Talents and Skills Entry: Charm

Choosing a talent or skill that fits with your character’s personality, lifestyle, and values can go a long way to helping them break free of the common stereotypes seen so often in fiction. This thesaurus will help you find the perfect quality or two that will show readers your character’s uniqueness while also acting as an asset when it comes to goal achievement.

When choosing a talent or skill, think about the personality of your character, his range of experiences and who his role models might have been. Some talents might be genetically imparted while others are created through exposure (such as a character talented at fixing watches from growing up in his father’s watch shop) or grow out of interest (archery, wakeboarding, or magic). Don’t be afraid to be creative and make sure the skill or talent is something that works with the scope of the story. 

Charm

Description: This gift comes from an ability to communicate one’s sincerity and trustworthiness through speech, saying the right thing at the right time to persuade, get out of trouble, or talk oneself into places and events that are off limits. A charming person…

Related Skills: Lying, Manipulation, Public Speaking

Beneficial Strengths or Abilities: being articulate and personable, thinking on one’s feet, having a strong command over one’s own emotions, an easy-going nature, being able to read body language and micro-expressions, displaying calm under pressure, having…

Character Traits Suited for this Skill or Talent: observant, charming, humorous, persuasive, intelligence, friendly, trustworthy…

Required Resources and Training: strong observation of people, understanding where the power lies in a situation, and the emotions at play are key. A person would be required to put significant time into studying one’s environment, people, social norms, and politics to fit in seamlessly. Understanding emotion, educating oneself in psychology …

Scenarios Where this Skill Might be Useful:

• talking oneself out of trouble (with the police, angry neighbors, a girlfriend or boyfriend, employers, etc.)
• mediating tense situations between two reactive parties
• leadership; managing a team or group…

TIP: Choose a talent or skill that makes your character memorable and helps them achieve their goals.

If this is something you’d like to learn more about, you might find these resources helpful. You can also see the full collection of talent and skill entries in their entirety at One Stop For Writers, where all our thesauruses are cross-referenced and linked for easy navigation. If you’re interested in seeing a free sampling of the Talent and Skill Thesaurus and our other descriptive collections, head on over and register at One Stop!