[NikOK]

So, I thought it might be fun to make a topic about weird skills/knowledge that people on the forum might have from real life.  Like, if someone was writing something and they wanted to ask a question, there might be somebody here who oddly knows a thing or two about it.  I figure that everyone probably knows a ton of stuff, and maybe we can use our powers combined 

One for me is that I used to work in a genetics lab.  I can't tell you the number of movies I have seen where I was just like, man, if they wanted to add some genetics in their plot, I wish they would ask somebody about it.  (Looking at you Jurassic Park...)

Heh, I don't know, may be a bad idea, but I just thought that a forum of authors probably has a lot of stored up know-how that might be handy for people writing specific things.

 

[jvin248]

.

Engineering, product and manufacturing
Farming
Guitar building / playing
Beer brewing
Knife making
Primitive weapon making
Bee keeping
Apocalypse prepping

Fantasy/swords & sorcery genre
Science Fiction genre
Vampire genre

.

 

[NikOK]

.

Engineering, product and manufacturing
Farming
Guitar building / playing
Beer brewing
Knife making
Primitive weapon making
Bee keeping
Apocalypse prepping

Fantasy/swords & sorcery genre
Science Fiction genre
Vampire genre

.

Ha, now I want to write a character who is a beer brewing knife maker. Also, that's a pretty awesome list.

 

[mojomikey]

Fire lieutenant, co-captain rope rescue team, urban search team, hax-mat officer, paramedic.
Record store owner, restaurant owner, cook, trivia question writer, screen printing.

Model railroading, subway history, stamp collecting, home brewing here too.

 

[NikOK]

I guess I should add a list then.  I've had some experience with:

Organic vegetable farming
Have a botany and biotechnology degree
Was briefly a struggling musician professionally
Forestry work and invasive species management
Being a mechanic on farm vehicles
Worked in a genetics labratory
Kickboxing enthusiast

So, if anyone ever had any questions about plants, the music industry, or just how to go through life as a semi-doofy human being, then I would always be glad to help.

 

[Jena H]

So, if anyone ever had any questions about plants, the music industry, or just how to go through life as a semi-doofy human being, then I would always be glad to help.

I have decades of experience at this myself.

 

[Crayola]

I used my childhood fascination with fire, chemistry, brewing and distilling to make a character who starred in a series of books in the post apoc world.

 

[RockWhitehouse]

Reading typewritten text upside down.

Learned it back in the AF days so I knew what the officer/NCO was about to tell me before they actually did.

 

[unkownwriter]

I taught myself to read upside down while in school. Somewhere along the seventh or eighth grade. I could also write very legibly lefthanded on a blackboard.

I guess I'm sort of a jack of all trades, mistress of none. I can do a little bit of a lot of things, or at least make a stab at it. I am apparently excellent at raising children, though.

 

[NikOK]

I taught myself to read upside down while in school. Somewhere along the seventh or eighth grade. I could also write very legibly lefthanded on a blackboard.

I guess I'm sort of a jack of all trades, mistress of none. I can do a little bit of a lot of things, or at least make a stab at it. I am apparently excellent at raising children, though.

Ha, well that's definitely the most important skill of all of them.

 

[Carol (was Dara)]

My areas of expertise are:

Fast food (spent 4 years selling tacos)
Graphic design (specific programs)
Online publishing (been indie publishing since 2011)
Pets (ferrets, gerbils, hamsters, iguanas, rabbits, birds, snakes, turtles, frogs, fish, dogs, cats)

 

[VisitasKeat]

Odd skills would be stuff you can't claim in CV, not even in hobbies section.

I would say Handwriting Analysis AKA Graphology is something that I'm naturally talented at. I once predicted to a friend that she would get pregnant by looking at the lower zone. In a couple of months, she got pregnant. 'g' nicely looped and curled in the lower zone as it "bore" the child. 

I'm reminded of this as my WIP, 16th fantasy episode, is little bit graphology based as the story revolves around a blackmail letter. So, MC and her friends use graphology concepts in addition to social media to bust the stalker.

 

[Starcatcher]

I've read, watched, and played through enough stories I can usually predict plot twists, like the Umbrella Academy season 1 plot twist. I obviously can be wrong and not see something coming but I know almost every trope a story can use. It can help when I want to avoid a cliche but it does make foreshadowing a nightmare because I don't know if I made something too obvious or not obvious enough.

I was thinking of reworking my story a little to include a character based around that, sort of as a running joke. She'll sometimes show up and say something like, "I have a weird feeling that you should ___" or, "I feel as though you aren't noticing this significant thing."