Random Name Generator: A Walkthrough of my Writing Space

Hi everybody! I thought a nice way to kick of what will hopefully be more than a one-off project would be to give you a walkthrough of my personal writing space.

I hung a poorly cut paper star award from the Zephyrus (my school paper) staff, in honor of the underground satirical newspaper I founded (The Southern View) and my high school graduation pennant above my desk. The idea was that it would remind me of all I've accomplished and give me extra encouragement. In actuality, the only time I ever look up at it is when loose glitter from the star falls on my keypad.

I strung green bike lights around them, which I turn on when I'm writing, stemming from that old cartoon cliche where a lightbulb turns on above someone's head when they get an idea. I got violently ill an hour after using them the first time, so for awhile I was classically conditioned to feel a little queasy every time I turned them on.

My five favorite books of all time (update: restarting this blog two years later, these are no longer my favorite books. The Great Gatsby is still up there, for better or worse my childhood obsession with The Lightning Thief provided the foundation of my current writing style, I still like High Fidelity and 11/22/63 but they're by no means on my top five list, and Al Franken's book...yeah, that didn't age well.)

And check this out! Funny story behind this, once Al Franken spoke at my high school's Model United Nations Meet and I got the opportunity write about the event for Zephyrus and interview the famed Senator/comedian. Unfortunately, I went a little overboard on lauding Franken's speech (which was awesome) and forgot to write anything about the Model UN meet itself. But at least I got the autograph!

And here we find the titular Random Name Generator!

When I just started out writing I always had trouble coming up with character names that weren't too generic or too weird. The online random name generators never helped, they always spat out names like "Chastity Pembleton," which work for some types of characters but not others. So I made my own by stuffing every business card I could find into an old tissue box!

Of course, whenever I get this one (belonging to my grandfather and namesake) I have to draw again.

Oh, and I've got pens, a broken wind-up Pikachu, a dull pencil sharpener, and a strangely expensive set of paper clips.

Here I've got two folders, one for stories I've edited and for ones I have yet to edit. Not too exciting, but I can't describe how great it feels to move a story from one to the other.

I know it wastes paper (and money, I ran through about twenty dollars of paper and ink last year) but I really like marking up stories.

Speaking of wastes of paper and money, here is my collection of pretentious Moleskin notebooks.

My first journal, which my dad bought for me from a tiny stationary store in China. The little poem on the front cover reads, "A good laugh and a long sleep/Are the best cures in the doctor's book and/Love is a carefully designed lie." Really positive up until the end there.