Hi! I have a character (male, around 22) that's a bit of a weirdo, messy, and kind of an idiot.
Now, he is actually book-smart, but socially a bit dumb.
Can you give me some traits that make him look idiotic (not in the mean/racist/misagonystic way)?
Make him very blunt/tactless in what he says to people. Another thing is, maybe make him a bit stuck in himself and unaware that what he says actually affects people, eg I have a friend who's a Rich Kid and he walks around complaining about the fact his iPhoneX is too slow and then laughs at the people who 'only have an iPhone 8'…. does that make sense? If not let me know and I'll try to explain it differently
I mean if you make him really clumsy that'll help a lot. And if you don't want him to be rude yet still socially an idiot, you could make him say really weird things all the time. Or maybe just always say what he's thinking or something like that. Idk sorry if that's not helpful.
Get rid of his impulse control so he always says what he thinks but still make him conscious enough to apologise when he says something a bit rude so he can still remain likeable. Like, he sometimes acts like an idiot but it's not on purpose.
Also, he probably wouldn't know common slang and different terms. This also makes him say things that are accidentally racist or sexual but he has no clue whatsoever that it is. (cough cough I may have done that once or twice.)
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I think it will help a lot with making sure he doesn't come across as an offensive character if you make sure to properly flesh him out. For example, portray that he's smart in some ways, or that he's still a good person despite his idiocy, or that he's just ignorant of certain things and can still learn, etc. etc. As long as you don't make him "that one character that is purely comedic relief and is constantly ridiculed because of who he is" or "just there to make other characters look cool", I think you should be good. ^^
He's not meant to be an offensive/rude character luckily, don't worry haha!
But he is a bit of a comic relief, you know the kind of friend that tries to cheer you up when you're down by trying to do things that make you laugh?
It's kind of hard to write because he'll have an actual personality around that (being a main character), so maybe you can give me stories/ideas about clumsy things that happened?
Yeah, some comic relief is definitely not a bad thing! Especially if he as a person is very well-meaning about it. From everything you've said, he's starting to sound like a real sweet guy XD
As far as ideas go, you could give him zero social awareness, so like maybe these two other characters really hate each other but he has no idea and takes them both to a movie or something. Or maybe a character has anger/trust issues that require others to be really tactful around them, but your idiot guy immediately says exactly the wrong thing and ruins everything. You could also just say he has no filter, so he'll ask really personal questions or repeat hurtful gossip or confess his undying love without stopping to think of the consequences.
Or maybe you'd rather have physical clumsiness. Honestly, I think a lot of irl clumsiness comes from not planning out your actions before you do them (rather than just having bad reflexes or low motor control). So for example: Character is showing off his crazy self-defense moves for his friends and knocks over a priceless vase. Or maybe he lunges to help somebody who tripped, but forgets that he's also holding a plate of food and spills it all over them.
Idk, hopefully those ideas will give you some inspiration anyway ^^
P.S. By the way, I don't know if you're into manga/anime, but I just remembered that Rin Okamura from Blue Exorcist always struck me as a good example of an idiot main character. He struggles in school, is socially very clumsy, gets in fights a lot and doesn't know his own strength. But boy is he the most good-hearted, grounded, loyal, protective, heart-on-his-sleeve main character I've seen in a long time. He just doesn't always know how to do the right thing exactly XD
Make the character have no filter or say weird shit constantly. I have a friend who did that a lot. It was never offensive, but it was so out of left field that I ended up questioning her sanity and my involvement in her affairs.