In COVID times, the writer tool of people watching was off the table for character ideas. I’m in middle of something right now, but the next book is starting to sprout in the back of my head. What to do?
I found a character generator on a FB group and tried it out.
This was the response:
Keith is a dedicated health centre receptionist who is obsessed with the murder of his friend Darius, ten years ago
~ A Quick Charater Profile ~
Keith Simon Sanders is a 25-year-old health centre receptionist whose life is dominated by solving the murder of his friend, Darius Spencer. Darius was suffocated in 2010 and the killer was never brought to justice.
He is an American Christian who defines himself as bisexual. He didn’t finish school.
Physically, Keith is in good shape. He is short with fair skin, copper hair and brown eyes.
He grew up in a working class neighbourhood. Having never really known his parents, he was raised in a series of foster homes.
He is currently in a relationship with Dora Kay Pritchard. Dora is 18 years older than him and works as a pick pocket.
Keith’s best friend is a health centre receptionist called Aiden Davison. They have a very firey friendship. He also hangs around with a health centre receptionist called Jo Sims. They enjoy praying together.
I ignored the typos and British English. 🙂
I had a flashback to coding days, so I ran it twice with the same input curious to see what would change. There were some words/phrases that were used again between clicks. The ‘firey freindship’ as an example. They must be keyed off what I entered. I am resisting the urge to run some tests.
This seemed like a fun tool to have handy if you were looking for character inspiration.
I know I would take the bits that interested me and make up my own stuff for the rest.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Wow, character generators seem pretty cool. I myself am mostly a pantser, so I start off with a sentence, then I slowly flesh it out and see if that works. That’s mostly how I get most of my ideas. Thanks for sharing this!
I love using generators but I also get ideas from real life. I wrote about a character that had Ptosis (Drooping Eyelids). I called him “sleepy” in the short story. That came from real life.
Omg! I just met someone who is going to be the main character! She’s gonna make a kick-a$$ heroine.
Can’t beat real life…🤗
I almost asked to take her picture
😂