Why can't I have better special interests?

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The reason I say this, is because if one is obsessed, with, say, computers, that is a brilliant and promising career field.

My special interests are TV shows, fiction, and occasionally historical figures. One, this does not make me sound like a genius when I talk, two, it's not that useful. I feel that the more entrenched I am in fiction, the more convoluted and weird my stories get, not better. And really, how "cool" is it to be a screenwriter than a computer nerd, how "smart" does it sound to people, and how good a career path is it?

I just wish my interests were more substantial. I've tried to suppress them and wait for something better, then I just have no special interests.

Does anyone feel differently about this?

I think that it is good to follow what you like.

You have the chance that your interests can help you discuss with people, if you want to. For example, if you like TV shows, i guess that it can be a good "social path" if you want to (at the condition that you do not want to "appear smart").

Work is an activity and your interests appear to me very passive (this is no criticism).

You could link them to an activity, it would open you doors. You could best find ideas to transform your interests into activities, because it depends a lot on what you precisely like in your own interests?

There's nothing wrong with being a screen writer. If you're good enough, you could make some good money.

You could also write historical fiction. Take your interest in historical figures, and your interest in fiction, and then combine the two to write stories about what life could have been like for those characters.

Maybe we Aspies need to try more things. The more things we try the more choice of things there is to become obsessed with and then likely more chance of finding something to bring out our inner genius! We don't know what we might become obsessed with until we try!

I had a lot of potential when I was younger and went off to Cambridge University to study Natural Sciences. I was mainly doing neurophysiology. Now that might sound cool (I used to think it was anyway) but it wasn't really what I wanted. I went for a science career because it's safe and science degrees open doors for good jobs and careers. It's a source of regret to me now that I didn't follow my heart more. I should have followed my interests becuase I think when you do that you have this energy which flows naturally and work is not like work because it's really fun. If I could advise my younger self now I would tell her to follow her interests anywhere she has reasonable ability.

On top of that screen writer sounds pretty good to me - isn't that like being a famous person?

PS: My longest most abiding special interest is Star Wars - which might be cool when you're ten but for a middle aged mum it's definitely not cool. So what though - being cool can be a kind of straight jacket - I dont' want that kind of pressure. My Star Wars interest harms no-one. I don't drink or smoke or do drugs, I read comic books and enjoy sci-fi.

I followed music with all my heart and joined a band. I pursued that full-time as a career for 7 years. Unfortunately, my taste in music was not at all what the masses (or even the niche music crowds) liked. We never could make it work on a big enough level to make a living at it. I loved it (and have no big regrets) but I lost money every year. I had to give music up when I got married and had kids.

Now that I'm in my 40's I wish I had taken some accounting classes or something practical when I was younger. A plan B is always a good idea.

There's nothing "wrong" with your Special Interests. They don't harm anybody. And yes, what you're interested in could become productive for you.

It would have been nice had I been interested in computers or engineering, too--but I'm really not. I'm interested in the natural and applied science. I have more interest in anecdotal accounts than research things. Had I been more interested in research things, I would have had a fast track to a doctorate.

It's not that I'm NOT interested in research; it's just that my passion is case studies and anecdote.

They are your interests because you are INTERESTED in them. Don't knock yourself because of them.

I shouldn't worry too much. My primary obsessions are Star Trek and dinosaurs, and while I could theoretically become a paleontologist with that interest, I don't have the patience to sit around in a desert sifting through dirt all day. I'm interested in the actual dinosaurs, not so much their bones. Just keep trying out different things, something will come along. I was able to turn my obsession with psychology into a successful college major, there's nothing wrong with being a screen writer or author, I think it sounds like fun.

my special interests have been in the engineering field, mainly old motorcycles, old clocks. I make the parts that I don't have or cannot find. More recently I have diversified to vintage electronics, Vacuum tube hifi, 1930's radio and nixe tube clocks. They don't harm anyone, sometimes the skills are useful to the neurotypicals.
I do everything over the internet as I cannot deal with physical people very well unless there is a common shared interest. For instance I can repair motorcycle engines pretty well at the motorcycle club meet but when the workis done and things turn more social I take my leave.

That is a good point. I mean I know I have certainly held back trying a lot of new things throughout my life, usually because of low self esteem and thinking I'd for sure fail. But looking back it's regrettable all the things I kind of passed up because of being paralyzed with those self defeating thoughts...granted a lot had to do with getting picked on and bullied and generally feeling like I had no one on my side. But yeah anymore I try to be open to new experiences/activities and such and fight off those internalized criticisms of people just not even giving me a chance and putting me down before I could even make a real attempt at things.

But yeah basically i have often experienced the 'oh that's intresting I want to get into it...but I don't know anyone else or I am afraid I'll just get ridiculed or made fun of by others in that interest if I tried to get into it. Uhhh, like back in highschool when i took band class I was doing percussion. I wanted to get into it and really learn the stuff and maybe get some outside of school tutoring even to get better...but I was always afraid of sucking and did sometimes get picked on and told I sucked so it just kind of held me back. It eventually felt like I was just there getting class credit but I was just seen as the idiot and no one even bothered trying to work with me on improving. So yes that certainly killed my interest in becoming any kind of percussionist or drummer.

This sounds really cool to me. I would love to watch someone repair vintage electronics. I like antiques and vintage items, because it connects with anthropology, one of my special interests.

I agree with the poster who said it would be good for some aspies to widen their interests. I am naturally interested in a wide variety of things. My obsessions cycle within this larger area of interests. The result is that I'm able to learn a lot of things very easily, just because I find them interesting and possess the motivation.

My special interests and skills make for occasional interesting conversations but none of them translates into anything useful in terms of a career. Even the topics that my special interests are of, my interests only cover a niche portion of those given topics and not the topics as a whole. This coupled with some pretty terrible executive functioning deficits and a truckload of debilitating other health conditions make any hope of anything resembling a normal career seem out of reach to me.