30 family interview questions for stories worth keeping

Begin with a small, familiar scene.

• Take me through an ordinary morning from a time you remember fondly.

  If useful: What sounds or smells would I have noticed if I had been there?

• When you were young, what did you look forward to doing at the end of the day?

  If useful: Who, if anyone, usually joined you?

• Tell me about a small adventure that still makes you smile.

  If useful: What happened that you did not expect?

• What is an early responsibility you remember taking on?

  If useful: How did you learn what to do?

• Which song brings back a particular moment in your life?

  If useful: Where were you when you used to hear it?

Make room for relatives, friends and chosen family.

• Tell me about someone who made you feel welcome.

  If useful: What did they do that stayed with you?

• Who could make you laugh, and what were they like?

  If useful: Can you remember one moment together?

• Who taught you a skill you still use?

  If useful: What would it have been like to learn alongside them?

• How did a friendship that matters to you begin?

  If useful: What helped you become close?

• Who would you like our family to know more about?

  If useful: What is one story that helps us understand them?

Follow a taste, a phrase or a familiar ritual.

• Describe a meal you would love to sit down to again.

  If useful: What made the occasion memorable, beyond the food?

• What is a cooking detail you learned by watching someone?

  If useful: What would a written recipe miss?

• What word or expression reminds you of someone close to you?

  If useful: When would they say it, and what did it mean to you?

• How has a celebration you enjoy changed over the years?

  If useful: Which part would you like to keep?

• What small ritual made an ordinary day feel special?

  If useful: How did it become a habit?

Let the storyteller choose which places matter.

• Imagine we could walk through a place that feels like home to you. What would you show me?

  If useful: What would be easy for a visitor to overlook?

• Where did you like to spend time when you wanted a moment to yourself?

  If useful: What made that place feel right?

• Tell me about a place where people you knew used to gather.

  If useful: What might a typical visit have been like?

• If you feel like sharing it, what helped you settle into a new place?

  If useful: Was there a person or routine that helped it feel familiar?

• What is different now about a place you have known for a long time?

  If useful: What do you remember that is no longer easy to see?

Start with something you can look at together.

• Choose a photograph: what was happening just outside the picture?

  If useful: What happened before or after it was taken?

• What does this photograph help you remember about the people in it?

  If useful: Which names are you sure of, and which would you like to check?

• What is something you kept because of the story attached to it?

  If useful: How did it come into your life?

• Tell me about something you or someone close to you made by hand.

  If useful: What can you remember about the making of it?

• Is there a letter, note or message you like to return to?

  If useful: What would you feel comfortable telling us about why it matters?

Leave room for what they want to pass on.

• What is something you feel quietly proud of?

  If useful: What did it take to get there?

• What is something you understand differently now than you once did?

  If useful: Was there a moment that helped change your view?

• What advice became useful to you only later?

  If useful: When did you find yourself thinking about it?

• What would you enjoy teaching someone in the next generation?

  If useful: What would be a good first step for them?

• What story have you been hoping someone would ask you about?

  If useful: Where would you like to begin?