Speaking: Storytelling & Narrative Skills C1 - Lesson 3: Adapting Storytelling for Different Audiences & Purposes
Welcome back! A C1-level storyteller is a master of adaptation. You understand that a single story can be told in many ways, and you consciously change your style, content, and tone to suit your audience1 and achieve a specific purpose2. Today, we'll focus on adapting your narrative to achieve two powerful effects: creating humor and building suspense.
The First Step: Know Your Audience and Purpose
Before you tell any story, you must ask yourself two questions:
- Who am I talking to? (e.g., friends, your boss, children). This determines the formality and appropriateness of your content.
- Why am I telling this story? (e.g., to entertain, to inform, to persuade, to warn). This determines the techniques you will use.
Adapting for a Purpose 1: Creating Humor
The goal is to make your audience laugh and feel relaxed. This is not about telling a pre-written "joke," but about finding the humor in a real situation.
Techniques for Humorous Storytelling:
- Exaggeration (Hyperbole): Deliberately overstate details for comic effect.
- Example: "I waited in the queue for so long, I think I grew a beard."
- Understatement: Describe a dramatic or chaotic event in a very calm and casual way.
- Example: After getting completely soaked in a sudden downpour, you say, "We experienced some mild precipitation."
- Self-deprecation: Making gentle fun of your own past mistakes or foolishness. This makes you relatable.
- Example: "My first attempt at cooking amok was a disaster. I think the cat was afraid of it."
Adapting for a Purpose 2: Building Suspense
The goal is to make your audience feel tense, curious, and desperate to know what happens next.
Techniques for Building Suspense:
- Slow Down Your Pace: As you reach the most tense moment, deliberately slow down your speech and use more pauses. This forces the listener to wait.
- Use Sensory Details (Focused on Fear): Describe the sights, sounds, and feelings that create a tense atmosphere.
- Example: "The house was completely silent. I couldn't hear anything except the pounding of my own heart. Then, from the room upstairs... a floorboard creaked."
- Ask Rhetorical Questions: Put the listener in your shoes by asking the questions you were asking yourself at that moment.
- Example: "What was that noise? Had I locked the door? I couldn't remember."
Scenario: The Same Story, Two Different Ways
Let's take a simple event—seeing a gecko in a bathroom—and tell it with two different purposes.
Version 1: Humorous (Told to friends)
"You won't believe what happened. I walked into the bathroom and there was this gecko on the wall. It wasn't a normal gecko; this thing was the size of a crocodile! (Exaggeration) Seriously, I thought it was going to ask me for rent. I just slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. I've decided the bathroom belongs to him now. I'll use the one at the cafe down the street." (Self-deprecation)
Version 2: Suspenseful (Told around a campfire)
"The power had just gone out, so the house was pitch black. I lit a single candle and made my way to the bathroom. [pause] The candlelight cast long, dancing shadows on the walls. [pause] As I opened the door, the flame flickered, and for just a second, I saw something on the wall. Something dark... and long. It was perfectly still. I held my breath, trying to see what it was. And then... [pause] ...it blinked."
The Conscious Choice of a C1 Storyteller
A C1 storyteller understands that they are in complete control of the listener's emotional journey. Before telling a story, they consciously decide on the purpose.
"Do I want to make my team feel motivated with this story?"
"Do I want to make my friends laugh with this story?"
"Do I want to make the audience feel the tension of the situation I was in?"
This choice of purpose then dictates the vocabulary, tone, pace, and techniques you use. It is a deliberate, strategic act.
Practice Quiz: Identify the Purpose/Technique
Read the sentence and choose the best description of the technique or purpose.
1. "The room was silent. I held my breath, listening. Was that a footstep on the stair? Or just the old house settling?" What is the primary purpose of this narrative style?
A) To create a humorous mood.
B) To build suspense and tension.
C) To provide a formal, factual report.
→ Answer: B. The use of sensory details (silence) and rhetorical questions creates a feeling of suspense and uncertainty.
2. "I tried to assemble the new bookshelf myself. The final result looked less like a bookshelf and more like a modern art sculpture. It was a complete disaster, but at least it was a creative one." What technique is the speaker using?
A) Foreshadowing
B) Suspense
C) Self-deprecation
→ Answer: C. The speaker is making gentle fun of their own failure and lack of skill, which is a classic form of self-deprecating humor.
Your Mission: The "Style-Shifting" Story
Your mission is to practice telling the exact same story in two completely different ways.
- Think of a simple, real event from your life. For example, a time you were late for something important, a time you tried a new food, or a time you met someone new.
- Prepare to tell this story twice.
- Version 1 (Humorous): Plan how you would tell this story to your best friends to make them laugh. What parts can you exaggerate? What was ironic or silly about the situation?
- Version 2 (Dramatic/Serious): Plan how you would tell the same story to convey a sense of drama, importance, or suspense. What details would you focus on? Where would you slow down and use pauses?
- Record yourself telling both versions. Listen back and notice how your choice of words, your tone of voice, and your pacing changed completely, even though the basic facts of the story were the same.
Vocabulary Glossary
- Audience: (Noun) - អ្នកស្ដាប់ - The people listening to a speech or story, whose characteristics should influence the speaker's style. ↩
- Purpose: (Noun) - គោលបំណង - The reason for which something is said or done. ↩
- Humor: (Noun) - កំប្លែង - The quality of being amusing or comic. ↩
- Suspense: (Noun) - ស្រពិចស្រពិល - A state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. ↩
- To adapt: (Verb) - សម្រប - To change your style or method to suit a new situation or purpose. ↩