Taking the risk of telling antihero stories

When Cris was talking further about the storyteller not being the hero he said:

we all have

a story

or moments in our lives where

“I want people to like me,

I want you to think I’m a good person.”

I think I’m a good person.

But I’ve done,

I’ve done some bad things.

So, but to me the challenge is,

as a storyteller,

how can I present

that

but still as a good story?

To where

you may be like

“I hate him!

I despise him!

But!

That was a really  -”

You were drawn in,

the story

was entertaining,

you enjoyed it,

but I am,

the storyteller is the antihero.

Carapace generally keeps the storyteller safe by minimizing judgement. The audience is supposed to be polite and not heckle or boo. The storyteller can not be criticized for a bad story or a poor performance. Cris is getting at a much more personal type of judgement here. The audience could end up thinking the storyteller is a bad person. This seems like it would be the worst type of judgement to endure. This could be very close to the heart of the practice of keeping the storyteller safe. The teller must be free of other types of judgement to be willing to risk judgement of their character. Obviously the ideal situation is that the audience finds the storyteller relatable and does not harshly judge their character either.

Cris experiments with these stories and hasn’t suffered harsh personal judgement yet:

But every now and then at Carapace,

I do kind of tiptoe

and I tell a little bit darker story because I’m like,

“Eh you all kind of like me

but here’s something that you

may not like!”

But so far, nobody’s been like

“Cris!”

I had to ask Cris about the story he told at the August Carapace because it was one of those kinds of stories. He said he tells stories like that because:

my hope is that

that it encourages other people to maybe share

stories where, like I said,  

they’re not always the hero of the story.

He also thinks it brings us closer together as a Carapace family:

So I’m just kind of like,

“yeah, let’s

get a peek at what’s behind each other’s curtain,

just a sliver!”

‘Cause I always feel like,

yeah, it may

drive some people away,

but I also think

there will be bonds that

grow even stronger because

we did let each other look

behind the curtain and see

a little bit of our dark side.