For me, I'm in the process of trying to write as a hobby.
In a couple of self help books and teachers, I continually hear that when writing, don't make a character sound realistic. No 'uh's' or stuttering, or anything like that. Look at how characters talk in a book, they don't sound like normal people. Granted I can understand that broken phrases and too much stuttering can be annoying to look at, but it can show a lot of character in a written work. Repeating words or simply mishearing someone and having a half an hour long argument with a sibling about who said what makes sense in the real world.
Of course I was already working on trying to write (somewhat) more realistically, so hearing this was a bit of a downer, but I'm sure avid readers can deal with it and see the benefits.
(Then again, stupid me, I'm not an avid reader, so I don't even know if this is already widespread practice in some circles. And yes, I know most writers have to be readers.)
And on a less serious note, when I was in elementary school some guy from the military came to talk to us, (I have no idea what about) and I said my idea. Plant remote mines where you think the enemy will be going and then blow them up when the enemy passes over them. Obviously, its something that we already do with... well, mines. But I was thinking of narrow roads and paths people would have to cross, you know a very simplified version of war. It was the one time a person looked square at me and said something along the lines of don't be stupid... Again, this was elementary school, I was an idiot, it just added up to me.
