The Day Job Challenge: Confession (and Character Builders #19, 20, 21 & 22)

I fell off the wagon, guys.

A few days ago, my housemate lent me her 3DS and this stupidly addictive game. When I get my hands on a video game, I don't stop until the final boss evaporates into pixels. Then I worked a weird shift at work. One thing led to another, and I haven't written for two days.

It doesn't matter why we stop writing- something as dumb as a video game or something as earth-shaking as a tragedy- eventually, we just have to pick up and start again.

"But I've already wrecked it," you (or I) might be tempted to say.

That's okay. Statistically speaking, we won't be able to succeed one hundred percent of the time. But if we don't come back at it when we don't succeed, we never will.

So the Day Job Challenge begins anew- ten minutes a day, every day. Even if you're stuck in a boss fight, you can pause the game. (Yeah, Cate, pause the game.)

To help you on your way, here comes a character builder!

Your character has a baby to name. What level of regard do they give the process? How creative are they? What would they ultimately pick? 

Your character is so attached to an inanimate object that they name it. What is the object? What is the name? How is this process compared to the one above? 


I think it's fairly telling if your character feels an instantaneous connection to a name for their car, but shrug and pick the most popular name for a kid. What object they pick also says an enormous amount about their personality. A famous example in nerddom is Firefly's Jayne, whose favorite gun is named Vera. I suspect if you handed him a baby and told him to name it, he would likely either name it after the gun or shrug. On the other hand, if your character stresses over the responsibility of assigning a name to a human being, that also opens up some questions. Do they have a creative name which got them tossed in trash cans in school? Were they one of seven Zachs in their class? Are they the sort of person for whom deciding what to have for dinner causes anguish, or is this an abnormal amount of stress?

Bonus!
Your character has a new pet to name. Is it a Sparky or a Whiskers, or do they weigh their options more?

Your character must name a fictional character. What would they pick? How invested in the decision are they? 

If you're really bored, then their character could name another fictional character, and the process could go on like a literary Escher piece. Character-ception?

All prompts on this blog are free for personal and instructional use, but may not be republished without the permission of the author.