BJD storytellers - are they still around?

this is definitely the case for me now-- writing stories about my dolls' characters became a little mini hobby of its own, and there are entire novellas attached to most of the dolls in my collection, but i very much keep those to myself. i've never shared any of the stories with anyone, online or irl. i am also WAY too shy for that, especially since the stories i come up with always end up having themes and elements in them that are super personal to me and in a couple of cases were written as a way of processing things in my own life. i know that's true of most writers to one degree or another, but to me it just feels way too much to plop out into the world.

when i started the bjd hobby in 2013, i just wanted one to sew for. she had no particular character, no story-- i just thought it would be super fun to make clothes for such a big, articulated, realistic looking doll. i saw a lot of people talking about elaborate backstories they'd created for their bjd, and was convinced that would not be my thing. and then i found myself imagining a bit of a personality for her as i made clothes for her, and designing her wardrobe around it-- just vague at first, but over time she got more and more specific, and then the dolls i added after her started to develop characters...and a couple years in i ended up having so much story floating around in my head that i'd imagined through designing and dressing my dolls and having them turn into characters in the process that i started to write it down.

so now i am definitely the person i thought i was not going to be, with elaborate, detailed stories for each doll, but the only way any of that shows or gets shared is in the fact that each doll's look/clothing is very specific to their character and story. i'm not super great at photos, but i do like the idea of taking pictures of my dolls that would be isolated moments from their stories that might be fun to set up and capture-- almost like film stills. that's probably the absolute boldest i'd ever manage to be at sharing their stories, though-- i'd never be able to bring myself to do full on narrative photostories, or post my writing anywhere, etc. definitely too chicken for that. i'm glad not everyone feels that way, tho-- i really enjoy seeing other people's doll stories

 

Stories of my dolls are the cornerstone of my hobby. It wouldn't make sense without that. If you don't mind using a translator, I would like to welcome you to my WordPress or Rei's blog.

 

Arengil said it perfectly - stories are the cornerstone of the hobby to me too. Behind all my doll photos is their ongoing story.

But I've found that I tell stories differently with my dolls vs. say, writing a novel (which I've done in the past for events like NaNoWriMo). Dolls lend themselves really well to a visual storytelling method, so I find myself wanting to tell wordless narratives through photos. So my doll photostories are implicit and usually single scenes from the bigger story, or completely figurative tableaus, and I find that I'm not interested at all in putting words or explicit narrative to any of my photos. I guess it's the whole "show vs tell" thing, and with dolls, all I want to do is show pics but leave everything else unsaid except maybe in snippets.

 

I used to do photostories in my early enthusiastic years as a dorrie owner back in LiveJournal, especially after establishing the final character of my first dorrie. It was really fun, especially when incorporating them with the introduction of my next three dolls.

Now with me older and pretty busy with work and life, I want to go back to those days again, hehehe. In the future maybe, now that I have two new big dorries completed.

 

New to the hobby, but been debating setting up a blog or something for my dolls when I start collecting them proper... I'm a professional writer, and it's the one skill I never fall out of love with.

I've been eying the community since I was 16 (now 23), and I've been worried that by the time I get my first OC dolls, the RP community will have been entirely dead. While I love storytelling in general, it's so fun to do little "non-canon" (or, if you REALLY get along with someone, making it canon...) stories with others.

I'm also someone who has OCs and might turn them into dolls, though I'm hoping to turn dolls into OCs, too. And storytelling/roleplaying is some of my favorite stuff to do in my other communities/hobbies.

 

I love putting lots of thought into what personality and backstory my dolls might have. It really connects you with the doll on a personal level, and I can’t help but love them more after learning more about them. I like to imagine that every doll has a story to tell, and I just need to find out what it is. For some dolls, I’ve given them characters I had already made that I believed fit them well. For others, I’m building it as I go when I find things that interest me or things that suit the look of the sculpt.
As someone who enjoys storytelling, I love listening to people yap about their OCs. Hearing how passionate and excited they are to tell their stories inspires me to write my own. I will definitely be looking at these different recommendations!!

 

Storytelling is one of the main reasons I got into the BJD hobby. I love BJD photography, but creating in-depth characters with their own backstories and intertwining them with my other dolls is also very important to me. When I was a kid, my friend and I used to do this with Bratz dolls, and now, as an adult, I find myself doing it with my BJDs. I guess I never really grew out of it.

Several years ago, I discovered a few BJD owners on DeviantArt and Tumblr who wrote detailed stories for their dolls. It's sad to see that many of them have been inactive for about a decade now, and it makes me even sadder that fewer people seem to be writing doll stories these days.

Since I joined the hobby, I have been writing and piecing together my own doll stories little by little. This past month, I’ve been focused on organizing my ideas, adjusting the timeline, and writing out specific scenes. I have parts of my dolls' stories on their profiles here on DOA. Those profiles will be updated soon, but eventually, I plan to find a platform to share the full story. I’ve heard that some people write doll stories on Wattpad, but I personally don’t like that site. I’ve also heard good things about FictionPress and AO3, although I remember someone mentioning that you need an invitation to join AO3.

 

I had never really followed the story tellers. But now that you mention it, it tempts me to start being some doll stories myself. A couple of my dolls have quite extensive backstories. Maybe I'll make an Instagram for them someday

 

I had hoped there was a forum section dedicated to the sharing of doll characters and their stories. We have journals for the crafting aspect and I know we have doll profiles for a little bit of backstory. But what can we do about wanting to talk in-depth about our doll characters? And especially when their shells are still works in progress?

There are several people on this forum who made mentions of published stories and having shelled many of their OCs. I'd love to glimpse at those stories while admiring their dolls--perhaps even support their works directly.

Anyway, the most I can share about my OCs on this forum is my avatar. I cannot bring myself to start screaming into the void of any social media.

 

Yeah I'd like to figure out a way to share more of my fics I have written about some of my dolls. At the moment, my Archive of Our Own account fics are all locked to members only being able to read and comment so that they aren't used to train AI. Unfortunate since I was relying on non-members to help my fics get more attention. Any in progress fics I have I generally work on very privately when I have inspiration and that is slow work. Some day I swear I'll release more.

 

I've done photostories on my blog on and off for about ten years - more off than on lately, sadly. I need to make time to get back into it. I have a mix of BJDs and way off-topic dolls.

 

I don't know if I count as a story-teller but I just can't live without writing. It was my first hobby, far before dolls. Now I write about my doll OCs, my stories Kirakira Boys and Tears of the Golden Moon are both on Wattpad, I just wish I had more time to update them more often. I also like the stories of Jean (Jennky here on DoA) - the characters are well-developed and the story is really gripping.

 

I've never really written out or shared a whole lot about my dolls or their characters though, partially because I don't think other people would be interested?

Though I really like reading and listening to other people tell stories about their dolls, and I find it way more interesting than box openings or reviews. I mean I like those too, but those don't bring dolls to life in quite the same way. The story-telling aspect of this hobby brings out a whole different passionate side from their owners, you know?

I think my favourite way to experience this through their dolls is when they share it on youtube. If I had to listen it person it can be hard for me to follow if I am unprepared, but in video form, when I can listen at my own pace while doing something else, it's the best.

Edit: I would actually love it if there was a story-telling subforum on here, outside of photo-stories, since that's only one way of sharing stories about dolls. I mean a place where people could share stories or videos of their dolls, with a focus on stories or their character. Maybe a photo or a vid of the dolls involved would be required? Anyone else feel similarly?

 

i actually think this a super cool idea! i would love to see this

 

Yeah!! Like the only reason I had no plans of sharing stories when I get my dolls on here is simply because I don't see any forum it would fit in.

 

This kind of info would either be teased in photoshoots or shown in photostories, but most of the work was off site on either a personal website, deviantart, livejournal, or something of that sort. You could see if it's okay to add a thread to the brigadoon, but character work is no longer BJD discussion. There are a few character related threads under BJD games though if you want to participate in those.

 

I would love to talk about my doll characters/stories somewhere. It'd be nice to have discussions about different aspects and how/where to post stories. I found this thread from back in 2018, but I'm not sure it fully encompasses what everyone here is wanting, as it's just a dump thread, not really discussion. I could try to make a thread, if folks want? Or someone else can do it, I'm not picky.

As for writing, I'm currently doing little flash fictions for each of my doll characters, hoping to post them on a neocities website made for the purpose. I'm not sure I'll go further than that, probably depends on how I feel after I'm done. I don't currently plan to write any novels or anything about my dolls, my "real" writing is separate from this hobby (not that everyone else's needs to be).