Einstein said, Genius is …“regard(ing) old questions from a
new angle.” Genius is not a know-it-all but a see-it-all. A true genius makes our
lives more difficult, more unsettled. Said another way, it is not easy to
change when a genius takes us down a different and new path. Think of how tidy
the world was before Darwin. So we evolve.
In writing your hero as a genius be mindful of him earning
it, and, of course, we as writers must show the process. Now, that’s tough,
because change in a work of fiction must be believable and dramatic. Is your
genius hero hard to live with because he is so focused on his creation [picture
Doctor Frankenstein]? Must the heroine make him give up his contribution to
humanity to love her? No, she should be a good partner and help. Even a genius
can learn that one-plus-one is way more than two.
A heroine can be blessed with the same problem (genius). It’s
all in how you decide to structure your conflict and characterizations.
The smartest person I had ever met was a secretarial school
drop out [to be sung to Beauty School Drop
Out], couldn’t do math unless it was home finances, and was “just” a mom.
She seemed to read minds and mend hearts as if dispensing miracles. Her
reaction time (quick wit & observations) was beyond scary. Say anything and
it would be translated into what you really meant. She’d see what was missing
from the equation or problem while the rest of us didn’t know we had an
equation or a problem. I’m not talking male-female interactions exclusively. Her
empathy for another human being gave her an EQ (and I suggest IQ) too high to
measure. That’s the point of life, isn’t it? Love at work.
Don’t tell me your character is a genius, show me.
A rare Albert Einstein interview:
Some people mistake genius (intelligence) with book learning, not real life learning Not that "street smarts" relates to genius either all the time. This is an interesting premise to think on. Thanks Bob.
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