Engagement between speakers and listeners

When Lance was describing how training prepared him to host Carapace he said:

So Standing in front of adults

trying to keep them

motivated

and keep their attention and

keep them interested,

that was

second nature at that point.

This description fits the hostile environment he described at his training sessions. It’s like he is fighting for their attention - having to work to keep them interested. He also said he was prepared to host because “I stand in front of adults anyway” as if just standing in front of people, before you even say anything, is intimidating. Again, in a hostile environment, it certainly is. This antagonistic relationship is (presumably) different from the relationship the host and audience have at Carapace.

It can be tricky to pick apart teller and story when dealing in personal stories, since the teller is a character in the story. Lance talked about Randy and Joyce being adamant that people tell personal stories:

but they wanted

the story of people's lives

like what are these events?

What’s happened to these folks?

And then:

We want to hear about you.

Tell us about this story that shaped this part of your life.

Or you going to tell us about this story that really had this punch in the gut

impact on you.

Much of this refers to the events, the stories, as you would expect. But that moment when he says, “we want to hear about you” - that feels truly personal. It is about the person, not just the story.

Lance described people having conversations after Carapace based on the stories that were told. People from the audience like to share with the storytellers similar things that have happened to them. Lance said “It's a great way to get to know people.” In these conversations, audience members become more engaged with the storytellers. Once again they have moved beyond the story to getting to know the person.

Having some distance from the audience members seems to be important to storytellers being able to share difficult stories, though.

In some instances it was

being in a room full of strangers

there's no judgment

we're not going to look down on you for what you done

we're not going to run back to your family and go

oh you're going to mad

let me tell you what so and so did.

I find this so interesting. First, the audience members might start out as strangers, but after one story that people relate to, they start to become people the storyteller has talked to and knows. Do Carapace regulars feel less free to share difficult stories as they get to know the audience members? Secondly, the Internet provides ample opportunity to share many things with strangers and constantly proves that strangers can be very judgemental. So, what is it about being with strangers in person that makes this so different?

Also, audience members may not be strangers even the first time someone tells a story. My husband, my mother, and my stepfather, have all frequently been at Carapace when I have been. I have friends there that I knew before Carapace. And I’ve even randomly run into old schoolmates I never expected to see at Carapace. Storytellers do share stories they feel comfortable sharing in front of whomever is at Carapace that knows them. Given that random people you weren’t expecting to see can pop up, storytellers could also have to deal with the fallout of someone hearing a story that they would not have wanted that person to hear.

Heckling has happened, but it is rare:

I

hosted and mc'd Carapace for

about five and a half years.

For the first five and a half years it was there.

That five and a half year stretch,

we had one heckler

the entire time.

Randy talked about a heckling incident as well, which I think was a different one, and perhaps occurred after Lance left. Still, heckling happens extremely infrequently, and this suggests that it is an understood norm of the community that heckling is not acceptable. The couple of people who have heckled were acting outside the norms of the community.

Lance contrasted the interaction between audience and teller at Carapace with that at Write Club. He called Write Club “the equivalent of going to a professional wrestling show.” The Write Club audience is

loud

they're obnoxious

the audience is cheering

and booing and

talking shit to whoever is

up there doing it.

But Lance said the organizers encourage it.

That's what they want

that's the environment

that they want.

The audience behaves this way because it is the way to behave in this space, at this event.

There are a number of people who go to both events (Carapace and Write Club) and they are able to shift how they play their role of audience member.

You’d see

a lot of these people at Write Club that are ahhh just totally-

They’d come to Carapace and they’d be

back to what we wanted

back to being the supportive

and the caring.

So it isn’t just about attracting the right sort of person to an event. The same person can behave in different ways for different events.

Finally, Lance asserted that the Write Club audience is actually supportive as well.

The Write Club audience is brutal.

They’re brutal in a loving way.

They are very supportive.

Perhaps this type of behavior from the audience would be too much for someone afraid of public speaking trying to tell a difficult personal story. But it sounds as if the speakers at Write Club can experience this reaction from the audience and understand that they do have their support.