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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/813
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## When has the character picked up too many skills and interests to be found realistic?

At the point you seem to be describing, he already has. In this reader's view, anyway. But that does not mean readers can't identify with him or like him or that he can't carry us through the book. We have a large capacity to not just love MacGyvers and da Vincis but to also root for and feel for them, in both created life and real life.

A character out of control might truly be in need of a down-dressing or a heartbreaking deletion. If you're writing about, say, Paul Robeson, however, the key might not be to downplay his talents but to let readers know how he earned them. Even if the character is unbelievably polymathic, the solution might be to let her go on being that way while making sure readers have reason to gladly suspend disbelief. You have all of the tools of story at your disposal for reinforcement or, if you choose to go about it as such, for diversion: themes, plot, interactions, setting, other characters, the same character's other and perhaps less than revered traits, ...

As readers, we're content-- sometimes thrilled-- to let plenty of clearly fictional qualities slide when we're enjoying the rest of the fiction.

Original score: 0