Do you prefer to write smart MCs or stupid ones? (+poll)

[DokiDokiTsuna]

• Smart
• Stupid

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I think it's more normalized for a protagonist to be smart (or at least "clever" as opposed to 'book smart') and I have written plenty of smart and clever characters-- I still do-- but in recent years I've developed a much greater appreciation for protagonists who are straight-up idiots. ^^

Besides the obvious entertainment value in watching their clownery, I just feel like there's a lot more room to work emotion into their character arcs: since fewer of their decisions are based on logic, more of them will inevitably be based on gut feelings and conscious/subconscious desires. As the writer, you'll be working directly with this character's wants and needs constantly, not just during the emotional climaxes of the story. It makes the writing feel more raw and fresh~.

Some of my favorite variations:

'Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass': The MC may be stupid, but they happen to have ONE area of extreme skill and expertise that they can rely on. It doesn't make up for their goofiness, but it adds an extra dimension to their character and brings some variety to their interactions. You can have other characters gleefully humiliating them one minute and begging them for mercy the next, simply because they unknowingly provoked them into using their Skill™~.
And if you like a little pathos in your stories, this is an interesting internal dynamic to explore: is the character aware of this disparity between the different types of intelligence that they possess? Does it make them feel secure, or self-conscious? Did they maybe spend extra time developing and honing their Skill™ on purpose, so they could have one thing they were actually good at...?

Idiot World: Not only is the main MC stupid, ALL the major characters are stupid. ^^ It kind of becomes a philosophical exercise, as the world of the story has to develop its own internal logic to account for the characters' faulty conclusions.
What 'makes sense' to them, and why? How do they go about learning and trying to solve problems? Who among them is considered the 'smartest'? Is anyone...?

Child: Not all children are stupid...HOWEVER, one of the underrated aspects of writing a child MC is getting to highlight their lack of knowledge. Kids just don't know a lot of things yet; ignorance is part of the experience of being a kid.
And rather than going the route that a lot of authors choose-- writing a 14-year-old-genius wiseacre who outsmarts all the adults because they're 2 Cool 4 Skool-- I think it's a lot more compelling to just write a normal kid, who has to work through the plot at a normal disadvantage.
Maybe they're blessed with enough money or power to eliminate their obstacles even if they don't understand them. Maybe they spend large amounts of the plot desperately seeking the information they need to move forward. Maybe their kindness/honesty pulls in allies who do have knowledge that can help them reach their goals. TL;DR, working around character flaws can be fun. ^^

[llobucervallince]

so far I rather write smart ocs acting dumb because even tho they're smart, they're still irresponsable, unwise, inexpirienced, hot headed, or lack intelligence in other areas.
like my main is literally one of the most manipulative people in the world, sharp and sly, able to talk his way out of trouble someitmes, and in the first episode directly conffeses to sleep with half of the village, causing them to cheat on the other half.

[ArtGremlin]

All my characters are stupid. Well, more like not-smart… sometimes they can have big brain moments, but they’re just

[Leyelle]

Did they maybe spend extra time developing and honing their Skill™ on purpose, so they could have one thing they were actually good at...?

This is literally 90% of why I work so hard to be a writer lol.

But I honestly can't vote on the poll because my stories don't lean in one direction or another. I have some very smart characters, some stories where all the MCs are stupid, and a whole lot of 'normal' people, who make good decisions sometimes, but not so much other times.

If I was just to count my released series, only one of my character's is notably very smart in "Damsel in the Red Dress" that character being "Mrs. Moon." She's an extremely successful business woman who plans her life down to a t, and almost always manages to make those plans actually happen. But the female lead is just normal, she tries to be sensible, but often times emotions, anxiety, depression, etc, all end up being the things that take control in the end, and it's mostly the same with the male lead. He operates much more logically than the female lead, but he's not known for being particularly smart, it's just because his mother is...cough cough Mrs. Moon that he usually ignores his emotions to be sensible instead.

In "Hushabye Prince" both my leads have interests they know a lot about, and are very smart in those arenas, but not so much in others. My FL is a very talented poet and knows a lot about animals, but she's just 'normal' in every other way. She tries to be sensible because she has to be a mature adult, but she's still trying to figure out what she's doing. The male lead realizes he's 'stupid' his own opinion, do to his unique mental state, but he doesn't know that he's exceptional at art. That being said, he's not an art prodigy, the level of skill he has at art is simply what happens when you have no life and paint every single day of your life for 32 years on a set schedule for a minimum of 2 hours. He always follows his emotions rather than logic, it's a trait of his character, and he's not exceptional in most academic regions except language, he learned French easily because he wanted to read "Cinderella" in it's original version, but besides his savantism in language, part of the reason he was home schooled is because he needed a teacher who would be patient with his learning process, which wasn't quick.

Child: Not all children are stupid...HOWEVER, one of the underrated aspects of writing a child MC is getting to highlight their lack of knowledge. Kids just don't know a lot of things yet; ignorance is part of the experience of being a kid.

Maybe this trait is overused in some genres, I wouldn't know, but in stories catered toward kids, I found that a lot of the child characters AREN'T geniuses, so they often have a learning curve or need help to reach their full potential, be that Ben Ten with Grandpa Max, or in slice of life books like Wonder, where there was a whole lot August didn't know about the world

[AmysGames]

If I had to pick, I think I'd actually go with smart characters. It's fun having characters come up with clever solutions to problems. Even my "stupid" characters have at least one thing that they're good at, because having a character who's completely incompetent doesn't appeal to me much.

On the other hand, even my smartest of characters have at least one blind spot. And writing an otherwise smart character fumbling their way through something they're not good at can be really fun, haha.

[cherrystark]

My preference is to show realistic examples of intelligence in characters instead of relying on the classic "book smart" vs. "street smart" dichotomy. Intelligence is something that can't be quantified. There is too much variation.

However, I think no matter which way you opt to show a character's intelligence, you should avoid falling into cliches. For example, the stereotypical "genius" character is often either written to be like Hermione Granger (movie version) and is very vocal that she's the smartest in the room and is naturally gifted with all the social skills and all the stereotypical skills associated with nerdom or the "professor" that the heroes look to to solve all their problems. Or, you get smart characters like the guys on Big Bang Theory who have more degrees than a thermometer but are functionally useless.

The other side isn't much better, IMO. A "stupid" character suddenly becoming an expert at a topic feels like a Mary Sue. Or the "street smart" character pretty much becomes useless when they're out of their comfort zone.

I like smart characters like Shawn Spencer, Elementary's Sherlock Holmes, Bones, and Spencer Reid who are all incredibly intelligent but if you take them out of their comfort zone - they're dodos. They have to adapt. I think the ability to adapt and change is more important for a character than their perceived intellgience.

[BoomerZ]

I would say I like a mixture to fit the story. I have some very smart people (matt) who is very above average. Baul and Isador don't count as they are other worldly creatures. Gavin, Debra, Tommy, Jesse, and most everyone else is average. The thing is sometimes people do dumb stuff as they don't have all the information.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I am a certified dumbass and I like doing what is easy for me. Pretending to be smart is hard.

[LostKelp]

I definitely tend towards having my characters be smart with a couple blindspots. but I definitely love a stupid MC - one of my MCs for a future comic, Emerald, can see ghosts, but she is just such a fundamentally uncurious person so she just goes "aight" and never mentions it to anyone. So if anything weird happens to her she just brute forces her way out of the situation with a fuckin sword and then never mentions it to anyone, she gets involved in a lot of drama to do with death gods and the spirits of the afterlife and aint got a single clue whats happening, just goes off vibes.

[KevinReijnders]

I kinda do something inbetween. Taking my main character, Kyara, as an example;

She's a pretty clever and intelligent young woman. She has a great tactical mind and is quick on her feet.

However, she very often acts before she thinks, and making very stupid decisions in the process.

So yeah, I like smart people who do stupid things haha

[TheBlacKat333]

All my MCs are a 50/50 of very freakshly smart in some specific areas, but very stupid in others. But imo it fully depends on the story and genre, like a romance protagonist that’s dumb as rocks is much more likely to annoy the reader than say, a fantasy protagonist that’s dumb.

[Lensing]

I voted stupid because I thought it was more funny and entertaining but it´s probably 50/50 in
my stories, whatever fits. The characters in the funny comics are usually a bit stupid or naive