Oh no! Your characters are spiraling into outer space! Their ship is going to crash into the moon, unless someone does something fast. Suddenly, clever Mr. Glasses Guy comes in over the comms. He’s going to unload the V3 reactor matrix into a quantum flux. It’s risky, but it might just do the trick. The ship quakes, shakes—the busty captain hugs the male lead one last time, but just at the last second, the ship comes to a halt. The transdimensional quad-flair vortex drives have come back online! The day is saved, and everyone cheers!
Everyone, that is, except the audience.
Yes, we’ve all seen the “super-genius” trope in action. From bizarre scenes of techno-hackery to the endless barrage of scenes featuring long-winded explanations followed by someone saying, “could you say that again in English, please?” there is no shortage of highly intelligent characters out there. Trouble is, they’re not actually smart, are they? I mean, in the context of their own universe, sure they’re knowledgeable. But they don’t always feel clever, do they?
In truth, jargon doesn’t make characters sound smart. Being stiff or autistic-coded doesn’t make characters sound smart. The simplest way to make a character feel smart is to have them act reasonably and make consistently good decisions throughout the story. Sure, having technical knowledge and being a bit off-putting can imply a certain kind of intelligence, but general intellect is best conveyed through general awareness.
If there is a simple solution to a problem in your story, your clever character needs to see it without much difficulty. Avoiding moments of tecnobabble can actually make your characters feel less intelligent. After all, in moments like those, your audience is more aware than ever that they’re not in the real world. Technobabble is terrible for immersion. Therefore, your readers will lose the sense that your characters are actually solving a problem, and they’ll recognize what you’re doing: buying a cheap solution so you don’t have to think too hard about it.
Therefore, in order to write a clever character, you, the author, must also be clever. That’s all I’ve got for this week, because I’m working on a few fun things for the future! Be on the lookout!
