Check-in: 23 May 2011

[charamei]

That time again! How's it going? Flying along? Well? Not well? About ready to ram a pencil through your eye and end it all? (Please don't.)

Discussion time: Random generators! Yes, no, only for certain things, never in a million years?

Comments

[jagnikjen]

It's not going yet. It's time to get writing, but none of the prompts are doing anything for me. But I won't have much time tonight to worry about it as I have an errand to run.

I've never used a random generator and tbh I'm not really sure what they are/how they work, so I can't actually answer your question.

[curuchamion]

Random generators are... well, essentially the Internet version of rolling dice to determine character traits, come up with plot twists, or such. For instance *pokes internet* here's a Futuristic Spare Part generator: you click the button and it jumbles together some of the space-age word parts in its memory bank to create a term like "central praepaef gimbal shooter" or "medical gretox matrix of the void grease signal". Very occasionally useful, often fun. ;-)

Seventh Sanctum's generator collection is good for people who actually find them inspiring as story-starters; me, I only use them for silliness or minor details (I'm the sort of person who can actually get stuck trying to come up with a nonsensical name for a piece of random futuristic hardware), so Chaotic Shiny is more to my taste.

[jagnikjen]

Well, then, no...I probably wouldn't use them.

Thanks for the explanation and the links, tho. :)