How to write highly intelligent characters

[AmazementComics]

This is Pear of The Action Fruit Society™ (Artwork courtesy of MerrowBros.):

Of the four fruit ninjas, he's meant to be the brightest. Builds all of the gadgets, vehicles, robots, etc. Now I don't ask this question because I want them to be considered the smartest person in the room all the time like Batman. The question I'm asking is how to write a "genius" character and make them seem believable in through their words and actions. Share those thoughts down below.

[DualDragons]

I think a smart person would be aware of when they have the knowledge to solve or do something and when they are unable to. Someone who jumps into danger or a task without being able to fix it is pretty stupid in my opinion.

Tl,dr; someone smart knows their own limits and acknowledges them in my opinion

((For anyone replying to me, I'm not going in discussion with you. I'm merely here to give Amazement my own thoughts on their question

[oshirockingham]

They can cast magic spells! because magic users are based on INT
hehehe if you know what I mean.

[Crusoe]

I feel like 'the smart' character knows the way out of a tricky situation where others might not see it, becuase of a lack of a clear solution..

[darthmongoose]

I guess my suggestions for a smart character would be:

• Do research into the thing they're meant to be smart in, so that when they say stuff about it, it's correct.
• Smart people in real life don't necessarily use lots of fancy words, but an impressive vocabulary and the ability to correctly utilise difficult words and grammar can be a quick and easy way to give the impression of intelligence.
• Similarly, in real life, smart people aren't necessarily into high literature, classical music or chess, but in fiction, a quick Shakespeare quote or chess or historical metaphor that makes sense in the context they're in can work as shorthand for "smart".
• Smart people catch onto things quickly, and might make deductions about a situation based on small clues.
• Intelligent people are often curious and might be keen to find out more about things they're interested in.

[CommanderMarty]

Sometimes magic is based on wisdom. (Wisdom and intelligence are different things, wisdom means being able to use gained knowledge effectively, intelligence means gaining that knowledge easily)

A more rare case is charisma based magic.

[NickRowler]

There are different types of intelligence, but judging by your description, he sounds like someone who is very logical. Being logical does not mean they "only care about facts not feels", what is really means is they tend to think mathematically and notice patterns. This kind on knowledge would help when it comes to building things or finding a solution to complicated situations. Sometimes people with high logical intelligence get annoyed with abstract concept or anything that can't be applied to a formula or justify rationally. It is also common for those on the extreme side to struggle in other types of intelligence categories like linguistic and interpersonal.

Another thing to note that someone who is aware of their intelligence usually doesn't brag about it, and tends to be curious about learning more. I hate the trope of the smart person who belittles people.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

someone smart knows their own limits and acknowledges them

I second this one ^^^

Also don't get "knowledgeable" and "intelligent" mixed up. One is knowing stuff about things and the other is being able to apply it to situations and solving problems. They do often come hand-in-hand though!

[WOSTR]

Personally, the smart characters I like are feel balanced, they have personality and maybe their smarts come at the expense of something else.

If you're aware of the Dragonball series the character Bulma IMO is one of the most well rounded smart characters I've seen.
She's a genius engineer, rich and from a famous family, she has a personality, it's not particularly a nice one inspite of being a key main character, she's selfish, reckless and mean, yet it fits perfectly, as what she seeks can't be built or bought, being a nicer person with more modest expectations may be her solution, but she's an entitled know-it-all who'll get her own way her way, she's driven and established her own genius. Her most vital inventions is a slight loophole to her barrier, still, she has to work hard and needs help, something she will manipulate others in to.
Her dad is an older parent, he's very laidback and he seems retired, this fits with her spoilt character and families establishment empire.

If you're familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist, the leading characters Edward and Alphonse are prodigies, though they had a load of research material at their disposal as their dad is a 400+ year old former human from a culture that no longer exists, were knowledge was given to him by a demon and he's spent the past 4 centuries researching and looking for answers. Still, Ed and Al had to work hard to get were they where, they're experimenting and rewards come at a high price and they have to continue hard.

There's the adult cartoon Rick and Morty has Rick's smarts being at the expense of having an convention in his life, what little convention he has is forced, nothing really seems to matter yet the most prevalent things in this series seem alternate worlds, death and creation, all stuff the best scientist can't entirely control.

[Inspector_Spinda]

https://springhole.net/writing/write-better-geniuses.htm

[Berserker]

This is a hard thing to do. The old saying is the character can only be as smart as the writer. So rather than trying to write characters smarter, I try to think of what they are intelligent and knowledgeable in.

My two main characters are separated into the classic right-brain vs left-brain conflict. Rhunal the orc mage is more emotional and instinctual in her actions. But she is very intelligent when it comes to magic, having been trained from a young age.

Bron the human warrior is a serious, planner. He doesn't go into a fight without a plan and a way out. But sometimes that leads to him hesitating in a crucial moment when something unexpected comes up. Bron grew up in the human courts and is very knowledgable about politics and people.

[Kiweevil]

Nah. Smart people think they're stupid, stupid people think they're smart. You've heard the saying, haven't you?

[DualDragons]

Can't say I have

[But_a_Jape]

I don't necessarily agree with this. This goes back to the whole "different kinds of intelligence" thing. Pear is an inventor and tech guy, the intelligence required for these skills doesn't necessitate the sort of cautious approach you're suggesting. In fact, the "mad scientist" archetype is exactly the sort of genius who jumps into danger without knowing whether or not they can fix it. Tony Stark is unquestionably genius and his recklessness is one of his major flaws. Even in real life, I've known a lot of brilliant people who have done incredibly stupid things.

Perhaps if we were dealing with a tactical genius or a chessmaster character, this would be applicable advice. But personally, if the character's claim to genius is that they're a gadgeteer, I think showing they can create and fix machines that no one else can should be enough. Like @AmazementComics said, he's not trying to make him a Batman character that's always the smartest person in the room.

I'd say the link @Inspector_Spinda provided has some good advice. Otherwise, I'd like some more information about who Pear is as a person to determine what "kind" of smart person he is. Also, how grounded is the technology in your series? Considering it's about sentient fruits, I'm assuming you're not grounding it in too much scientific reality, but I could be wrong. If you do intend to have some legit science behind Pear's inventions, just educate yourself on some science to make sure you're not saying something wildly off-base.

[Kiweevil]

It's called the Dunning-Krugar effect, and my dumbass Amurikcan uncle is a prime example of it

Generally speaking, intelligent people don't constantly flaunt their intelligence (not always tho) but rather live with it like a normal person. Meanwhile, many people who claim to be extraordinarily smart flaunt it in very egotistical ways. In other words, smart people generally understand and accept that they don't know many things. And dumb people think they know absolutely everything.

Obviously there are outliers to this, but as someone who has worked like 4 customer service-related jobs, I can tell you I've encountered a great many dumbasses who think they're vastly more intelligent than everyone else.

[AmazementComics]

Understood. Yes, my universe of comics is based almost verbatim to the real world as it is. I have already delved into certain areas of science and technology, with a little bit of history and economics (even though I have some knowledge of those fields myself from my past) to better grasp his character traits and distinguish him from other characters.

I try to be as accurate as I can when it comes writing things for him to make sure I myself am getting the facts straight.

[MorganaMevil]

I went to a boarding school for smart kids. I learned that smart kids are dumb. Like really dumb. Like so, so, so dumb. You can have them be wrong, stupid, stumbling, or foolish, but the thing that they are good at (whether its computer science, biology, writing, math, or violin) they are very good at.

Example: Genius boys that lived above me decided that the walk from the dormitory to the closest CVS was too far. So they got a shopping cart, an old motor from a motorized wheelchair, and motorized the shopping cart. They designed a breaking and steering system for the cart and removed the governor so it get up to 35 miles an hour, but they got in trouble with the police because it wasn’t street legal.

Example: Kids recreated the scene from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with ramen in a bathtub because they were curious. Then they tried to flush the ramen down the toilet, but the toilet clogged, the pipes burst, and they flooded an entire wing. Technically, though, it wasn’t against the rules in the handbook (they’d been very careful to check) and so they only got a slap on the wrist.

Example: Two boys wanted to spy on the girls in the opposite wing, so they built a robot to fit into the air vents and strapped a camera to the top. They got caught because they forgot to tape over the red blinking light on the camera.

Example: Three kids got in trouble with HOMELAND SECURITY because they bet each other they couldn’t break the firewall on a government website and change a word to BOOBS. They succeeded, Homeland Security showed up, and the three kids got jobs.

Morale of the story: highly intelligent characters, like highly intelligent people, sometimes do very dumb things just to see if they can.

**Also, in all seriousness, intelligence can often make people very emotionally immature. If you’ve got a high IQ, people treat you differently, you don’t feel like a part of your peer group, and you struggle to connect sometimes.

[Freemints30]

Example: Three kids got in trouble with HOMELAND SECURITY because they bet each other they couldn’t break the firewall on a government website and change a word to BOOBS. They succeeded, Homeland Security showed up, and the three kids got jobs.

brah that reminds me of the time when my brother found an exploit on a gambling site to give him money to his account through bitcoin. And when the site owner threaten to call the police on him until he reveals what his doing, he threaten he will reveal it to many other people and make them lose money. They paid him 500 dollars and he told them the exploit and left......He then proceed to throw money in front of people just to see them scramble for it. He was 13. He also gave away his 70 000 dollar win to a gambling site and not care.

So Yeah hyper intelligent kids are still immature kids.

[inubasket]

My husband is super smart & I have a couple friends who sailed effortlessly through school and university with their amazing brains, & there are some traits that I've noticed they all as super intelligent people seem to share!

1. They're always looking for new things to do or create. They have multiple hobbies or switch hobbies often. They're always looking for creative solutions to problems that others wouldn't normally think of.

2. Tedious work tires them out mentally. They need a lot of stimulation and creative work in their lives or they get super bored and depressed.

3. They often have high energy. That doesn't mean they're always upbeat and excited tho! It usually means they can keep doing the things they enjoy for hours on end, even if the work is super hard.

4. They tend to do really well with kids! Intelligent people just want intelligent conversation, so they don't dumb down their conversations for kids. In turn, children actually like this, because it makes them feel like equals.

5. Intelligent people don't really like to HAVE children, though (this is actual science!) Intelligent people tend to spend their lives focusing on their careers and passions, and are less likely to have children.

6. Intelligent people are not really great teachers, as again, they aren't good at "dumbing down" their thoughts and knowledge. They absolutely love to try to help people, but it fails often, and that sometimes makes them sad.

7. They rarely brag about their smarts, but will get offended if you try to explain something to them that they already know lol. They will also not hold back from schooling you/roasting you if you give out false information (whether you meant to or not lol).

[DiscountedArtist]

There are a lot of ways to write highly intelligent characters. Like Light from Death Note is very different from Eggman from Sonic: The Movie. I'd just say to take traits you think would fit your character from other highly intelligent characters.