Connections

I'm one story behind already.

Yesterday was sucky, where nothing I planned worked out. So. I'll have to write two on the weekend; no way am I doing it tomorrow, I gotta werk.

But you know, I'm writing these stories, six in all, and there of different people, in different time frames, about different things, and I can't help but feel they're all connected.

Oh, okay, sure, the connection is me, because I wrote them. But I don't mean that. They feel connected. So I'm wondering if the last story I write does, indeed blend them all together. One massive more-than-a-short-story-less-of-a-novella piece.

Or it could be I thought of connecting them all before I wrote the first and the idea won't die. I tossed the idea, originally, because I didn't want to write a whole bunch of vignettes.

Anyway, today was a Necromancer, in the Arctic, and about the effects of alien contact. Tomorrow? Well... there's the peasant with uncanny abilities in a land where magic is forbidden and it's about surrender. Or... there's the bodyguard in the jail in ancient times and it's about acceptance; a word is important. Or how about the female brewer in a machine in the future, where a pot plant is important and the story is about illusion?

I'll have to think on them, try and come up with a nifty twist. One thing I can say about story generators: they sure come up with some strange ideas...

Name game

Story number four is done and I'm checking out the generator for tomorrow's piece.

One thing though: It's great to have the protagonist - gender and occupation - a time frame, place and an important item chosen for you, but names... that's where the problems lie.

I mean, think about it: thirty-one stories, three characters minimum (protag, sidekick and villain). That's ninety-three first names, 186 if you give them a surname. And the number grows the more characters you toss in.

But... I no complain. There are some wonderful sites out there in cyber space just waiting for me to use. 20,000 Names has names from around the world, so if you want something a little unusual, try one from a different nation and corrupt it.

Baby Names will give you the most popular names, celebrity names or there's the 'cool name lists'. You could choose a name from, say Shakespeare, a spooky name, biblical names, and so on.

The National Hurricane Centre has some nifty names too; storm names nominated by various countries.

Want to know about names? Their meanings and or origins, ancient or modern? Behind the Name can tell you; and there are buckets of names.

Of course, the Seventh Sanctum doesn't just deal with story prompt, it has name generators, too; a whole list of name generators.

So there you go: more names than you can shake a whippy stick at! All you have to do is match an exotic, or not so exotic, name to your character.

Slow start

It took me all day to write two thousand words.

I'd write a sentence or two, then get up and do something else. Not because I was distracted by bringing the laundry in, or making coffee, or lunch, or watching the teev or getting the papers, but because I couldn't think of what came next.

It all came together in the end, but it sure as hell took a significant amount of time! Much to my frustration. The generators are throwing up some real twisted prompts that require some deep thought to... defeat without violating the intent. Of course, it's the twist at the end that's causing the most difficulty.

Still, it's not all bad news, it's early in the story-a-day marathon, and I'm confident things will improve, be it in style or in creativity. Because that's what I like about the marathon, it gets the creative juices flowing.

I may be out of practice - given I missed last year - but practice will improve my skills, so take note young Padwans! Practice your craft, you must, if your destiny you will find.

Tomorrow will be better. If I chose something tonight, I can think on it overnight; that's the plan anyway...