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How to help someone who's always right.

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SandJosieph Since: Dec, 2009
#1: Dec 20th 2010 at 9:50:27 PM

So there is this character of mine whose main problem is that he's always right about things and completely exasperates his friends because their ideas just don't match up to his and never work quite as well to plan. The thing is that he has to be right otherwise the war is lost. So one of the characters comes up with the idea of having the guy try to work up the perfect plans using their own faulty ideas as a spring board. Of course, that plan is faulty in its own right but could it be a good working foundation for someone with such an affliction? I mean, the guy doesn't want to alienate his friends by always being right but he has to be if everyone is going to live to see the next day.

Slan Since: Nov, 2010
#2: Dec 20th 2010 at 10:41:48 PM

main problem

always right

That there is a fake flaw commonly seen in Gary Stus. I don't see why he hasn't been hired to the leader of whichever side they're on so that it's a professional thing rather than a personal thing.

Also, if I had a friend who was always right I would kind of want to get him planning tricky stuff for me on the side, instead of competing with this master strategist who's clearly leagues ahead of me.

SandJosieph Since: Dec, 2009
#3: Dec 20th 2010 at 10:51:50 PM

Well, they do like having him on their side. It's just that his plans are never all that fun. He tries to make his plans as fun as possible but situations rarely arise when fun can be used for a strategic purpose.

And the only thing preventing him from being a Stu is that he's not the main character and is more of a voice of reason than someone everyone is trying to compete against.

Slan Since: Nov, 2010
#4: Dec 20th 2010 at 11:18:40 PM

It's just that his plans are never all that fun. He tries to make his plans as fun as possible but situations rarely arise when fun can be used for a strategic purpose.

If one of his priorities in the midst of stopping a war is to let his friends have fun while they're doing it, then they are all as immature as can be. It's not wrong, but certainly not something people would care to see in a matter as important as that.

SandJosieph Since: Dec, 2009
#5: Dec 20th 2010 at 11:25:02 PM

Which is why the plans he comes up with never are fun. They're just more practical when done in a utilitarian fashion. The problem lies with his friends as many of them are Fun Personified and have many potentially useful skills. This problem is worsened by the fact that the enemy knows of what these friends can do and force the good guys into situations where such unique talents can't be utilized without something going horribly wrong.

Ultrayellow Unchanging Avatar. Since: Dec, 2010
Unchanging Avatar.
#6: Dec 20th 2010 at 11:28:23 PM

How old are his friends? Because if they're teenagers or older, they are in the wrong. Their job should not be to have fun, it should be to stop the war.

Except for 4/1/2011. That day lingers in my memory like...metaphor here...I should go.
SandJosieph Since: Dec, 2009
#7: Dec 20th 2010 at 11:36:45 PM

They're actually adults and just haven't been able to release any of the stress that's been building up inside of them and the guy is trying to find ways of letting them vent productively.

KingZeal Since: Oct, 2009
#8: Dec 21st 2010 at 1:23:48 AM

Okay, the problem you're basically having is a morale issue. Being professional and dutiful at all times is a virtue, but it's one that is difficult (if not impossible) for a human being to maintain 24/7. While I disagree that this would make your characters immature and selfish, keep in mind that the way you portray these feelings is important. Mental fatigue, post-traumatic stress, shell shock, and mortal fear are probably the possible ways you can convey their feelings on the "not fun issue", which is one of the reasons that the military typically encourages soldiers to get excited and make fun and games out of what they do.

Anyway, if his main problem is that he can't keep up morale because he's too bluntly logical, then what he's going to need is a medium. Someone who is capable of understanding his perfectly formed ideas, but condensing the gist of them into a form that will provide clear instructions to his friends/allies while at the same time giving them something worth looking forward to. This is often the reason generals use field commanders or platoon leaders to rally information to the troops. However, the "medium" is going to need to be inherently optimistic and pretty quick to catch on; in order to convey the logical character's plans in a manner people can understand and avoid becoming dejected themselves, whoever is acting as the middleman is going to need to understand the specifics of the leader's plans while at the same time finding the positive threads that they'll use to spin it to the masses.

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