How to Portray a Genius. Tips and Tricks

Publication Date: 11 May 2019
Author: Alice Miley

Ways of Making Your Characters Smart

We all go to cinemas, watch movies or read books. But is there anything that can make you feel uncomfortable about these activities? Well, very often people feel rather intimidated when it comes to something scientific. The biggest part of people simply doesn’t understand what this or that genius in a movie or book is saying.

So, what shall you do when it comes to writing about a character that is more intellectual than you are? Of course, it is much easier to describe a strong or fast character, as it is just about physical aspects. In the event of the brain, it gets much more difficult and at some point turns into a deadlock.

But don’t worry, there is always a way out and description of a smarter-than-you character is not an exception. Everything is simple – you can cheat! How? Just keep reading further and you will find it out!

Research, Research and One More Time Research

Indeed, there are people who are quite knowledgeable in certain fields of science due to their work or passion for it. That’s why make sure you do thorough research to make your character look even more superior. For this, he or she should have encyclopedic knowledge and be capable of demonstrating actual skills. You don’t need a Ph.D. to cope with this task. Instead, if you write about an astronomer and he/she talks about asteroids, then make a research on them. For instance, how they are formed, why they are not considered to be planets, how big they are, etc. The more interesting and scientific facts your character-astronomer mentions, the more intellectually superior he/she looks to the public. Finally, people love learning things and getting to know something new. In such a way, they feel smarter and can later boast in front of friends, colleagues, family members and others.

Anachronism or Future

In order to make your character even smarter, you can easily use anachronisms, which means something from the past, something people have no clue about. On the other side, you can use imaginary technology supposing the future. In fact, no one really knows what the future will look like and what technologies and discoveries there will be. Therefore, it is a huge field for your own fantasy. For example, you can read modern theories and make conclusions, or can invent FLT travel. At this point, it is all about your imagination but don’t forget to provide detailed and accurate information, so that your genius looks really smart.

Unexpected Conclusions

If you have ever read Sherlock Holmes books, we are sure it was always hard to guess who the killer is. This means that the author intellectually separated a character from readers. The genius should gather all clues, even those that seem to be unrelated and be capable of assembling them all, thus finishing a puzzle.

The End

To conclude all the above-mentioned tips and tricks, one can summarize that it is hard work to create a character that is smarter than you. It takes a lot of time, patience, efforts, and finally research on a needed topic to portray a genius. Nonetheless, if you do this, you will 100% create a memorable character.