How do you write a Smart MC if you're lazy and stupid?

[skillet]

uhhhh give them hard problems that build up over a couple chapters and then make them solve it in a flash, maybe? the anticlimactic solution and the dumbfounded reactions of everyone else in the story will definitely make them seem smart.

 

[KiraMinoru]

I love smart MC in general, even if they're not the strongest.

Though I'm not sure if I can write them since I'm lazy and don't like to use my brain much.

What do you think is the easiest, most low-effort way to write an intelligent main character well?

Whenever your character is confronted by a difficult problem they can’t solve with their own knowledge, just get them to... google it.

A smart character doesn’t go into something blind, they will research before they go and ask someone else. What makes a character smart isn’t how much they know, it’s how they figure out a solution to what they do not know.

For example, your car broke down? Do you bring it to a mechanic immediately or research things that might have caused it?

Is it simply a battery problem? Something easy to fix? If it is, then your character does it on their own. If they acknowledge the task is something beyond their expertise, then they seek out assistance from someone they can rely on.

Smart characters do not only rely on just themselves. They are able to acknowledge what they can and cannot do and are able to recognize that there is a limit to their ability.

 

[Kuropon]

Isn't something like this easy to do?
First ask yourself what a 'smart' person is? They know a lot of things, mostly always know the answer to the problem?
You are the author of the story, so you know the best way to resolve the problem. You just make your character do this and readers will be fine with it as he is 'The smart MC.' If you had a dumb MC, he would need to fix the problems in some other way.

 

[Motsu]

Make your character who wears glasses, edgy. EDGY! WEDGY! (Filthy Frank reference)

Other than that, I am too indolent to be giving advice. Many people here seem to have given a piece of essay-length advice that sounds praiseworthy, but they are just adding too many words that can lead to complications while some are irrelevant pieces of advice that make it sound like they are smart. Adios, to you! I hope you find the best way to create a smart MC as a dull and slothful person.

 

[ConcubusBunny]

I think that the easiest way to do this is let them figure out the stuff, you don't need to make everyone dumber just not as smart as them, like say there is a clue to a murder make most ppl overlook but not the smart mc they are hot on that detail but don't something obvious like less a foot print or a nonsensical not in the form of a riddle but instead try scent of a burger joint across the street with no food delivered to the place of murder