- Geniuses are not geniuses at everything: Being extraordinarily good at one field is not going to make anyone an automatic expert at anything else. It may give them a better understanding of related fields, if the two fields share a lot of the same terminology and concepts, but there’s no reason to think that an expert in nuclear physics is going to have an advanced knowledge of philosophy and history as well. Indeed, genius is typically just limited to one thing, or several related things. I’ve always been considered “gifted” in terms of language arts/literature, but I can’t understand math to save my life, and my aptitude in other school subjects was pretty normal. I did well on my tests for everything BUT math because the science and social studies quizzes were mostly based on remembering information that I had read, so it worked on the same premise as taking a test about a book—processing and recalling the written word. Math was a whole other animal, one I had to wrestle with. I’ve found that this story is pretty common with people who were good at language arts, and that a great many people good at math couldn’t stand language arts. This is because being mentally specialized in one way doesn’t translate to everything else being easy by extension.
Of course, just because your character is a genius at one field doesn’t mean they have to be a dunce at everything else. Someone can be good at language arts and math. A brilliant astronomer may also quote Paradise Lost, a mechanical inventor may also have a very astute appreciation for sculpture, and so on. Just, they don’t HAVE to just because they are a “genius”.
- Geniuses are not automatically more moral or “woke”: Oftentimes in media, the writers will have the “genius” espouse support of the moral or political stance that we, the reader/viewer, are supposed to be in support of as well. They may make an intelligent argument for it, or they may just simply say it’s right, and we’re supposed to take this as implicit proof that it is because, well, they’re a genius so it must be.
In reality, much as we would like to believe that only “stupid” people can hold “bad” views, geniuses can also hold beliefs that are ignorant, absurd, or downright repulsive. This is especially true if the belief has nothing to do with their area of aptitude. Geniuses are also just as vulnerable to absorbing toxic aspects of their culture as anyone else; they may still be sexist, racist, homophobic, or anything else. Indeed, a great deal of science and literature in history was used to support the bigotry of its own time, and was probably written by some very smart people who nonetheless believed these awful things. If you’re writing about a society from when people still believed that the sun went around the earth and not vice versa, then odds are your “genius” character should probably believe that as well unless their specific area of study has given them reason to think otherwise. Geniuses do not “just know” that things are wrong simply because they are geniuses. They have to have a way to get there, just like everyone else, they’re just better at finding that way if it’s a way that they’re specialized for.
- Child geniuses may not be adult geniuses: I won a state writing contest when I was seven. My mother holds it as the proof that I am a talented writer. I am currently 31. Do you see the problem in her thinking? If I were to re-enter such a contest for my current age group, I doubt that I would come out the winner, because my competition is no longer a bunch of seven year olds. I may have been gifted for my age then, but everyone else has now had time to catch up to me, and surpass me.
This is the story for a lot of people who were “gifted” at something as children. We had a running start due to our innate talent, but it only took us so far. It did not grow proportionately with us, and thus we did not stay ahead forever. What’s more, the longer that we were able to do amazing things with ease due to sheer talent, the harder it was when that talent couldn’t take us any further and we had to learn to actually work at things like our peers had been doing for years. You can talk to a lot of people who were “gifted” during their childhood or teen years, who suddenly went from the top of the class to struggling to get by during high school or college, because they had no idea how to study. They’d never needed to before.
It sounds obnoxious to complain about “boo hoo, now I have to work hard just like everyone else!” and it certainly is a little, but for a lot of us, it was a real blow to our identity and self-worth. When you’ve always been the “smart kid” what are you once you’re not anymore? I spent my childhood amazing my classmates, my teachers, my parents, everyone, because I was so advanced in terms of reading, writing, and vocabulary, as well as recalling things like animal facts. When you’re praised for something constantly, it becomes a big part of who you are, and you often feel an expectation to keep being that. So when it goes away, you feel like you’ve failed and you’re no longer valuable or valued, even though you’re just now where everyone else was all along. You don’t know who you are now, or what you’re good at, if anything at all.
Basically, genius comes in degrees. It can take a lucky few of us to the stars. But for some of us, it only takes us so far. Some of us will work the rest of our way somewhere. Some of us don’t bother or can’t. A child prodigy may not become anything more than another mediocre adult. And that actually can be just as interesting a character concept as someone who went on to be the greatest in their respective field.
- Geniuses still must learn from somewhere: Despite how it may appear to outsiders, a mathematical genius isn’t born automatically knowing advanced calculations. They still have to learn what a number is, how to count, all of that, just like the rest of us. And in order to do those wonderful advanced calculations, they have to learn what they are first. They may learn so swiftly that it does indeed seem like they were born with the knowledge, but they still need, at the least, a math book to look at or another source to show them what, say, a division sign is. If someone has a natural talent for horses and riding, they may well become an excellent equestrian if just left alone with the horse…but without a trainer or other resource to educate them on proper riding style, they’ll probably just come up with their own way of doing it. Which may work wonderfully, but would never be admitted into any horse show. And what if they’re a city kid who never has an opportunity to meet a horse? They’d never know about their talent at all!
The opportunity to be detected and recognized as “gifted” and to be given the resources to develop those gifts is something that people may take for granted if they had those things available to them, but consider: How many incredible potential artists and writers and scientists and so on, might there have been among slaves who never got a chance to be anything but slaves? How many people born in Ancient Rome might have had, if they’d been born today, an aptitude for computer programming? How many potential astrophysicists and brain surgeons have we never known existed because they were born female in the wrong time?
My point is, as magically innate as genius may seem to an outsider who hears a toddler reciting the periodic table and actually understanding it (rather than just parroting) genius is ultimately just potential. That potential still needs an opportunity in order to bloom into something. So resist the urge to portray your muse as babbling famous poetry in the cradle when it’s unlikely they’ve ever heard it anywhere before, and think more along the lines of a baby that is learning to talk extremely fast and is able to repeat even very large words it hears from adults. One may seem the more “impressive” mental image, but the other one is actually just as impressive in reality, and doesn’t come off as absurd.
For more reading on this topic and related ones, here are some links!
Basic Tips To Write Better Geniuses, Scientists, & Intellectuals
On Writing & Roleplaying Smart Characters
Limyaael’s Rant on Genius Characters
