Stuff I love: Random Generators
10 Feb 2019 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritWhile I'm here, let's do the thing:
I love random generators! They are my favourite internet creative toy and responsible for many a fic from me, one way or another.
My favourite was the Genremixer, which sadly died, but thankfullyjohn_amend_all stepped in and made another version, the Ersatz Genremixer. It is the one that most works for actually kick-starting fic for me. It's simple, adjustable to your preferences, allows you to put in your own choice of characters, it's sometimes semi-sentient, and altogether delightful.
I typed in a handful of random DW characters and this was what it gave me:
Sarah Jane Smith / Thirteenth Doctor - imprisonment
Polly / Fifth Doctor - exile & fire & Trinkets
Nyssa / Fifth Doctor - Embarrass(ed) & ritual
Clara Oswald / Bill Potts - deus ex machina & anti-hero & washing/cleaning
Harry Sullivan / Clara Oswald - Soul bond & falling
Bill Potts / Polly - Unicorns & Characters as children & Meeting the Family
Bill Potts / Harry Sullivan - crossdressing
Thirteenth Doctor / Zoe Heriot - wish-fulfilment
Martha Jones / Liz Shaw - tsundere
Bill Potts / Clara Oswald - therapy & Heirloom/Antique & possession/mind control
But for hours of amusement, the Unconventional Courtship Generator is probably even more fun. (I think because it gives you summaries, it's like little ridiculous stories in themselves without me having even to write them.) While I've been ill, I have cheered myself up with this more times than I can count, and certainly more times than I have ever written for the results. (Although I have written for the results, including the Steed/Baldrick one thatastrogirl said I couldn't do. Few of them are romantic, but romance is most certainly not required.) It was originally made for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
unconventionalcourtship ficathon (where you write fic based on terrible Mills & Boon type summaries, hence the generator full of them). You can type in your own characters here, too, if you wish to, although it comes pre-populated.
15)THE OFFICER AND THE LADY by DOROTHY ELBURY
Mills & Boon Historical Romance
The Nabob’s Return
An officer in the East India Trading Company, the Eighth Doctor has made a life a world away from England and his father’s malevolence. Now it’s time for Eight to return home.
There, he finds Abraham Van Helsing, who’s worked tirelessly to save the Thornfield estate from ruin. Cold and aloof, Eight gradually thaws as he begins to imagine a new life – with Abraham. But he’s torn – the blistering heat of India will wilt his English rose, unless he can vanquish his demons and find his home at last with him...
(Probably not any less cracky than the original ideas for the TVM, to be fair.)
584) Goddess of Fate by Alexandra Sokoloff
Fated to Fall in Love…
Tegan Jovanka doesn’t believe in fate. Especially when ‘Fate’ is supposedly a gorgeous goddess named Sapphire who claims to be her guardian, assigned from birth to watch over her.
Sapphire is meant to protect her mortal charges… not fall in love with them. But when Tegan is shot dead, her protective instincts are matched by a deeper need. To save her life, Sapphire must convince Tegan to believe who she is and trust her to help her.
But with just one day to do so, time is running out for Sapphire to prove that love really can alter fate…
(Steel is looking very disapproving.)
55) HIS INHERITED WIFE by BARBARA MACMAHON
Inheriting half of her late husband’s company means Romanadvoratrelundar is now the Fourth Doctor’s business partner – to their mutal dismay!
Working together, they are forced to confront their growing attraction. Then Romana discovers that Four promised her late husband he’d take care of her.
Romana doesn’t want a relationship based on obligation. If she were to marry again, it would only be for love. But can Four convince her that he isn’t acting purely out of duty?
(!!! By her late husband here do we mean the White Guardian???)
Other generators that I am very fond of and/or find extremely useful:
this Bingo generator, which came viaallbingo, which I've used for both of the bingos I've run.
They Fight Crime (Just for the lols mainly: "He's a bookish small-town gentleman spy from a doomed world. She's a violent hip-hop nun from a secret island of warrior women. They fight crime!")
The Doctor Who Random Pairing Generator (the cause of a lot of DW fic from me once upon a time. Although, as with me and the UC generator, very rarely actually romantic, and still a favourite.)
The Cakefic Generator (cakefic is important!)
Probably one I should look at now, for my thingies, an Element Pairing Generator
And I have made an awful lot of use over the years of the random poetry generator for making prompts for memes and comms and things (despite its Emily Dickinson fixation).
I love random generators! They are my favourite internet creative toy and responsible for many a fic from me, one way or another.
My favourite was the Genremixer, which sadly died, but thankfully
john_amend_all stepped in and made another version, the Ersatz Genremixer. It is the one that most works for actually kick-starting fic for me. It's simple, adjustable to your preferences, allows you to put in your own choice of characters, it's sometimes semi-sentient, and altogether delightful.I typed in a handful of random DW characters and this was what it gave me:
Sarah Jane Smith / Thirteenth Doctor - imprisonment
Polly / Fifth Doctor - exile & fire & Trinkets
Nyssa / Fifth Doctor - Embarrass(ed) & ritual
Clara Oswald / Bill Potts - deus ex machina & anti-hero & washing/cleaning
Harry Sullivan / Clara Oswald - Soul bond & falling
Bill Potts / Polly - Unicorns & Characters as children & Meeting the Family
Bill Potts / Harry Sullivan - crossdressing
Thirteenth Doctor / Zoe Heriot - wish-fulfilment
Martha Jones / Liz Shaw - tsundere
Bill Potts / Clara Oswald - therapy & Heirloom/Antique & possession/mind control
But for hours of amusement, the Unconventional Courtship Generator is probably even more fun. (I think because it gives you summaries, it's like little ridiculous stories in themselves without me having even to write them.) While I've been ill, I have cheered myself up with this more times than I can count, and certainly more times than I have ever written for the results. (Although I have written for the results, including the Steed/Baldrick one that
astrogirl said I couldn't do. Few of them are romantic, but romance is most certainly not required.) It was originally made for unconventionalcourtship ficathon (where you write fic based on terrible Mills & Boon type summaries, hence the generator full of them). You can type in your own characters here, too, if you wish to, although it comes pre-populated.15)THE OFFICER AND THE LADY by DOROTHY ELBURY
Mills & Boon Historical Romance
The Nabob’s Return
An officer in the East India Trading Company, the Eighth Doctor has made a life a world away from England and his father’s malevolence. Now it’s time for Eight to return home.
There, he finds Abraham Van Helsing, who’s worked tirelessly to save the Thornfield estate from ruin. Cold and aloof, Eight gradually thaws as he begins to imagine a new life – with Abraham. But he’s torn – the blistering heat of India will wilt his English rose, unless he can vanquish his demons and find his home at last with him...
(Probably not any less cracky than the original ideas for the TVM, to be fair.)
584) Goddess of Fate by Alexandra Sokoloff
Fated to Fall in Love…
Tegan Jovanka doesn’t believe in fate. Especially when ‘Fate’ is supposedly a gorgeous goddess named Sapphire who claims to be her guardian, assigned from birth to watch over her.
Sapphire is meant to protect her mortal charges… not fall in love with them. But when Tegan is shot dead, her protective instincts are matched by a deeper need. To save her life, Sapphire must convince Tegan to believe who she is and trust her to help her.
But with just one day to do so, time is running out for Sapphire to prove that love really can alter fate…
(Steel is looking very disapproving.)
55) HIS INHERITED WIFE by BARBARA MACMAHON
Inheriting half of her late husband’s company means Romanadvoratrelundar is now the Fourth Doctor’s business partner – to their mutal dismay!
Working together, they are forced to confront their growing attraction. Then Romana discovers that Four promised her late husband he’d take care of her.
Romana doesn’t want a relationship based on obligation. If she were to marry again, it would only be for love. But can Four convince her that he isn’t acting purely out of duty?
(!!! By her late husband here do we mean the White Guardian???)
Other generators that I am very fond of and/or find extremely useful:
this Bingo generator, which came via
allbingo, which I've used for both of the bingos I've run.They Fight Crime (Just for the lols mainly: "He's a bookish small-town gentleman spy from a doomed world. She's a violent hip-hop nun from a secret island of warrior women. They fight crime!")
The Doctor Who Random Pairing Generator (the cause of a lot of DW fic from me once upon a time. Although, as with me and the UC generator, very rarely actually romantic, and still a favourite.)
The Cakefic Generator (cakefic is important!)
Probably one I should look at now, for my thingies, an Element Pairing Generator
And I have made an awful lot of use over the years of the random poetry generator for making prompts for memes and comms and things (despite its Emily Dickinson fixation).
no subject
Date: 11 Feb 2019 09:08 am (UTC)You can never have too many prompts, right?
ETA: Second Doctor / Fifth Doctor - locked in & food porn & bodyswap
I just read the list again and started giggling at this one.
no subject
Date: 11 Feb 2019 10:51 am (UTC)I also got this out of one run, which is just, it would be entertaining to see a fic that managed to put all these things in the same story: Fifth Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon - coffee shop au & swashbuckler & sex pollen
Mostly it got very brain-breaky when I included NSFW prompts, though. Especially as it still insisted on pairing up Two and Five a lot!
no subject
Date: 11 Feb 2019 08:25 pm (UTC)That coffee shop AU would definitely be more exciting than most! (I think Jamie and Five are both looking worried, but Jamie is at least reassured that there will be food in this AU, so that's okay.)
Mostly it got very brain-breaky when I included NSFW prompts, though. Especially as it still insisted on pairing up Two and Five a lot!
I tend to leave those out, too, but I really love that it has the option to have one or the other or both. Adjustability is an excellent thing in a generator!