BJD storytellers - are they still around?

LavilyDay on youtube has some older videos about her doll backstories. She has a pretty cool channel overall

 

I love @dolls_and_griff on instagram, their storylines are so well written I actually didn't know that it was a whole genre of youtube and stuff I eventually would like to try it, I certainly have enough characters and stories to share :p

 

I am glad the focus went a bit back in terms of storytelling and more into aesthetics in fact that is the only reason I'm considering keeping some of my dolls and the fact that fashion doll community moved into posting stories all the time (after those jointed fashion dolls made their appearance) instead of beautiful mirage looking shelves full of dolls made me quit and sell most of those but I think bjd's will always have some storytelling. Personally I hate reading stories if I want to read a story I read a book with good critics most of them I read are classics and bad litterature is irritating to me so to avoid it I stick with the classics but people like stories and I understand that not everyone wants to read the miserables or unkle vanya so there is a demand and also offer there is a thread about having a doll webside of your own and I'm sure storytellers will post there if they have a site with stories so maybe it worths a bit for you to check it https://denofangels.com/threads/do-you-have-a-blog-or-website-just-for-dolls.566734/

 

^well damn
There's some awful writing out there, but genies spell book did a good job of explaining her characters and their world - I really liked her style.

 

Current social media doesn't encourage it. I had a lovely convo with a doll artist that started just by complimenting their doll. I got a while back ground and enjoyed it thoroughly. Many of mi e have storied background, some with a character in mind, some with a completely new concept that I enjoyed so much I put it in the stories. Do I share it? Not really.

Point being, you might find what you're looking for by asking

 

I absolutely miss this side of the hobby, and it's also a big reason why I also waned out of the 'public eye' so to speak... Pretty pictures are great and all of course, but if there's no heart, no soul... then I fail to see the appeal.

That being said, I'm taking my own advice at the moment and I'm just starting to share story snippets over at my Instagram (shiroi.bungaku). I am making an effort to tailor my online experience to what I actually want it to be and surround myself with the things that really matter.

Also I sincerely hope that no one, not a single person that wants to tell their own story, ever listens to anyone saying that their 'bad writing' isn't worth to be created or shared. Everyone starts somewhere; what's important is putting pen to paper and committing to it. Everything else is tertiary.

PS: if you post stories, or are interested to talk about stories and doll ocs do hit me up either here or on instagram! It's literally my favourite thing!

 

Haha I instant-followed you on IG for that! I love talking about doll stories, even though I’m soooo inactive on insta most of the time!! Please feel free to DM— I’m @indifferent_red

 

I absolutely love storytelling through BJDs — it’s my favorite part of the hobby. I wish I would do this more often for myself, using photostories or short text.
While beautiful aesthetics are captivating, for me, the character concept and the story behind each doll are truly the “soul,” that inner light that makes each one unique.

P.S. Here’s also an interesting link within DOA: https://denofangels.com/threads/serialised-photostories-a-database.268479/

 

I don't know if I'd be considered a doll storyteller or just someone who has a lot of character stories who just happens to have dolls of those characters?

I love creating characters and stories, and shelling my OCs as dolls is my main goal in the hobby. My doll collecting is pretty much entirely character-focused -- I won't buy a doll unless it is either an existing character I like (like limited volks collab DDs or resin character collab dolls) or a sculpt I can turn into a character doll based on an OC of my own.

But when I think of doll storytellers I mostly think of people who post picture stories and such! Which I don't really do ever, I just take non-lore-relevant pictures focused on aesthetics.

I enjoy reading others stories and I really like seeing other people who love their characters to bits so much that they make a whole little doll of them.

Personally I think I'm a storyteller who happens to be into BJD, not really a BJD storyteller specifically, because my characters and worlds existed first, and the dolls came after because I really wanted physical manifestations of my characters. But I would love to try and put together some series of backstory-related pictures maybe, I guess I just never really thought about it.

It could be fun to try to make the things they wear or use in their stories (clothes, props) or recreate a little corner of a room from places they go to in the story, and take some pictures. Maybe a bit too ambitious though!

Where do people tend to post doll story stuff nowadays anyway? Would love to know. I have various character profiles and illustrations of backstory stuff posted on other websites but haven't used the dolls themselves for anything story related yet.

I think making a blog is a great idea! It's pretty easy to setup simple websites nowdays with google sites, carrd, wix etc and you can mix writing and photos too. I'd love to check it out if you make one!

 

I consider myself a story-teller as writing is my main hobby and the thing that led me to explore BJDs in the first place, so I completely agree with wanting to see more of that type of content. The doll community in my country used to be very active in that field like 5 or so years ago with people creating together even, role-playing their dolls and all, but I think it all was washed away as forums and blogs lost momentum and the social media took over. Still, I count myself lucky I follow a couple of doll owners on IG who post snippets or short stories alongside their gorgeous pictures.

I also remember following some doll-owners on YT who did box openings and dressed their dolls or simply held them while telling their stories or talking about their plans, but the ones I knew disappeared or moved on to other platforms and I lost track of them. Still, I love the idea of this type of content, though I'm too shy to even think of doing it myself and I'm not even sure if my crew would be interesting enough as the people I remembered doing this had big collections of very different dolls so they could continually create videos talking about different characters and doing different stuff.

Maybe this also applies to other story-teller doll-owners but, in my case, the main thing that keeps me away from posting my stories in a doll-related site is my lack of dexterity and props to illustrate the stories with my dolls' pictures. Instead, I relegate the few pieces of fiction I'm brave enough to put out there to sites as AO3 and such. Many times I have thought about making a proper blog to also post the stories there and also keep the profiles of the dolls and some pictures, but the amount of time and will needed in order to not give it up while knowing that probably no one would even look at it makes it completely not worthy.

 

I'm not crazily into doll photo stories but I used to love reading snippets of fiction that some of my favourite doll owners used to post, back in the days of deviantart.

I don't know if this is the case for anyone else, but I do have elaborate back stories for many of my dolls - I've literally just finished a 180,000 word novel about my JID Tatiana! But I'm so shy about sharing my ideas and writing, I pretty much never talk about their stories. I just keep it to myself. At least one of my dolls has a back story that I worry I would be judged for. When I first started the hobby as a teenager back in 2008, I didn't worry about that the same. I felt a lot more... freedom then?

 

@Haven_Of_Dolls336 - Hey that's me! Omg coming across this totally made my day!!!! I decided to use the name Silabear over here because I named my first bjd Silas and I like bears. Fun fact, the 'griff' in my IG name stands for Griffin, a mythical creature. Please tell me your IG name! I wish I could figure out how to do stories over here too!

 

I would've tagged you directly if I had remembered, oopsie! But I'm glad I brightened your day I'm also @simp_4_all on IG if you're so inclined I love all the fun facts too

 

Thank you again so much!!!

 

I have an ongoing story on Instagram it's about the only thing I post on there.
I've been having to rush at posting it to get season 1 finished by the end of the year.
I have it completed at home, but miscalculated how often I had to post to get it all up.
I have a lot of plans for season 2 as well.
I do it for my own enjoyment.
It's just fun to make stories with my dolls.

 

I am glad to find other doll story tellers! I have been doing the photo stories for a bit on IG as @dolls_and_griff. First I did off topic 12" dolls and then I switched to BJDs. Now it's a mix of big and little.

I had another doll lady who does photo stories tell me this "we tell these stories for ourselves." That's what I do, I just tell the stories that come to me from these dolls. I don't start out with characters. I fall in love with the doll and then when I get them, they tell me who they are. I grew up on Hallmark cards and Harlequin Romance Novels, so it's all pretty predictable, but I'm ok with that. I just take my pics with my phone and sometimes a ring light. The BJDs in my icon here, Silas & Reina, are my BJD king and queen over there.

Sometimes I over think it, but I think people enjoy simple pictures. I agree that everything doesn't have to be elaborate.

 

Please wait warmly. I'll be ready to share in approximately 10 years! I didn't realize how much planning was involved and it feels like I'll never be able to even start

 

It sounds interesting!