This is “The Abridged Guide to Intelligent Characters”, a series of shortened excerpts of a minibook-in-progress on How To Write Intelligent Characters. I might someday publish the longer minibook, but not until Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is done.

This advice may contain significant but not story-breaking spoilers for Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. The minibook assumes that the typical reader has read HPMOR, and the writing advice here is not guaranteed to make sense if you have not read HPMOR. Discussion takes place in the Yudkowsky’s Essays facebook group.

If you’re not already familiar with advice like “Show, don’t tell” then you should read standard books of writing advice like “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy“ by Orson Scott Card. I have omitted all advice that is duplicated in standard writing books.