You know the type: broad shoulders, tortured past, Clint Eastwood squint. He doesn’t say much, but, hey, since he oozes charisma out of every pore, he really doesn’t have to.
But how do you convince readers of your character’s supposed strength, when his silent half is always holding you back? In short, how do you write a broad-shouldered, tortured, squinting, charisma-oozing hero, if you have to limit his dialogue to the occasional manly grunt?
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (affiliate link)
Characters who don’t want to talk can be difficult to write. Sometimes their silence can be an obstacle even in allowing the writer to get to know them. So let’s consider an example. The first strong-and-silent hero to pop to my mind right now actually isn’t a fictional character at all, but the hero of Easy Company, Major Dick Winters, from Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers (2001), HBO.
In some ways this example is better than anything we might find in fiction, since it focuses on the inherent charisma of a real personality, rather than that of technique. So let’s talk about a few of the reasons Winters is an enduringly compelling historical figure—and how we can apply those reasons to our fictional heroes.
1. Show, Don’t Tell
To begin with, Winters puts the emphasis in “strong and silent” on strong. Strong and silent types exhibit the power of their personalities through their actions more than their words. Unlike say, Bill Guarnere, a fellow Easy Company member, Winters wasn’t the sort always ready with a smart remark. He made his opinions and beliefs clear through his actions.
2. Leverage Important Dialogue
Second, when strong and silent characters do choose to break silence, it’s always because they have something of importance to say. Strong and silent types say what they mean and they mean what they say—and they’re not likely to speak twice before acting upon their words.
If we can take advantage of just these two lessons, our strong and silent characters are likely to jump off our pages.
