You can tie a ribbon on, make sure it is a comfortable length for writing/doodling, then tie or glue the pen on. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials for projects like this.
Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Another good tip is to decide where your characters differ from the species to be unique, or forms of entertainment in the world.
Boot up a Ubuntu live CD install and go into try without installing, then when it has started up, go to parted, find the partition with Ubuntu on it and...
Get a bunch of papers or however many you need -- I'd recommend 100 sheets. Then get two pieces of cardboard that are the same size as your papers and...