Talents and skills are great things to consider when developing characters. You might also want to use it to think about your own talents and how you would describe yourself!
A person’s talents, whether public or private, wide-ranging or quite specific, universally valued or unfairly disregarded. are central to their identity and character. The list below includes not just talents that may lead a person to pursue a career or hobby, but talents that may be less easily measured—those that are often known as “people skills” or “soft skills.”
If you think you might need this list later, pin it on Pinterest or bookmark it! Even though I’ve broken these down into categories, I know there’s a lot of overlap, and there may be some that you would’ve put under a different heading.
125 Talents and Skills
Artistic and Creative Skills
1. painting
2. writing
3. storytelling
4. dancing
5. dressmaking
6. blacksmithing
7. graphic design
8. acting
9. architecture
10. woodworking
11. singing
12. composing music
13. knitting
14. jewelry-making
15. leather-working
16. pottery
17. hairstyling
18. origami
19.calligraphy
20. playing a musical instrument
21. carving pumpkins
22. interior decorating
23. photo or video editing
24. brewing
25. winemaking
26. cooking
27. baking
Athletic Talents and Physical Skills
28. hunting
29. shooting
30.archery
31. skipping stones
32. gathering
33. fishing
34. swimming
35. horseback riding
36. swordfighting
37. firefighting
38. acrobatics
- running
40. boxing
41. wrestling
42. juggling
43. ice skating
44. jumping
45. climbing
46. hiking
People Skills
47. leading business meetings
48. listening
49. persuading people
50. charming people
51. parenting
52. teaching
53. comforting others
54. debating
55. peacemaking
56. negotiating
57. public speaking
58. telling jokes
59. keeping secrets
60. getting people to tell their secrets
Academic and Intellectual Skills
61. spelling
62. physics
63. learning foreign languages
64. memorizing things
65. logic
66. speed-reading
67. herbology
68. mathematics
69. cartography
70. navigating
71. computer coding
72. bookkeeping
73. investing
74. researching
75. playing chess
76. diagnosing illness
77. solving crimes
Morally Dubious Talents
78. cheating
79. forgery
80. lying
81. disguising oneself
82. spying
83. gambling
84. stealing
85. computer hacking
86. safecracking
87. hypnotizing
88. sneaking
89. cursing people
90. assassinating people
Other Talents and Skills
91. waiting tables
92. rhyming
93. lip reading
94. being able to take a nap anywhere
95. roofing
96. cleaning
97. repairing things
98. flying a plane or helicopter
99. sailing
100. mining
101. plumbing
102. farming
103. stone masonry
104. whistling
105. planning
106. budgeting
107. falconry
108. herding sheep
109. palm reading
110. seeing long distances
111. knot-making
112. driving
113. predicting the weather
114. hypotizing
115. surgery
116. gem-cutting
117. bridge-building
118. spinning wool
119. shoemaking
120. horse training
121. dog training
122. surgery
123. doing manicures and pedicures
124. massaging
125. kissing
I hope this list of talents is helpful in developing characters for your screenplay or novel…or for thinking about your own talents and skills! If you are using this for character development, keep in mind that readers or viewers can sometimes balk at characters who just seem to be good at, well, everything. At the very least, you want to be realistic about how they got good at what they’re good at (unless they were born with it or acquired it in some supernatural way—psychic powers or superpowers, for instance).
If you write fantasy novels, note that some the traits on this list may be characteristic of a whole community or culture. When you’re writing something with an ensemble cast, though, giving different characters different strengths can make things interesting. And if your characters find out about someone’s hidden talent, that can be a lot of fun.
If you have any other suggestions for kinds of talents people have (or you have), please add them in the comments section!
And if you don’t have it already, you might want to grab a copy of Master Lists for Writers. It’s full of inspiration for character development, description, plotting, and more. We’ve talked to bestselling authors who consult it all the time!
Thanks so much for reading, you talented person, and have a great week!921
This is but a starter list – a remarkably good starter list though. Given that the Olympics are running right now, I can think of 3 more off the top of my head: swimming, diving, gymnastics.
Then also: photography, puzzle solving, survivalist, model building, pet grooming (or is that subsumed by hair styling?), organizing, observant (as distinct from being able to see, but realizing that you have seen, of things or of people or of events), carving (in general, not just pumpkins), dyeing, flirting (etc, it’s a skill which some of us are good at, and some – not), conversation, making friends,…
I like your additions! No reason one would ever have to stop adding to a list like this one.
Hi Gill and Bryn, thanks for the great list. I hope you both have a wonderful week. BTW – Master List for Writers is a superb resource.
Hi Savannah! Thanks for reading and I agree completely about Master List for Writers! I’d agree even if I didn’t know its author intimately, since I can’t seem to finish writing anything without consulting it once or twenty times.
Gill and Bryn, thanks for the great ideas on talents. One that caught my attention was “skipping stones.” Great memories with my children at the lake. My husband is a stone skipper deluxe. Once I found a rock when we returned from vacation. My child informed me it was a skippin’ stone. It was a good one, too. Smooth and flat and just the right size.
Aunt Vi tells about her mother reading tea leaves. Aunt Vi had children of her own before she realized that it was her mother’s way of giving counsel to her children. After all, if the tea leaves said danger would befall you at a party, you wouldn’t go!
One of my own UN-talents is hair cutting. When my boys were young, they called it a “prayer cut” because that’s how we had to start.
Another UN-talent of mine is multi-tasking. When I multi-task, I burn the rice.
Thanks, Jessie! By the way, Bryn and I recently spent a few days with a nephew of ours who’s discovered a talent for skipping stones. Fun to see how much satisfaction he takes in getting more than a half dozen skips.
That is amazing talent! More than six skips! Personally, I feel a great accomplishment if I get more than two.
Great and diverse list Gill! I always wanted to learn to make great pizzas, so maybe I’d add pizza-making to the list.
Thanks, Chris! Making great pizzas would indeed be a great talent to possess! I’ll add it.
fantastic list, Gill!
denise
Thanks so much! I enjoyed putting it together.
On a US Census entry Lillibet – Does as she pleases.
This is 124. Hypnotize is there twice.