How to Write Characters that are Smarter than You.
Let me assure you, I am not a very intelligent person, but having time to think about what you want to say and then later, being able to go back and edit what you have written down gives you plenty of time to come up with clever ideas and ways of plotting things out.
If you talked to me in person, you’d see how I’m not extremely quick, but more of a thinker, shy, and introverted for the most part.
Knowing this, it is possible to write characters that are smarter than you and more quick-witted than you may be perceived to be.
Make them quick-witted.
People that are fast talkers appear to others to be more intelligent and have faster working minds. More often than not they are more intelligent on a certain level, but have you ever had that moment where you had an exchange with someone and later you kept playing the moment over and over again in your mind until suddenly something occurred to you and then you shouted out loud, “that’s what I should have said!” (Usually in a busy grocery store and everyone gawks at you for a second…no? Just me? Oh well, figures… XD)
Yes, the old “that’s what I should have said” moment that constantly plagues us slow people (Oh, how I know the sting of its blade well.) Well, your character that’s smarter than you are doesn’t have to feel the sting or burden of that moment…ever.
Instead, you can create the conversation and then have them say what you thought of later and to the reader they will appear to be a quick-witted character even though you may not feel like a quick-witted person yourself.
Try this exercise:
Think of a conversation you had recently. It doesn’t have to be an argument, it could be romantic in nature, or be to a close friend. But you felt you said the wrong thing and later thought of something better to say, or that you wished you would have said.
Put your fictional character in that same conversation and have them say the right thing that you didn’t think of in the moment and then write what happens next because they said the right thing.
Even with this short little exercise, you can start to see how you can write a quick-witted character and change their reality because of their quick wit.
Characters that show quick-wit appear more intelligent to the audience, especially if you can creatively show that quick wit in action.
Do not fake intelligence.
In the information world, we exist in, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that you should try to fake or make up facts about a subject unless it’s WAY over everyone’s heads.
But in reality, it should be fairly easy for you to look up information about just any subject.
If you want your character to be a physics wizard just make sure to look up normal physics terms and include a few fun facts that no one knows except the professionals and viola, your character seems to know more about physics than you do (and most people, for that matter.)
What’s funny is this type of research will actually make you a more well-rounded intelligent person just by looking up stuff for your character to know.
Unfortunately, the phrase, “use it or lose it,” applies here. If you don’t remind yourself of the information from time to time and move on to other subjects you will most likely forget most of what you learned.
But a good writing habit to practice is to tell people you talk to the fun facts you’re learning so that they stick with you long enough to be able to recall them while you need them. (And perhaps at a few hangouts too, just for fun.)
Take notes and learn how you best organize them for later reference.
When you are thinking of your character and what you want them to know about, taking notes for later use will be extremely necessary.
There is a saying, “the pencil is sharper than the mind.” This just means that anything you write down to remember you’ll have for quick later use, but if you just read and then try to remember, most likely, you will not be able to recall the facts you need to add to your character’s intelligence.
You most likely won’t memorize everything you read so you’ll want to have it written down to look back to later when you are actually writing.
It is helpful to pick out some fun interesting facts as well as common jargon to throw in for your character to rattle off as if it was no-brainer information for them to easily recall off the cuff.
Try to have your notes organized so that you’re not deep-diving through pages and pages of scribbles for hours trying to find something specific you wrote down earlier.
“The pencil is sharper than the mind.”
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Do not talk about their intelligence unless you are going to show their intelligence.
We can’t just have a narrator or characters talk about the intelligence of any one character.
If it’s brought up in dialogue, it needs to be a teaser of what’s to come.
If you say it, the reader will be looking forward to seeing it in action. That’s part of the fun of reading intelligent characters, seeing intelligence in action.
So if you say that your character is a Grandmaster at chess, at some point in the story chess needs to be a part of the plot and your character better be able to put their money where your writing was.
Don’t just talk about your character’s intelligence. Show their intelligence.
You create the solution to the problem.
By default, your main character is the most intelligent person in the room because they are a creation of you and you know or come up with how to solve the problems you create.
Since you know how to solve the problem, you can creatively show how your main character figures it out using “their” intelligence. You might not have had said knowledge before you began writing the story, but to the reader, your character already possessed it or knew how to find it.
Keep the character intelligent unless there’s a point to them making dumb choices.
Often times in depictions of Sherlock, they make him extremely intelligent in one area of life but extremely dumb in social awareness.
There is a point to this, and we like it and get it as an audience.
Knowing this, don’t make the mistake of making your character intelligent but then having them making dumb choices that don’t feel in continuance with the intelligence level you’ve led us to believe they already possess.
Continuity is very important.
For instance, if they have the knowledge to disarm a bomb but can’t figure out how to rewire a plug in their home this makes no sense for their type of intelligence.
If they can disarm a bomb but can’t figure out how to win at poker and keep gambling their money away this is an acceptable intelligence difference.
Let’s do another example:
The character is the best psychologist in the world. They can see anyone’s emotional psyche problem and have the answer pop into their head without batting an eyelash. On the other hand they forgot their spouses birthday for the 3rd year in a row because they were busy thinking about work. This makes sense.
Now, on the other hand, if you’re trying to write humor you could do something like this:
They are the most world-renowned psychologist, but they can’t figure out their family or their own psychological problems this can be good irony, because it doesn’t add up.
So it really depends on what type of story and genre you’re going for with this tip.
Serious needs continuity. Humor could use the irony. (I can disarm a bomb in 60 seconds and save hundreds of lives, but I keep short circuting the lights in my living room 😂.)
Tweet- Your intelligent character can’t be intelligent and dumb about their professional subject. If they make mistakes that are important to your plot it should be a mistake in a different area of expertise unless we’ve been with the character a long time. Only then is it okay for them to make a stupid mistake. Who doesn’t make a stupid mistake every now and again?
Read good examples of intelligent characters written well.
One of the best things you can do for yourself is to rethink what it means for you to watch and read intelligent characters. When you see an intelligent character in action using their smarts, stop and think about what the author did in that moment to find that knowledge so that the character could recall it from memory.
Sometimes authors are making stuff up and depending on the subject this can be done a little, but for the most part, we should be throwing in real facts. In my opinion, that’s much more enjoyable for the audience.
It makes us feel like we are having fun and learning something. This is a very powerful combination if we can give that feeling to our readers.
Try this exercise:
The next time you are reading or watching something and the character displays intelligence in a way beyond you, pause for a moment and go look up that information. See how long it takes you to find that exact fact they recalled from memory.
That’s how long it will take you to give your intelligent character that same fact.
Don’t be afraid of research. Use it to your advantage. It is not a fraud or a “hack” thing to do.
In fact, I heard a story recently that Andy Weir, author of The Martian, was asked at a public talk how he came to know so much about space engineering and the inner workings of NASA. His answer:
Google.
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That’s all for the moment.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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