Fiction Helpers

Last year, I shared these tools to help people participating in NaNoWriMo and, since it’s that time of year again, I’m going to share them again.

Maybe one year, I’ll be able to get myself together again and give this a try.  Maybe this coming year, I’ll have all my regular posts queued up and ready to go and have a story idea and all the research done and have been practicing my writing and…  Well, maybe.  In any case, until that happens, I’m going to share some things I hope will help you all who are participating in NaNoWriMo.  This week, all the tools come from one of my older sites, that I don’t really update that often any more, Fantasist.net, and my World Building Page.  Here, I’ve collected a number of little generators that I created, either from scratch or to mimic other programs that have gone away.

If you’re looking to fill in some historical background for your story, try the Historical Timeline Generator, which serves up a random historical timeline.
If you want to randomly “fill” one of your character’s pockets, check out the Daily Carry Generator, which generates a modern character’s “daily carry“, and if you’re working in a fantasy setting, the Fantasy Pocket “Litter” Generator, which is the fantasy equivalent of the Daily Carry Generator, may be just the ticket.
If  you’re looking for a name for one or more of your characters, you can try finding one via the “Funny” Proper Name Generator, for giving characters odd, random names, and if you want to whip up some background props for something with a steampunk or pulp setting you might have fun with the Crazy Pulp Science-Fiction Invention Generator, which, well, sort of has to be seen to be fully understood.

And, even if you don’t need these generators, per se, you may find them a fun distraction for a couple of minutes while you figure out where your novel is going next.
Good luck and keep writing!