Couples Sharing Stories

Some ways in which shared stories are begun and told are described using conversation analysis. Tellings shared by two persons who participated together in the events to be narrated display how coparticipants encounter and resolve the problems of having two potential tellers, and a “knowing” recipient present. The stories examined are begun with a three-part series of turns: a “remote” approach, a forwarding, and a ratification of the forwarding. The body of the telling includes techniques which involve the knowing recipient in the telling without necessarily challenging the current teller's role as teller. Implications are drawn for the study of how pairs of persons “do” their relationship in public.