Wattpad Clichés: How To Avoid Them

Dumb people (Horror)

If you didn't know that I love horror, you now do.

Horror is hands down my favourite genre for anything. Books, movies, games, anime, anything!

But something that I noticed in horror books (and other people noticed this already) is that the main character(s) is(are) really, really dumb.

I understand that we need dumb people to fall into the villain's traps but it couldn't hurt to make them a bit smarter for once!

Here's a scenario:
A character (I dunno, John) buys a new house and finds a creepy looking doll. What does he do?

Throw it away, of course! (because it's the smartest thing to do! And, why would an adult keep a doll?)

But John soon finds out that the doll keeps on coming back no matter how many times he gets rid of it. So he has no other choice than to keep it.

This wasn't that hard to come up with, was it? (No it wasn't)

Right in the beginning we see the character is SMART and tries to get rid of it. But can't.

(Creepy, haunted dolls are a popular concept, so I used it as an example)

Anyways, making a smart character might make him/her live longer in the story will make us start to familiarise with the character (along with character development!) and when they die it'll make the reader sad. You'll be hitting the reader right in the feelings! And if they do become sad, that's when you know you made a good character.

Take Death Note as an example (not really horror, but still a good example of a smart main character). Light (the main character) is really smart and was able to fight against L which made the story and plot really interesting! (If it wasn't for L, Light would be the most loved character in the anime!)

Conclusion: Make a smart character, it will definitely make the plot interesting and make us attached to the characters. MAKE THEM SMART. And don't forget some character development too!