You could make a loop in a startup function that fills your array.
Code:

---

STRING* console_strs[20];
function fillstrs_startup()
{
   var s;
   for(s = 0; s < 20; s++)
      console_strs[s] = str_create("#60");
}

---

You wouldn't be able to use console_strs in other startup functions, though.

How, exactly, didn't it work? Did you get an error, or did the strings show up empty somewhere in the script?