Whenever I speak to people, they always tell stories in the present tense. For example, “I get in my car, turn it on, and notice the roof is gone.”
It’s so distracting and takes me out of the story, but for them they (and others) are completely absorbed in what they are saying. Whereas when I (try) to tell a story, I’m naturally in past tense. “I got in my car, turned it on, and noticed the roof was gone.”
I’ve been trying to tell anecdotes in the present tense but it’s unnatural for me and I keep losing momentum and confidence.
Why do people speak like that? And how can I fix my own vocal/on the spot storytelling abilities? I should mention that I’m a writer, so I have a lot of practice with words on paper. But on the spot, I feel like I don’t hold people’s interest.
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I think people do this to make the story feel more *real*, as if you are experiencing in the present, here and now. I can understand how it’s distracting – it’s not what you expect. I don’t have much advice for storytelling but a friend (who is an amazing storyteller) explained stories capture people’s attention if you describe a situation as if it will go one way, then there’s a “twist” as you finish out the story.
An example: I woke up the other morning, just a typical Monday. I had already spent 15 minutes loitering in my kitchen…drinking coffee…avoiding the mundane drive to my mundane job. So I drag myself outside, get in my car, turn it on…and the roof is gone! It definitely wasn’t the excitement I was hoping to have in my work day.
I think I do this because in my mind I’m walking through the actions I did.
It’s from the perspective of being in the moment.
Every movie you watch isn’t a historical documentary
It’s like trying to place you and the story at different distances in time. If i want you to feel close to the event, or i want to feel close to it, it gets present tense. If i want to distance you and myself from the event, it gets past tense. So a light hearted story i want both of us to relive “so now, my dad gets out of the car….”. And a heavy story about a bad memory “so then, my dad got out of the car…”. And a story about a bad memory i am reliving because it feels close “so then… my dad gets out of the car….”. The heavy one that feels close gets words to distance it and words to make it close. The story i want to be close only gets words to bring it close. The story i want to distance that i don’t feel close to only gets words to distance it.