Does the main character in your WIP have a particular skill?
If you could instantly become skilled at something, what would it be?
23 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Skilled”
If I could be instantly skilled at something it would be: bluegrass banjo picker, visual artist (drawing/painting); maker of leather products; physical therapist; naturalpathic doctor. For starters. 😎
Oh, yeah. I’d love to be able to pick a guitar like Doc Watson.
Marketing.
Yes. I was thinking as I read today’s question–I wouldn’t want to automatically be skilled in writing because the journey is the whole thing. But it would be nice to be instantly skilled in all the business side/marketing stuff.
The best marketing is between the covers of your books. 😎
. . . and between the covers of my next book.
Some wise person once (or twice) said that …
My MC has eidetic memory. She has memorized the “word of the day’” calendar. The reason I gave her this super power was tongue in cheek – one of the reviews of an earlier novel said “the author uses too many words I didn’t know.” So in the MS, my main character also recites the meaning of the word. Just my way of giving back lol
Oh – and I’d love to be instantly skilled at song writing!
Does the main character in your WIP have a particular skill?
Yes, many. And she keeps learning new skills in every novel.
If you could instantly become skilled at something, what would it be?
Gotta agree with Debbie. Marketing.
I wish I could sing.
My main character is good at knowing what skills others have and utilizing their strengths.
I have considerable range, but there are discontinuities, leaving my voice suitable only for yodeling.
Along with research, my librarian-heroine Meg Booker’s skills also include lock picking and roller skating.
Less a skill than an innate talent, but I’d love to have an eidetic memory.
For me, definitely singing…couldn’t carry a tune if the bottom of the bucket was solid.
My protag is skilled at tactics, using weapons, and knowing which muscles to use when doing physical feats.
I’d love to sing too.
My MC is an accomplished pilot. She once rescued a hostage by dropping a can of red paint from her plane onto a moving car.
Piano. I’d love to be able to play Rhapsody in Blue.
Me, too! Thus, the photo for this post.
The photo inspired me. Gershwin was so enormously talented, and Rhapsody in Blue is such a uniquely American piece. I understand Gershwin partially improvised the piano solo at the original performance and didn’t write it down until afterward.
I may change my desired skill to “composing music” rather than “playing the piano.” May as well shoot for the moon.
Yes, the main character in my unpublished bibliomystery is a bookbinder who also works in a huge used-book store. (I am a part-time bookbinder and bookstore employee.) The books I repair and rebind have been well-used and well-loved by their owners–Study Bibles, for example, with 20 years of notes in the margins. As for “instant” skills–I’ve often thought that lock-picking would be useful.
My series hero, Mike Romeo, would agree. He learned to pick locks when he worked for an eccentric PI named Joey Feint.
Love that character’s last name, Jim. It’s perfect for what he does . . . and I’m not talking about Romeo. (Although, his name works, too-sometimes!)
My MC, Annie, is great at following her own rules for living. Until they don’t work anymore and plunge her into a fenceless abyss of fear.
Hmm . . . what skill would I like to have?
Mind-reading.
Or not . . . could be scary.
My character, Angela Richman, is a certified medicolegal death investigator. I would like to read and play music, especially the piano.
Late to the party. Ah, well:
ⓆDoes the MC in your WIP have a particular skill?
ⒶLuce Bentham, 37, is the daughter of a long-dead local sheriff and is also a descendant of “Mad Monty” Bentham, sheriff in the 1800s. Her main skill is teaching youngsters and the illiterate deputy who has just replaced the recently shot sheriff. The city council want her to take the position, but she has refused. She has two other skills: 1. telling when kids are lying, and 2. a skill that won’t be revealed until she finds out who killed both of those lawmen.
ⓆWhat would you want to instantly become skilled at?
ⒶI’ve written a couple of songs and would like to do others. We still have a Sohmer piano, so if my hands were up to the stresses of playing it, that would be good. I’d like to know a language or two, maybe German or Chinese. But mostly I’d like to know more psychology, the greatest science.
If I could be instantly skilled at something it would be: bluegrass banjo picker, visual artist (drawing/painting); maker of leather products; physical therapist; naturalpathic doctor. For starters. 😎
Oh, yeah. I’d love to be able to pick a guitar like Doc Watson.
Marketing.
Yes. I was thinking as I read today’s question–I wouldn’t want to automatically be skilled in writing because the journey is the whole thing. But it would be nice to be instantly skilled in all the business side/marketing stuff.
The best marketing is between the covers of your books. 😎
. . . and between the covers of my next book.
Some wise person once (or twice) said that …
My MC has eidetic memory. She has memorized the “word of the day’” calendar. The reason I gave her this super power was tongue in cheek – one of the reviews of an earlier novel said “the author uses too many words I didn’t know.” So in the MS, my main character also recites the meaning of the word. Just my way of giving back lol
Oh – and I’d love to be instantly skilled at song writing!
Does the main character in your WIP have a particular skill?
Yes, many. And she keeps learning new skills in every novel.
If you could instantly become skilled at something, what would it be?
Gotta agree with Debbie. Marketing.
I wish I could sing.
My main character is good at knowing what skills others have and utilizing their strengths.
I have considerable range, but there are discontinuities, leaving my voice suitable only for yodeling.
Along with research, my librarian-heroine Meg Booker’s skills also include lock picking and roller skating.
Less a skill than an innate talent, but I’d love to have an eidetic memory.
For me, definitely singing…couldn’t carry a tune if the bottom of the bucket was solid.
My protag is skilled at tactics, using weapons, and knowing which muscles to use when doing physical feats.
I’d love to sing too.
My MC is an accomplished pilot. She once rescued a hostage by dropping a can of red paint from her plane onto a moving car.
Piano. I’d love to be able to play Rhapsody in Blue.
Me, too! Thus, the photo for this post.
The photo inspired me. Gershwin was so enormously talented, and Rhapsody in Blue is such a uniquely American piece. I understand Gershwin partially improvised the piano solo at the original performance and didn’t write it down until afterward.
I may change my desired skill to “composing music” rather than “playing the piano.” May as well shoot for the moon.
Yes, the main character in my unpublished bibliomystery is a bookbinder who also works in a huge used-book store. (I am a part-time bookbinder and bookstore employee.) The books I repair and rebind have been well-used and well-loved by their owners–Study Bibles, for example, with 20 years of notes in the margins. As for “instant” skills–I’ve often thought that lock-picking would be useful.
My series hero, Mike Romeo, would agree. He learned to pick locks when he worked for an eccentric PI named Joey Feint.
Love that character’s last name, Jim. It’s perfect for what he does . . . and I’m not talking about Romeo. (Although, his name works, too-sometimes!)
My MC, Annie, is great at following her own rules for living. Until they don’t work anymore and plunge her into a fenceless abyss of fear.
Hmm . . . what skill would I like to have?
Mind-reading.
Or not . . . could be scary.
My character, Angela Richman, is a certified medicolegal death investigator. I would like to read and play music, especially the piano.
Late to the party. Ah, well:
ⓆDoes the MC in your WIP have a particular skill?
ⒶLuce Bentham, 37, is the daughter of a long-dead local sheriff and is also a descendant of “Mad Monty” Bentham, sheriff in the 1800s. Her main skill is teaching youngsters and the illiterate deputy who has just replaced the recently shot sheriff. The city council want her to take the position, but she has refused. She has two other skills: 1. telling when kids are lying, and 2. a skill that won’t be revealed until she finds out who killed both of those lawmen.
ⓆWhat would you want to instantly become skilled at?
ⒶI’ve written a couple of songs and would like to do others. We still have a Sohmer piano, so if my hands were up to the stresses of playing it, that would be good. I’d like to know a language or two, maybe German or Chinese. But mostly I’d like to know more psychology, the greatest science.