Grandtell

Story questions for the family

How it works

How the questions and the book work

You keep a book for one storyteller. They get one question at a time on their own link, and the family reads every answer on another. These are the rules the server follows, in the order you meet them.

Last updated 28 October 2026

The rules, in the order you meet them

  1. Starting a book. You sign in with a passkey (no password, no email) and start a book with what the family calls the storyteller, their time zone, a question day and how often: every week or every other week. Each book gets 3 secret links: one for the storyteller, one for the family and a calendar of question days.
  2. The first question. Nothing goes out until you press Send the first question. It appears on the storyteller's link straight away.
  3. The question day. After a question goes out, the next one goes at 9:00 in the storyteller's time zone on the first question day that is at least 4 days later for a weekly book, or 11 days later for a fortnightly one. Clock changes follow the time zone, so 9:00 stays 9:00.
  4. Only when ready. A new question goes out only if the last one has been answered or skipped by then. If not, nothing happens, and the check is made again on each question day after. There is never more than one question waiting.
  5. Which question. The top question in your list goes next. Skipped ones wait at the end. If the list is empty and house questions are on, a house question goes, from the life stage with the fewest stories so far, and never one the book has used. The house list has 154 questions.
  6. Answering. The storyteller types, or speaks with the microphone on their phone keyboard, up to 20,000 characters. The page saves on their device as they type and on the server a few seconds after they stop, so another device can carry on. Done sends the answer; tapping it twice still makes one answer.
  7. Skipping. Skip moves the question to the end of the list once. Skipping it a second time takes it out of the book.
  8. The family link. Each answer shows there, in chapters by life stage, the moment Done is tapped. Drafts never show. Changed answers show the new words and the word edited.
  9. Suggestions. Anyone with the family link can suggest a question or ask a follow-up under a story, up to 10 an hour from one connection. Suggestions refuse email addresses, web addresses and phone numbers. You approve or decline each one; an approved one goes to the top of the list.
  10. Limits. Up to 6 books, 200 questions waiting in a list, and 20 answers in a book, after which no new question goes out and the storyteller sees That is all the questions for now. Thank you.
  11. Links. Replacing a link stops the old one at once; it then says it was replaced, and anything typed on that device stays there. The page the new link opens says on which day it was given out, so a replacement is never silent. Whoever keeps the book can see the links again, so they can also open the storyteller's page; the site does not claim otherwise.
  12. Deleting. A deleted book stops its links at once and can be restored for 7 days. Deleting your account signs you out everywhere; sign in within 7 days to cancel. After that everything is deleted for good.
  13. When the server is busy. The site runs on a free hosting allowance with daily limits. When one is reached the page says "Saving is paused for now. What you typed is kept on this device." and the words stay in the box.

Worked example

A grandchild starts a book for Grandma on Wednesday 4 November 2026: Europe/London, Sundays, every other week. They press Send the first question at 10:00 that morning. 11 days on from Wednesday is Sunday 15 November, so if Grandma has answered by then, the second question goes out at 9:00 on 15 November. If she has not, it waits for Sunday 22 November. The grandchild adds the calendar of question days to her tablet, and prints the link card for her fridge.

What it is not