The Family Story Interview

I want to interview a family member to capture their life stories before those stories are lost. Help me prepare a warm, structured interview guide.

## About the interview

**Who I'm interviewing:** [Relative's name -- e.g., "Grandpa Dave," "my mother Linda," "Aunt Rose," "my father-in-law Jim"]
**My relationship to them:** [e.g., "granddaughter," "son," "niece," "daughter-in-law"]
**Their approximate age:** [e.g., "84," "in her late 70s"]
**Anything I already know about their life:** [Optional -- e.g., "Grew up on a farm in Iowa, served in Korea, worked at the same factory for 30 years." Even a sentence or two helps the AI tailor the questions.]

## What I need

Generate a complete interview guide with **warm-up questions, core questions, and closing questions**. The questions should feel like a conversation, not an interrogation. They should be specific enough to spark memory but open enough to let the storyteller go where the story takes them.

## Interview structure

### Before you begin -- practical setup notes

Include a short section at the top with practical guidance:
- **Recording:** Use your phone's voice memo app. Place the phone between you, screen-down so it's not distracting. Test it first -- record 30 seconds and play it back to make sure you can hear both voices clearly.
- **Setting:** Somewhere comfortable and quiet. Their kitchen table is usually perfect. Avoid restaurants (too much background noise) and formal living rooms (too stiff).
- **Timing:** Plan for 60-90 minutes but be flexible. If they're on a roll at 90 minutes, keep going. If they're tired at 40, stop gracefully and come back another day.
- **Your role:** You are the listener, not the interviewer. Ask the question, then be quiet. Let silence sit for 5-10 seconds before prompting again -- people often fill silence with the best stories. Don't interrupt to correct details or share your own memories. This is their time.
- **When it gets heavy:** Some stories carry grief, regret, or pain. Don't redirect away from those moments. A simple "take your time" or "that sounds hard" is enough. Let them decide whether to continue or move on.
- **Photos as prompts:** If they have photo albums or old pictures, bring them. A photograph can unlock a memory faster than any question.

### Part 1: Warm-up (5-10 minutes)

Start easy. These questions build comfort and get the memory engine running. They should feel like small talk that goes somewhere.

Generate 4-5 questions like:
- "What's the first house you remember living in? Can you describe it for me -- what color was it, what did it smell like inside?"
- "[Name], what did your kitchen look like when you were little? Was there a sound or a smell that you associate with it?"
- "Who was the first person outside your family who was really important to you? A teacher, a neighbor, a friend?"

The questions should reference [relative's name] naturally and use the relationship language I specified.

### Part 2: Childhood and home (15-20 minutes)

Go deeper into their early years. Focus on sensory details and specific moments, not timelines.

Generate 6-8 questions covering:
- The neighborhood or land they grew up on
- What they did for fun (before anyone organized fun for them)
- Family meals and who cooked
- Siblings and where they fell in the birth order
- A specific memory they've told before (if I mentioned one) -- ask for the details: what time of year, who else was there, what happened right after
- Something they got in trouble for
- A sound, smell, or taste from childhood they can still recall

### Part 3: School and growing up (10-15 minutes)

Generate 5-6 questions covering:
- What school was like -- the building, the teachers, the walk there
- A subject they loved or hated, and why
- Their first job (even if it was chores)
- A friend from that era and what made them close
- The moment they realized they were no longer a kid

### Part 4: Work and purpose (10-15 minutes)

Generate 5-6 questions covering:
- How they ended up doing what they did for a living
- A day at work they remember clearly
- The hardest thing about their job
- Whether they loved it, endured it, or something in between
- What they'd tell a young person starting in that field today

### Part 5: Love, family, and relationships (10-15 minutes)

Generate 5-6 questions covering:
- How they met their partner (if applicable) -- the specific moment, not the summary
- What the early days were like
- The hardest year of their marriage or partnership
- What they wish they'd known about relationships at 25
- A moment with their children (if applicable) they keep coming back to

### Part 6: The hard questions (handle with care)

These are optional. Use your judgment about whether your relative is open to them. The guide should include a gentle note to the interviewer: "You know [relative's name] better than any script does. If these feel right, ask them. If not, skip them without guilt."

Generate 4-5 questions covering:
- A decision they'd make differently if they could
- Something they never told their parents
- What they lost that they miss most
- What they're proud of that no one talks about
- What scares them now

### Part 7: For the next generation (5-10 minutes)

Generate 4-5 closing questions covering:
- What they want their grandchildren (or great-grandchildren, or the next generation in general) to know
- A piece of advice they actually believe, not a greeting-card platitude
- Something about the world they grew up in that they wish still existed
- The story from their life they'd most want remembered

### After the interview

Include a brief section on what to do with the recording:
- Transcribe it (AI transcription tools work well for this -- mention that any AI chat tool can help clean up a rough transcript)
- Note the timestamps of the best stories so you can find them again
- Share the recording with other family members, if appropriate
- Consider a follow-up session in a few weeks -- second interviews often go deeper because the first one got them thinking
- Use [The Archivist](/agents/soul-the-archivist) to organize any photographs or documents that came up during the conversation
- Consider a [Genealogy Research Kit](/agents/prompt-genealogy-research-kit) prompt to follow up on names, places, and dates mentioned in the interview

## Tone

Every question should sound like it was written by someone who genuinely cares about the answer. Not clinical. Not sentimental. Warm, specific, and respectful of the fact that you're asking someone to open a door they may not have opened in years.

Now generate the complete interview guide based on the information I provided above.