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Q&A The polymath's dilemma...?

I think most people identify better with someone who has failings - as noted by other respondents. Keep in mind the trope "Jack of all trades, master of none". Most "average" people gain a little b...

posted 14y ago by System‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T00:58:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/861
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T00:58:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
I think most people identify better with someone who has failings - as noted by other respondents. Keep in mind the trope "Jack of all trades, master of none". Most "average" people gain a little bit of knowledge in a whole lot of subjects (I know how a hydroelectric power plant works, I can cross-stitch, I know the basics of nutrition and exercise physiology, I am trained in first aid, and I am decent with a watercolor brush... but I am not an engineer, a seamstress, or a doctor, let alone an artist! And our knowledge tends to be extremely specific to one environment or situation. I know people who can use a windows computer at home but not one running a different windows version at work, and if handed a mac they would freeze up.

I'd believe a character who mastered three or four different skills, but if he's coming up with pro-level knowledge of everything he has to do, you might want to scale back. It's fine that he's learned survival skills, but maybe he learned them in an area where staying warm isn't a problem - so if he needs to survive somewhere cold, he'll have to take a moment to reassess before he can get on with survival. Or he knows the basics of growing food, but when faced with a particularly arid or wet or acidic growing environment he has trouble until he learns to apply his skills a different way. We all like characters who have problems, because they make us feel better about our own failings!

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2010-12-15T19:26:42Z (almost 14 years ago)
Original score: 2