Frequently Asked Questions

How much is it?

Two page story: $5

Two page story + black and white sketch: $10

Two page story + colour drawing: $20

Others in our shop.

What's your background/ qualifications?

The writer has been writing for years. The artist has been drawing for years. Examples can be seen on the examples page.

How are the Princess stories handled?

The option to have a story told about or from the perspective of a princess, and to have your child star as the princess in the story is taken from the cultural trope of a child asking for a story about these common things (princesses, robots, heroes, et cetera). The only thing that will separate a princess character from any other is that they will have a crown and be leading a nation.

Why not say boy/ girl/ he/ she on this website?

Transgendered people, and children, are people, too. At this point in our exchange you're anonymously browsing this website and haven't told us anything about you or your child. We want people to know that this is an inclusive space and that we will respect the person they or their children are. Part of that is by not making binary assumptions.

Fed Ex or UPS?

Neither. We send it to you via e-mail as a PDF. To do so we need a valid e-mail address to send it to. Should you need a PDF reader you can get one here, for free. If you want to test if you have the reader installed on your computer, you may do so here. If you need an e-mail address, you may get one for free from Google.

Is the story going to be cut-and-paste templates?

No.

What if my child wants a story about a copyrighted/ protected character?

Nope. We don't do that. As much as we would love to borrow established characters for the stories that we write, as this is a for-profit venture, there is no way any company or creator would be okay with that.

Can you use a character my child has created?

Yes! All we need is permission.

What if I/ my child didn't like the story?

First of all, we would like to apologize for not meeting your standards. There's a few things we would like to offer.

Our apologies
More apologies.

You are welcome to complain at length to us directly. Please note the obligation is yours to inform us of your expectations and desires for your short story.

Can I get something with "adult" material?

Nope. We don't do that. But we'd like to suggest this for you.

Can the story be printed?

Yes. If you want to print it yourself for personal use, that's fine. But we won't print it to mail out.

What if my child wants to edit/ adapt/ record/ play/ etc. for fun?

We considered this very carefully when we thought about copyright and copyright alternatives. We realize there's a lot of companies and rights holders who police their work. They're very fast with the cease-and-desist orders, and lawsuits. And we appreciate and respect that you're asking about this first. Our position is that we don't want to demonize or stifle the creativity of a child, person, or family. So that's why we selected a Creative Commons licence that gives you permission to do anything except profit from our work so long as we get credit for the original work.

I'm student filmmaker or represent a film school. Can we use your work for a treatment/ adaptation?

Contact us. As a matter of semantics we consider degree requirements, use in a private or public festival, and portfolio use "profiting" and that is not covered under our provided licence. So talk to us first.

Same question as above, but this time I'm a professional.

Can a story be written in a language other than English?

No.

Can a moral be put in the story?

You're more than welcome to let us know the moral or lesson you want the story to teach and we will be happy and delighted to drive that point home in a fun and engaging way. (So long as it isn't book learning, religious, or political). There will be a section for this at the end of the form we ask you to fill out.

Why no educational, religious, or political lessons/ messages?

Facts change as new information becomes available. We don't want to be cited as a factual resource when information has changed.

We also have copyright compliance concerns as many such things have appeared in copyrighted material such as books and films. Even though there may be prescident to protect reprinting of information, we can't risk the trouble. We strive to create original material and don't want copyright lawyers to know who we are (unless they want a story for their children, of course).

How is a moral different from something educational, religious, or political?

Morals are subjective. Educational facts are not. Religious or political opinions are not subjective to a great many people.

Can my child have a story about/ involving their culture/ background?

We would be happy to help explore values important to you or your family and reinforce inclusivity and acceptance. The way we can best do that for you is by highlighting these aspects in an original interpretation of core values. While we understand that politics, political positions, and religion may be-- and often is-- culturally important to many, we are happy to interpret it and keep the morals/ values in an original story.

Can Royalty, Robots, or Role Models Stories do a parody?

We're glad you have a healthy appreciation for comedic parody! Though many creators consider parody a marker of success, many do not. And while Fair Use/ Fair Dealing laws exist to protect people who engage in parody, there sometimes is a "very litigious" climate around some parodies. Sometimes makers of parody are sued just as a show of force. And that would crush us like a solitary ant on a busy freeway. We would only be comfortable creating a parody with the permission of the copyright holder, and they don't answer our e-mails or phone calls. Sorry.

Can you re-tell a personal story?

We are honoured and touched that you want to share your personal story with us to re-tell. We recognize that this can be a deeply held thing and we will do everything we can to give the story a respectful treatment. With this in mind we want to state that the story we will produce will be based on your telling of it to us. Characters, locations, and dialogue will be based on what you have provided. The story we create based on yours is provided to entertain and though your story may intersect with a historical event, what we produce will not be intended as documentation of what happened. It is a piece of entertainment and a retelling of a story about the how a person experienced a situation.

My child wants to write. What should I do?

The best thing for an aspiring writer to do is to write as much as they can.

Roughly planning out plots and characters before starting your first draft can save time and stop you from hitting walls or running out of ideas. Breakdowns like that give you a general idea of the A-to-B direction of the story and lets you fill in the details as you go. It gives you a place to build to and helps you fight off writer's block. Microsoft Word is a very accessible software one can use. Apache Open Office is another option that is considerably less expensive (being free), and has the same functionality as MS Word. Paper and a good pencil is what we started on.

If they are 13 or older, there's websites and online communities designed around sharing and critiquing people's stories. These include FanFiction.net, WattPad, Tumblr, and others.

Isn’t it a bit regressive to offer princess or hero stories in the first place?

Yes and no.

If a princess or hero story is handled in a way that rigidly defines a gender role or experiences, it can be very limiting and be an inaccessible ideal to many. However, if someone enjoys a piece of legal media they should be able to enjoy it. And if they want to be represented as a princess, hero, detective, doctor, or anything else then they should be able to see that representation as an example of the countless amount of possibility that lay before them and hold themselves as a princess, or hero, or robot, without a rigid definition of who they should or need to be because of it. We also, as we have mentioned before, took our options and business name from an established cultural trope for improvised bedtime stories. We will be happy to write stories with your child as any type of character they want to be and you have our promise and guarantee that the character they want to embody won’t box them in.

May I have a refund?

No. We're very, very sorry.

Can Royalty, Robots, or Role Models produce a genre not included in the selections?

Yes. However, we may need to research it and that would take time. Contact us to suggest it, please.

What if I have a suggestion/ idea for this business?

Please contact us.

Is Royalty, Robots, or Role Models hiring?

No.

What about taxes?

We are continuing to investigate taxes in the 42 countries we are selling in. As a rule of thumb, if our store adds tax, we're very sorry but that's a place where someone in a suit said we must charge tax.

Can I send Royalty, Robots, or Role Models a picture my child made?

Yes! Please keep in mind that we take full ownership rights of material that is sent to us (such as pictures) in an effort to be able to control how it is used. Should a video or picture sent to us be stolen and used without permission, we want to have the authority to send a takedown notice.

Any scheduled appearances at conventions/ festivals?

No.

Is there any Royalty, Robots, or Role Models swag I could buy?

“Swag” is: stolen goods/ valuables, an Australian term for a sleeping bag, a wreath, free promotional material, a type of window valance, a type of educated guess, or an economic term for a very wealthy portion of a population.

We don’t currently offer any of these things.

Any other projects?

You should look at some cat pictures.

What if I have a question or complaint about the terms or policies?

Please contact us.

How does the whole process work?

After you purchase one of our story options, you will receive an automatically generated e-mail that includes a link to our form. After you fill the form out and click submit (it should only be about eight pages, tops) we put a million monkeys to work on a million typewriters to start the story. If, in order to enrich the experience more, we need a little something extra we’ll send an e-mail to you asking for a bit more information to include in the story (like a favourite colour) usually in the first twenty-four hours of starting writing your story. We then send it off in an e-mail.

What websites/ services does Royalty, Robots, or Role Models use?

Officially we use the following:

Facebook
Gmail (Google product)
Google
Microsoft OneDrive
Wix
PayPal
Fiverr
Google Drive/ Google Forms

Other sites we may do something with, or have out of necessity include:

Google Plus
Twitter
YouTube
Anything else owned by Google

Will anyone at Royalty, Robots, or Role Models Stories review my writing samples?

No. Any written submissions will be ignored.

Will anyone at Royalty, Robots, or Role Models Stories review my artistic portfolio?

Is there a mailing list, or newsletter?

There will be an infrequent newsletter. It will be made available when there's news.

Is there a phone number to contact Royalty, Robots, or Role Models Stories?

No.

Why bananas?

Bananas for scale.