Free Generators

I’m excited to finally reveal a project that I have had in the works for awhile–generators for character personality traits and scents.

I’ve seen a lot of personality generators out there, but they have always left me frustrated by allowing rolls to come up with lists that contain direct contradictions. Example: Mr. Sexy Hero is messy and tidy, shy, but bold. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!

So step number one was to create a generator that hopefully won’t give you blatant contradictions. I also combed through lots of personality research to identify a variety of core personality traits. There are a lot in there, so you should be seeing a nice array each time you role.

If you have already looked at the gens, you will notice that there are two side by side. Here is why: good stories take work. We all know that in the end of a romance the two leads are going to hook up. It’s a story about “how” not “if.” So here is my idea: roll for your two leads until a combination comes up that doesn’t make sense. Why would these two people fall for each other? How? That’s the story worth telling.

And now for the scent generator. How often do we wreck our minds as romance writers, trying to come up with the hero or heroine’s patent sexy smell? There are not many scent generators out there, so I thought I would do my own. I did see one, but it listed some pretty abstract words like “regret” and “sin” and “sky.” I don’t know what those are supposed to smell like, so I am sticking with basic scents, all derived from nouns.

There is an option for more traditionally masculine scents (this will pull from lists I found describing male colognes, aftershaves, deodorants, etc) and the feminine option will pull more traditionally female scents (think lighter, more floral scents taken from women’s perfume and soap descriptions). There is a lot of overlap. I didn’t think it was fair to only have ladies smelling like flowers. What if your dude is a gardner?

These lists are extensive. I think I must have read through every single perfume and essential oil description on the internet to list as many unique smells as possible. Some of the combinations are fairly sensical (cinnamon and balsam–mmm! ) and some require a little imagination (freshly baked bread and metal–is he a baker working on a stainless steel countertop?). Either way, I think these are fun, and I hope you enjoy playing around with them!

Let me know if you like them. I am planning to do more in the future.