Character Generator

 

For this week’s app about characters, we’ll go one step further in complexity. Two weeks ago, it was just a pic. Last week, we got to change our character’s faces. This week, we are going without a net, I mean, pictures. I found a great character generator that gives us wonderful details—https://www.character-generator.org.uk/

This site has several generators. When you click on the link, the page shows various detail levels for characters. You can make a profile, a quick character, a detailed profile, biography, personality, reference chart, sexuality, and cause of death. Below this list are other generators. We’ll come back for the plot one.

Let’s start with a Profile. Click the icon, and the site moves you to a page with a list of questions. They ask you to keep it family-friendly. You can select Randomly Fill or add details to each prompt. They ask for names, sex, age, socio-economic class, education, and positive and negative traits. For many of them, you can individually get a suggestion. If you don’t like the answer, hit Suggest again. Once all the fields are completed, click Write Me a Profile. And wow! Check out the results.

The website generates a quick profile with amazing details. Scroll down to get even more information, such as basics, personality, physical characteristics, employment, background, and political views. Some information won’t jive with your thinking, but it’s inspiring. For example, using complete suggestions, I got Jenny, the Dominican personal trainer obsessed with tank tops. I wouldn’t have created that one on my own. The level of detail is epic.

If you hit publish, other users can view your creation, vote it up or down, and make comments. Copy the link and send it to your betas, critique group, or writing buddy to see if they like your new character. You can also share through social media—Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Just sign into those sites to share. If you don’t publish your creation, the site only saves the data for ten minutes.

Need to make the next one or start over? Check out the menus at the top of the page. Popular has a few choices, but Profiles has everything from the initial page, except for Cause of Death. That’s found on the More menu.

Quick profile will be totally random but allow you to create several at once. Type in the number of people you need and click Write Me a Profile. You won’t get tons of details, but enough to start.

Detailed Profile has the same as Profile but adds details for friends, parents, former partners, and a timeline of the person’s life.

Reference chart only has the details without a bio narrative. You can learn tons of info about your character without having their story written for you. If you have an idea for a character but need more details, this part is great.

Cause of Death again allows users to pick details or have them suggested. The results are the age, probable cause, and noteworthy funeral attendants. Also, this section still gives basic info for the character in the present. You can play with their death as a known.

You may find that the site works best for background characters. You might already know your mains, but need a new type of quirky best friend or neighbor. The site gives interesting combos of lifestyles, characteristics, and body shapes.

Playing with this site can add rich detail to your current characters or generate brand new ones. If you don’t give yourself a time limit, you’ll be there for hours.

 

 

Art Breeder

 

Art Breeder is a website that allows users to create unique images of people, animals, and settings. A basic account is free. If you need to upload or download images, consider a paid account. For $90 a year (or $9 a month), the Starter Breeder account will sync with Google Drive, allow customizations, and give 80 uploads and 200 downloads. The next level, Advanced Breeder, adds the totals to 300 uploads and 800 downloads for $192 a year (or $19 a month). The final level, Champion Breeder, gives unlimited up and downloads for $31 a month or $372 a year. Thanks to Tib for showing me this site!

To get started, create an account. It’s free to start. Your first screen will show images that others have recently constructed. You can browse these images for one that fits your character or create your own. Be aware of copyright!

The easiest way to learn the app is to use an already generated image. On the first splash screen, choose a created image, either anime, cartoon, or actual photo. After choosing an image, scroll up to see its origin. A family tree of sorts shows how the user came to that image. Scroll down to see other manipulations. Nothing working for you? No problem, you can customize even more.

Go back to the center and click the green plus sign on the Breed button. Choose a new image to “mate” with the current picture. The app will merge the two together. Press the Spawn Multiple text to get three versions of your new creation. If you like one, click the green check. The app saves the image, and you get another choice of the mashup.

A menu on the right has other ways to manipulate the picture. You can move the sliders in each category—clothes, hair/eyes, facial hair, race, expression/emotion, brightness/saturation, color, age/gender, and rotation. There are many ways to modify the image. Click save at any point to keep a copy in your account.

You can also use your own pics for more than just faces. If you click the green plus sign on the right of the main screen, you can create images and videos or upload your own photos. The app goes beyond people with the ability to merge and manipulate animals, landscapes, and buildings. Create hybrid characters for your shifter novels, avatars for your D&D campaign, or settings for your novel. (Psst, you only get three uploads and five downloads with the free account.)

There are also custom genes (traits) for all categories. You might start with a modern building and manipulate it into a castle with towers. Or perhaps your simple anime girl becomes a ferocious dragon with enormous eyes. The possibilities are limitless.

The controls on the app are pretty simple, with icons for tagging, up and downloading, favoriting, and saving. We could do a three-block post on this app, but you all get the picture—pun intended.

Note: give yourself a time limit with this app. You might find yourself down the rabbit hole if you don’t!

 

 

This Person Does Not Exist

 

 

Let’s talk about characters.

Many writers are graced with the ability to create a unique character with photographic quality descriptions. Then there are writers like me. “Uh, he had brown hair and brown eyes??” Or I pick a celebrity to model their looks. Wow, yes, I’m that bad.

Lucky for me, there are great tools/sites out there to flesh out my characters and make them exceptional. In the next few weeks, we will examine a few character-generating sites/tools.

First up is the simplest. The site is called This Person Does Not Exist. https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ Throw the site address into your browser, and a photo of a person will appear. The image is random. You will get a man, woman, or child with any skin tone that exists. And that person does not exist. The generation mashes images together seamlessly to create a photo of a fictional person, the perfect for inspiration to create interesting characters. (I have no idea what other uses you might have for this site. No idea.)

Don’t like the image? No problem. Refresh the page until you click with one of the non-people. You can save the pic for reference for your story. If you would like to use the photo, contact the web creator. After you load the image, a small box will appear at the bottom of the page. There is a Contact Me and also a Patreon page.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, the site is completely random. You can’t ask it to give you images of red-headed children or different ethnicities. It’s a great jumping-off point to original characters and new ideas.

 

 

Gratitude for Authors

 

 

This app is perfect for mediation, reflection, and grounding yourself. You can use it to create goals, visions of your future, and yoga practice. Let’s get creative about how you, as an author, can tweak this great app for use beyond a gratitude journal.

I’m a list-maker. The app is not designed for notes, but the cute color pallet makes me want to add all my notes to it. Here are a couple of ideas for lists/notes.

Color-code your ideas/tasks. Use different colors to denote ideas, tasks, or to-do items. Since you can add multiple lines to one entry, you can put down as many tasks or ideas as you need. The colors will be easy to track when you return to use the data.

Tracking your days. Again, with color-coding, you can track your days. Perhaps use blue for a writing day. Green was a sick day or one for exercise. One glance at the list will show your routine and where you might need adjustments.

Affirmations actually work. Positive self-talk changes your brain. I’m not a spiritual person, but the science is there, so I believe it. Use the affirmation folders to create “playlists” of positive words. Create lists of words, phrases, and tips to help with any upcoming event. Deadline—use these five. Event—use these other five. Writer’s Block—listen to these phrases.

Vision Boards work for writers in so many ways. You can use this simple tool to create a collage of your novel. Unlike Pinterest, this app has a note aspect to add information and details. It’s not just a clip of pictures. You can add scenery boards, character boards, and event snaps. Watch anytime you are stuck or looking for a new angle for your book.

And, of course, you can just use the app for self-care. We authors tend to be isolated and have imposter syndrome. Use this cute, simple app to help you be in a better place mentally.