Preserving Family Histories: Behind the Scenes with No Story Lost

Lisa [: 00:00:00

And today, our topic is No Story Lost. That's what we're calling it. That's what someone else calls it, actually. I have the cofounder of No Story Lost on the phone with me, Andrew Hall. Hi, Andrew. How are you today?

Andrew Hall [: 00:00:15

Hello. I'm doing great.

Lisa [: 00:00:16

Wonderful. I'm good. Thank you. Where are you calling in from?

Andrew Hall [: 00:00:20

I'm from Vancouver, Canada. So

Lisa [: 00:00:23

A Canadian. Canada. Yay. Yeah. We love the Canadians.

Andrew Hall [: 00:00:28

Yeah. Middle middle of winter, but luckily, I'm in the warmest part of Canada. So not too bad over here.

Lisa [: 00:00:34

Well, good good for you. So, you are the cofounder of this we should what should we call you? An organization, a company?

Andrew Hall [: 00:00:44

Sure. Yeah. Either of those work.

Lisa [: 00:00:45

Okay. No Story Lost. What what's it all about?

Andrew Hall [: 00:00:49

Yeah. So what we do at No Story Lost put really simply is we interview people and turn their life story into a beautiful art cover book or a coffee table book.

Lisa [: 00:00:59

Okay.

Andrew Hall [: 00:01:00

And then a little bit a little bit more detail, we interview folks usually, you know, towards the later stages of their life, and that's over the phone or video calls. And we have between two and ten hours of chats depending on how much of a talker the person is and how many stories they have to tell. And then we record those interviews, transcribe them, and then our writers turn them into a nicely flowing story of their lives. Then we gather up their photos and their favorite colors and send them off to our designer who lays them out for a a really nice looking book, and then we print, yeah, these beautiful heirloom quality books about the person's life. So a nice thing to have for parents or grandparents, and then to share with the rest of the family some of those stories that you might not have even ever told before

Lisa [: 00:01:54

Yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:01:55

That tell everyone how you got there.

Lisa [: 00:01:57

So that's what

Andrew Hall [: 00:01:58

we're up to.

Lisa [: 00:01:58

So, Andrew and and I have seen one of the books. You sent me one. And I was Yeah. Super impressed with the quality, and the writing and the photos and the presentation. But let's start with the importance of storytelling. Because I think when you take all this stuff off the table, that's what you're left with. Why do you think storytelling is so important?

Andrew Hall [: 00:02:24

Oh, it all started for us because my grandfather on my mom's side was an amazing storyteller. And my whole family on that side, it was about 14 or 15 of us who would always meet up for every holiday and every birthday of the year. Mhmm. And those just seemed to be centered around my grandpa's songs that he would sing and stories he would tell about his life in, yeah, like, the nineteen thirties, which for little 10 year olds in the early two thousands, that was a whole world away.

Lisa [: 00:02:58

Of course.

Andrew Hall [: 00:03:00

And we were all just so always we'd always laugh and be so interested in these stories. But someone in the family would always say, we gotta write these stories down sometime. And, inevitably, another holiday would come and go, and we'd hear that sentence over and over again. Mhmm. And no one was really doing anything about it. So my cousin and I went off to college and came back. And, you know, fifteen years later, still nothing was happening. And so we decided to take matters into our own hands and started to sit down with him and just type away while he would while he would talk.

Andrew Hall [: 00:03:34

We quickly learned that that was a hard way of doing it, and we could just record the interviews. But through that, stumbling around, we eventually finished with a little book about his life.

Lisa [: 00:03:44

Okay.

Andrew Hall [: 00:03:45

And then passing out to the family and just seeing finally that his classic stories that he'd always tell or the unbelievable ones like his gas tank falling out of his car on a mountain highway and having to hike miles back to get the gas tank. Finally seeing them written down on paper was really special.

Lisa [: 00:04:06

Yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:04:06

So, yeah, we kinda always knew that there was something there and we needed to do something about it, but nobody knew what to do. And I guess to get back to the root of your question, at the end at the end of the day or at the end of our lives, really, our memories and the stories we can tell are what we can leave behind, maybe alongside some values and advice. So capturing that, really, I think, is pretty essential, in terms of legacy and through things along to our family.

Lisa [: 00:04:36

Andrew, I could not agree with you more. I think I would even I would even go harder on that statement and say that's the only thing you really leave behind are your stories and your memories when it's all said and done. And that's why I was so, impressed with, the project. And, of course, I was, impressed with the product that you ultimately deliver as well because I know other people are doing this. But you wanna be sure that you get your money's worth, when it's all said and done. So give me an example besides the gas tank. Give me another story from grandpa that that you love and that, everyone in your family has heard?

Andrew Hall [: 00:05:22

Yeah. For sure. Just to speak quickly to what we were saying before, and then I'm happy to share one or two great stories more. But, you were saying, like, you're happy with the quality, and that's so important to us because there are a ton of other ways to capture stories these days. The landscape is getting full of these companies that you can kinda capture your own stories for $99 for the year, and you write them yourselves. But our stance is, like, you're gonna do this once for one of the most important people in your life, and you might as well do a really, really great job of it. So that's why we stand behind kind of the old service method where we've got experts interviewing and experts writing and then produce, like you said, like, a really nice quality book versus, like, checking the box and just kinda getting it done. So that's why we do it the way that we do it.

Andrew Hall [: 00:06:11

But let's, let's go back and hear more about Alan in British Columbia in the nineteen thirties. Two more favorites. One is the story of the slingshot fight out in the forest where he he remembers that it was just two of the two of them, him and his buddy, against 10 guys from the next town over shooting slingshots back and forth. They're pinned down behind an aluminum sheet trying to survive this battle, and then they fire a shot over the edge and someone says, oh, stop. We got something here. And one of the kids had been hit in the head. So the police came and checked it out. And as the story goes, who knows how much this has been inflated over seventy years? But as the story goes, the officer said, hold on.

Andrew Hall [: 00:07:01

There was 10 of them and only two of you? Well, then they got what they deserved. And I think the kid the kid was fine, but he was pretty proud of himself there.

Lisa [: 00:07:09

Yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:07:10

And then my other favorite is, I was going through his actual book, and I saw his ID card from his, his first work experience at, like, a smelting plant. And I looked at the card, and they spelled his name like an alternative spelling. So instead of Alan with a second a, it's Alan with an e. And so I said, pop. They spelled your name wrong on your work ID card, and you did a crumbles from the next room saying, yeah. Well, you were lucky if they gave you a name at all back then. Oh. So you had yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:07:43

Just endless, one liners like that.

Lisa [: 00:07:46

Yeah. Yeah. So that's

Andrew Hall [: 00:07:47

why you had had to get a book.

Lisa [: 00:07:49

And, one of the one of the statements that you made when you initially contacted me was you said that this whole notion of storytelling fosters connection. And I thought, oh my gosh. It it so does. And while I was thinking about this interview, I'll I'll share a little story with you. Last week, I had my niece with me. She's 12. And we had been to, a family outing and we were dropping my brother back off at his home. And when we're pulling out of the driveway, we have this thing in our family where if you're driving, you blink your lights, like you flash your brights.

Lisa [: 00:08:29

And if you're at the home, you you turn the porch light on and off. And we always yeah. We always do this. It's a family thing. And so my niece, who's been observing this for many years, suddenly says, aunt Lisa, can I ask you a question? I'm like, yeah. What is it? She's like, why do we do that? And I said, oh. I said, well, we do that because that's our way of saying I love you. All is well.

Lisa [: 00:08:55

Till the next time. Take care. I'll I'll see you soon. And she's like, oh. And I thought about that's gonna stick with her. You know, that that's a storytelling moment where I'm explaining why we do these different we have these habits of the heart and traditions. But I thought about how that just pulled her into the family and just the way she said we changed. And she's like, oh, man.

Lisa [: 00:09:22

That's great. That's awesome. I've always wondered why we do that. But if no one ever was around to tell her the story and she said, when did that start? And I'm like, I have no idea. It's just always been that way as long as I remember.

Andrew Hall [: 00:09:36

Right.

Lisa [: 00:09:37

So, obviously, I don't know the origin of it. But I would love to know how did that start? Why do we do that?

Andrew Hall [: 00:09:44

Totally.

Lisa [: 00:09:45

So, also, purpose. Storytelling can lend into purpose. You wanna say a few make a few comments about that, how how you think storytelling lends into purpose?

Andrew Hall [: 00:10:00

Yeah. I would say a couple of things. One, there's a lot of our books where people go deep on career, and really like to speak about their life's work, and some of those books are super interesting. Some of them test the ability of our interviewers' engineering knowledge, which has been funny. But you really see, like, when you offer somebody four to six hours to talk about their whole life, you see the way that people like to direct their interview, and I think that gives us a feeling of what they think of what their purpose has been. Mhmm. So for a lot of people, that's family, and for others, that's career, and for others, that's travel. But given a blank slate, how much of that canvas do you paint with each season of your life? I think that that can show, like, the depth and importance, but also the purpose that you think you might have Yes.

Andrew Hall [: 00:10:51

To add as, like, as a whole as you look back on your life. And then the other piece is at the end of the interviews, we do some broad reflection questions and ask about advice for the next generation, what do you think life's all about, those types of fun questions.

Lisa [: 00:11:07

Right.

Andrew Hall [: 00:11:08

And I think a cool part about that is that's one of those questions that we might have 20 coffees a year, we might have 300 dinners with our partner each year, and you still might not cover that topic because these questions are things that we don't make time for in our general conversations with family usually.

Lisa [: 00:11:28

Yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:11:28

Until maybe it's like, if you're lucky, you might catch it if you know you're nearing the end, but then are you sharp enough to tell the story? Other families miss the opportunity. So I think this also just makes for a really good excuse to ask those types of questions that might be a little bit too deep to just ask, you know, on a on a Sunday drive one one week

Lisa [: 00:11:47

or something. Right. Right.

Andrew Hall [: 00:11:49

But you get you get to add to some really special stuff.

Lisa [: 00:11:52

Yeah. Not necessarily dinner conversation, but for sure, meaningful conversation. And I I liked in the beginning when you said you give people two to ten hours because some people are talkers and some people aren't. Right? What about the

Andrew Hall [: 00:12:06

Oh my gosh.

Lisa [: 00:12:07

Yeah. What about the people who aren't talkers? Do you kinda have to do you have you met people that you have to pull it out of them? Or do you sort of get people going and they just open up? How does that work?

Andrew Hall [: 00:12:19

I would say that half of the ones that the family thinks they're not talkers, they just crack right open and become talkers really quickly, and people underestimate them.

Lisa [: 00:12:31

Okay.

Andrew Hall [: 00:12:31

So I'm not sure if it's just kind of the venue or the talented interviewers, but something often just gets people to actually open right up. But there are inevitably people who are very shy. A couple of things. One, they will usually slowly warm up somewhat, which is great. Secondly, we can kind of attack the same topic from different angles, and sometimes phrasing a question differently, will get a better response. You can imagine the way you might ask even a yes or no question is gonna get a short response versus asking a question in a way that's like Yeah. Tell me about a story. But even we've also found, like, tell me about the sights and smells and sounds and those types of things.

Andrew Hall [: 00:13:22

And sometimes you can, yeah, get the brain working in a different way and get a a better response. Other times, not. And then those books are just shorter. Because at the end of the day, the person is who they are. But, we have seen everything from two people who are the same age doing books that are two hours versus ten hours and, you know, 50 pages versus 250 pages.

Lisa [: 00:13:45

Yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:13:46

And that's fine too.

Lisa [: 00:13:47

And now I was gonna ask you about that. So does that translate into the length of the book? I expect you don't just fill it up with with photos. Right?

Andrew Hall [: 00:13:57

Mhmm. But you do have photos. Right? Almost everybody.

Lisa [: 00:14:02

Yeah. Do include a lot of photos.

Andrew Hall [: 00:14:03

And then we also we'll take the best quotes from the book and blow them up into a full page quote, which is a bit fun to page through. I mentioned coffee table books at the start, and it is nice that you can kinda pick these up and flip through them from time to time as opposed to having to read them like a novel. Yeah. Almost every book has at least 20 photos, but some are hundreds of photos. And then yeah. The books will come out thinner or thicker depending on that person, Just kinda like I mentioned.

Lisa [: 00:14:37

And what's the shortest book and the longest one?

Andrew Hall [: 00:14:42

We did a one interview project last summer as a Valentine's or, a, anniversary present for a couple. So the husband surprised the wife with, like after dinner, he said, we're doing something interesting, and we called them and asked their love story and covered how they met and their life together, and that was just one hour of interviews. And then he sent some favorite photos from them in their life together, and they just made them a really short book. So, you know, still, like, 30 or 40 pages, and it is surprising how much content you get in an hour of people telling detailed stories.

Lisa [: 00:15:22

Yeah.

Andrew Hall [: 00:15:23

And then the longest, we've compiled some anthologies, so multiple speakers about someone's life with, like, 14 different interviewers. And we're also doing some organizations books now. Like, we're doing the Calgary Folk Festival's history. So that's fifty years of stories from multiple storytellers.

Lisa [: 00:15:47

Wow.

Andrew Hall [: 00:15:47

But I think the longest single person's, it was probably about twelve hours of interviews just themselves.

Lisa [: 00:15:53

Oh my goodness. So I hate to ask, but I have to ask, what does it cost?

Andrew Hall [: 00:16:00

Yeah. So our standard package is four hours of interviews, and that's 1,649. And it comes with a printed copy of your book. And then there's a smaller version. If someone is one of those people that only speaks a little bit, that'd be two hours of interviews. That's $10.99. And then the ones who go on and on and on, they can just add interviews, one at a time after that. And those range kinda depending how many interviews you do.

Lisa [: 00:16:28

I see. Yeah. It makes sense. And I would expect that when you get people comfortable, they open up and, you know, who doesn't wanna talk about themselves? Right? Everybody does.

Andrew Hall [: 00:16:40

Exactly. Yeah. Pretty much. And everyone wants to be listened to and asked questions. That's always a nice feeling.

Lisa [: 00:16:45

Yes. Everything.

Andrew Hall [: 00:16:46

I would say also, like, we aren't really new to to inventing the memoir. Like, we did not invent the memoir. That's been around for hundreds or thousands of years. Right? But Right. To pay for, like, a ghost written memoir is probably, like, 20 or $30,000. So I guess, you know, we're a lot more expensive than the $99 solutions. But in terms of bringing a memoir like product to a more affordable level, I think we've done a good job of that so that most families, at least if they work together, could afford, you know, a really special number for their family.

Lisa [: 00:17:20

Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. Okay. Well, this is great information. How would a listener go about contacting you?

Andrew Hall [: 00:17:29

Yeah. Our website is just nostorylost.com, and we're also on Instagram. Okay. So you should find us there as well.

Lisa [: 00:17:37

Alright. Nostorylost.com. Couldn't be easier than that. Anything you wanna leave our listeners with?

Andrew Hall [: 00:17:44

I would. I would say that no matter who you work with or how you cover this, anybody now with a phone can just press the record button either on a video or even a sneaky voice note when they're capturing or they're talking with, one of their senior family members. So there really is no excuse to not just capture some of those stories, even yourself. And from there, there's lots of tools to pull something together. So whether you're doing the complete DIY version or finding, deluxe solution, I would just say I've never met somebody who got some recordings of someone they love and then regretted it. So just keep the camera or the voice notes rolling when you're visiting, family members or people who you wanna capture their stories. That's what I would say.

Lisa [: 00:18:32

I I couldn't agree more. Get it done while those people are still with us because we don't live forever. And there are some things you you will regret, not writing it down, not recording it, not taking account of those people that we love and cherish. Alright. Andrew, thank you so much for joining us. We greatly appreciate it. Listeners, you can go to nostoryloss.com and learn all about these magnificent people doing this wonderful work. Capturing stories that lead into, as we said, connection, purpose, and legacy.

Lisa [: 00:19:13

Till next time, listeners may the road rise to meet you. May the wind be forever at your back.