Wanted: Experts in Anything

If you're an expert at something (anything) then I need your help!

As you may know, I like to write. I'd like to help support our family through writing (with enough income that Matt can find a less demanding job). I'm taking baby-steps to get there, one of which is the existence of my writing blog (if you haven't visited it yet, click here).

While most of my current writing is non-fiction (articles and essays), my dream is to write novels. With that in mind, I try to incorporate fiction tips on my writing blog. On the 8th of every month I'm going to feature "Tips From The Pros".

Instead of offering writing tips, I want to provide tips from other professions - bits of info from your world that will help me (and the writers who follow my blog) create realistic characters. I decided to do this because I'm SO tired of reading novels where the main characters are writers or teachers. These seem to be favorites (probably because their the jobs with which most writers are familiar).

This is where you come in - tell me about yourself. Do you have a job that you've never seen in a book (or on a TV show)? Then tell me about it! I have no idea what city planners, sommeliers, or civil engineers do - what may seem mundane to you will be informative to me!

What about your hobbies or crafts? Do you do something different than everyone else?

Or maybe you do something "normal", but from your own angle? It could be that you're a female lawyer who's NEVER worn high heels to work. Maybe you have a degree in English and are working as a welder - how did you get there?

What I'm looking for is sort of a "Top Ten" list of things that would make a character more realistic. Feel free to take on the stereotypes and set writers straight. Our goal should be to create unique, yet realistic characters and situations, so the more we know about people, the better characters we can write.

If you're interested in this, please email me at kvbwrites(at)gmail(dot)com. I'd like to get this started in July and will schedule people as I hear from you/receive your lists. If you think you can offer some tips in more than one area, let me know that, too! Let me know if you have any questions - thanks!