Questions for You to Begin Storybooking

Don't know where to start when you want to hear someone's story? These suggestions and questions are designed to get you started.

The First Step

1. Before you begin recording your stories, gather photos, yearbooks, family albums, letters, heirlooms, souvenirs, mementos, and other reminders of your life.

2. Use your free time over the next couple days to look at these items and think about the events and people in your life.

3. Review the questions a few days before recording or writing your story. Let the responses percolate in your mind to help organize your thoughts before you begin. You will be surprised and pleased as to how much you can recall.

4. If you are writing your own story, it might be helpful for someone to read the questions to you. That person can then jog your memory with additional questions.

5. This can be exhilarating or tiring so be sure to allow yourself some time to rest. Optimally, no more than 2 hours at a time is plenty. If recording, breakdown each start/stop into segments preferably no longer than 10 minutes each.



The Generations - How far back do you remember? Whether we realize it or not, our previous generations had a great influence on our lives - our attitudes and even our health.

1. Where did your great-grandparents come from?

2. If it was other than the United States, why did they leave their homeland?

3. Where did they live in the U.S.?

4. What did they do for a living?

5. How many brothers and sisters did they have?

6. How many children did they have?

7. What do you remember about your great-grandparents?

8. What do you remember about your grandparents?

9. What did they do for a living?

10. How many sisters and brothers did they have?

11. How many children did they have?

12. What do you know about their brothers and sisters?

13. Did anyone from these generations serve in the military?

14. What type of education did they have?

15. What stories did your parents tell you about their lives?

16. Where did your parents live while they were growing up?

17. What schools did they attend?

18. How did they meet?

19. When and where did they get married?

20. Are there any customs or family traditions that have been passed down through the generations?



Childhood - Do you remember the days when you didn't have a care in the world? Some of your greatest concerns were getting time to play, talking to friends, and finding out what was for dinner.

1. Where and when were you born?

2. What was it like there?

3. What was your house like?

4. What were your parents like?

5. What are your favorite memories of them?

6. What was the most important thing they taught you?

7. Did you have any brothers or sisters?

8. What do you remember about your childhood?

9. What kinds of things did you enjoy?

10. What were you like as a child?

11. Did you have any pets? If so, what were they and do you remember their names?

12. Who was your best friend?

13. What was your school like and did you enjoy it?

14. What were your best and worst subjects?

15. What was your favorite food and favorite thing to do?

16. Did you have chores to do around the house?

17. Did you participate in sports, scouts, clubs, or church?

18. What were your family vacations like?

19. How did you celebrate holidays?

20. What was your most memorable birthday?

21. What was the best present you ever received?

22. What was the most memorable present you ever gave?

23. What did you want to be when you grew up?

24. Did you have any jobs in high school?

25. When did you get your driver's license?

26. What was the first car you drove?

27. When did you get your first car and what was it?

28. What did you like most about your childhood?

29. When you misbehaved, what was your punishment?



Adult Life - You passed through the crucible of childhood and youth with all the rapid swings of change those years often bring. As you matured, life brought new challenges, new heights to climb.

1. Where did you live when you left home?

2. Did you further your education? If so, how?

3. What was your first job as an adult?

4. What were the best and worst jobs you ever had?

5. What is your present job or was the last job you had before retirement?

6. Did you serve in the military? If so, where?

7. Have you belonged to any organizations?

8. What was your favorite activity?

9. When did you buy your first house? Where was it?

10. What do you remember about living in your first house?

11. What was your favorite car?

12. Have you done any traveling? If so, what places did you visit?

13. What do you remember about the world at different times in your life?

14. Where were you and what did you think during historic events?

15. What was the most embarrassing thing you ever did?



Family Stories

1. Did you marry? If not, why did you choose to remain single?

2. If you married, how did you meet your spouse?

3. How old were you when you got married?

4. What do you remember about your wedding day?

5. What was it like when you were dating?

6. What was popular at the time?

7. Did you marry for love or another reason?

8. Where did you get married? Where was your honeymoon if you had one?

9. Where did you live when newly married?

10. Do you have any children?

11. What feelings did you have when your children were born?

12. How do your children's lives differ from yours?

13. What were your children like as kids?

14. What were they like as teenagers?

15. When your kids misbehaved, how did you discipline them?

16. What were the holidays like in your family?

17. What traditions did you observe?

18. What was your home and neighborhood like?

19. Why did you choose to live where you did?

20. What were the happiest days you remember?

21. What were your proudest accomplishments?

22. When did you feel most proud of each of your children?

23. Do you have any grandchildren or great-grandchildren and if so, where do they live?


Love Stories - What would life be without love?

1. Did you have childhood or teenage crushes? If so, for whom?

2. Who did you first fall in love with?

3. How and where did you meet?

4. Do you remember a special present you bought or received from him or her?

5. Did you have a favorite place to go together?

6. Did you have a favorite song?

7. Do you have a special memory of a time you spent with that person?

8. Are you still together, or, if not, why did you part?


Photo Memories - "A picture is worth a thousand words." Select several photos and get the story behind each.

1. What is the date/year of this photo?

2. Who is in the photo?

3. Who took the photo?

4. Where was the photo taken?

5. What brought you there?

6. What is happening in the photo and what was the event?

7. Why is this photo important to you?


Wisdom Stories - A life well lived is full of surprises, twists, and turns. Your experiences can provide valuable lessons to those who come after you. They can help them to avoid your mistakes or build on your successes. By sharing your experiences and perspectives, a lifetime of wisdom can be passed along to a new generation.

1. If you could go back and re-live any part of your life, what would it be?

2. What is your proudest moment and why?

3. What guided your decisions?

4. At times of stress, what got you through them?

5. What was your greatest fear and how did you deal with it?

6. What are the most important lessons that you have learned so far?

7. Who was the one person you admired most and why?

8. What are you most sorry about?

9. What were the causes you were most concerned with?

10. What was the hardest thing you had to do?

11. Who was the greatest influence in your life?

12. What were some of the things your dad and mom said?

13. What books and/or movies made the most impact on you and why?

14. What is your most treasured possession and why?

15. As you look back, what are the three most fantastic changes you witnessed?

16. What are some of the principles you have lived by? What guides you?

17. How well have you been able to live by those principles?


Medical History - It is important for our future generations to have as much knowledge and information as possible about our family's medical history and background.

1. How old did your great-grandparents live to be or how old are they if they're still living?

2. What illnesses or allergies did they have during their lifetime?

3. If they have passed, how did they die?

4. How old did your grandparents live to be or how old are they if they're still living?

5. What illnesses or allergies did they have?

6. If they have passed, how did they die?

7. How old are your parents?

8. What illnesses or allergies did or do they have?

9. If they have passed, how did they die?

10. What illnesses or allergies have you had in your lifetime?

11. Do any special illnesses or specific allergies run in your family? If so, what are they?


Business, Career & Finance - This part of life is one that everyone has opinions on. Whether you owned your own business, worked for someone else, or just had to pay the bills, you have stories to tell. The ones who will follow your trail need to know how you dealt with these issues, good or bad.

1. If you have your own business or manage one that has been in the family, what kind of business is it?

2. What do you like most about what you do for a living?

3. What are our feelings about using credit?

4. What have been your experiences with professionals like attorneys, CPAs, brokers, real estate agents, lenders, etc.?

5. What accomplishments and recognition have you received? How did they make you feel?

6. What did you do that led to those accomplishments?

7. How did you manage your money?

8. Have you ever gotten in over your head? How did you get out?

9. What was your typical workday like?

10. Was your work stressful? If so, how did you deal with it?

11. Do you have any special thoughts on dealing with bosses, subordinates, co-workers, or customers?

12. How do you define "success"?

13. What gave you the most satisfaction in your career?

14. Did you have a mentor? If so, who?

15. Does someone you mentored stand out in your mind?

16. What were the main ingredients of your success?

17. If you could, what would you have done differently in your business life if you had to do it over again?

18. A great deal of success in business is the quality of people you hire. What special traits did you look for when considering a new hire?

19. Were you ever fired? If so, what were the circumstances?

20. Did you ever fire someone? If so, what were the circumstances?


Spiritual Life - Spiritual life has a different definition for everyone. For some, it may mean participating in organized religions. For others, it may mean communing with nature. It's a very personal part of life and can provide important insight about you to those who hear your stories.

1. Describe your spiritual or religious beliefs?

2. What were your grandparents' and parents' beliefs?

3. Do you still practice the faith you were born into? If not, when and why did you change?

4. Have you participated in any celebrations within your faith? If so, what were they, and how old were you?

5. Have you done any work with youth groups?

6. Have you traveled to spread your faith to other people? Tell a story about a memorable experience from that time.

7. How has your faith helped guide you through life?

8. Was there a special time in your life when your faith sustained you in a time of crisis?

9. What is your favorite scripture and why?

10. Share a story about a prayer that was answered.

11. Do you believe in miracles? If so, did you ever witness one?

12. Describe some of the ways your life has been blessed through your faith.

13. What would you like to share in regard to your faith?


Veteran's History - The following questions are based on the Veteran's History Project Sample Interview Questions. Some questions may not apply to every veteran. The more you can find out about a veteran before an interview, the more successful the interview will be. If you are the interviewer, it would be helpful for you to read up on any conflicts the veteran participated in and to look at maps of the areas where he/she was stationed.

Jogging the Memory:

1. Were you drafted or did you enlist?

2. Where were you living at the time?

3. If you joined, what was your motivation?

4. Why did you pick the service branch you joined?

5. Do you recall your first days in service?

6. What did it feel like?

7. Talk about your boot camp experiences.

8. What do you remember about your instructors?

9. How did you get through it?

Experiences:

1. What war(s) did you serve in?

2. Where exactly did you go?

3. Do you remember your arrival and what it was like?

4. What was your job or assignment?

5. Did you see combat?

6. Were there any casualties in your unit?

7. Talk about a couple of your most memorable experiences.

8. Were you a prisoner of war? If so, talk about your experiences and when freed?

9. Were you awarded any medals or citations?

10. What did you do to earn them?

Life in the Service:

1. How did you stay in touch with your family?

2. What was the food like?

3. Did you have enough supplies?

4. Did you feel pressure or stress?

5. Was there something special you did for good luck?

6. How did people entertain themselves?

7. Were there entertainers?

8. What did you do when on leave?

9. Where did you travel while in the service?

10. Do you recall any particularly humorous or unusual event?

11. Did you and others pull pranks, and if so, describe some?

12. Do you have photographs? (Go through them if available.)

13. What did you think of officers or fellow soldiers?

14. Did you keep a personal diary?

After Services:

1. Do you recall the day your service ended? If so, how did you feel?

2. Where were you?

3. What did you do in the days and weeks that followed?

4. Did you work or go back to school?

5. Was your education supported by the GI Bill?

6. Did you make any close friendships while in the service?

7. Did you continue any of those relationships? For how long?

8. Did you join a veteran's organization?

Later Years and Closing:

1. What did you do as a career after your service?

2. Did your military experience influence your thinking about war or about the military in general?

3. If you're in a veteran's organization, what kind of activities does your post or association have?

4. Do you attend reunions?

5. How did your service and experiences affect your life?

6. Is there anything you would like to add that we did not cover in this interview?


Be sure to add observations and thoughts. Allow the stories to flow.
Questions taken from the "StoryKeeper User Guide."

Carolyn Dargevics