Do your irl friends/family know your doll story?

Well, I'm fortunate that my daughter also has dolls with their own stories, so the two of us can share and expand on them. But with anyone else? No way. Why? Because I have no interest in watching them smile and back away slowly.

 

No way could I hide it, my dolls aren't secrets.

I'm very fortunate that my sister is in the hobby with me and our dolls are all part of the same tangled web of stories. Also, I've been in the hobby for so long that most of my closest friends are people I've met through the hobby. I do talk to my husband about some of the stories, and he shares stories of DnD and other gaming with his friends with me. My parents know a little bit. They aren't that interested in anything too deep or complicated, but don't mind listening.

I'm really not shy about my dolls, anyone who really knows me knows I'm a collector. I don't bother acquaintances about my stories, but if someone asks me about my dolls and if they have characters or stories, I'm more than happy to share.

 

My family and most non-doll friends know their names, and some hints of their stories (who are friends with who, the blonde and the tiny one are family, etc). I don't really hide anything, but I rather save my breath (and the stories) for those who are actually interested. Being friends with a number of RPG players, and people who know I'm into creative work and all, I don't really get any bad reactions.

 

My girlfriend is the only one who knows the full extent of my dolls' stories, and that's because she is also in the hobby and we RP our dolls (they started as RP characters, then became dolls). Her husband (my boyfriend) has some knowledge about the dolls, but he's not really interested in the hobby, which is fine.

Everyone else? I might tell a little bit to IRL friends, if they're interested, but it's generally edited and summarized. I always feel like I'm boring them when I talk about my dolls and their characters. Never to my mother, who is happy I have a hobby I enjoy, doesn't really care about the details.

 

My husband knows about my dolls' backstories and is probably the only one to have the most comprehensive knowledge of them (he even gets used as a sounding board, haha). Friends in the local community have a general gist of what's going on, but few know the nitty-gritty details. After all, it takes a lot of words to explain twists and turns, such as helluva lots of mixed lineages and things not appearing as they seem.

 

My friends and family know I have dolls. Only my husband and my son, maybe my mom know their names. But their stories? Nope. They dont care and I can see they nod off if I even go past the first sentence into their stories.
So, who really know their stories? Those who read my fanfictions. Eh.
At least I’m happy to collect my dolls and sew them their clothes.

 

My husband and my best friend (who has dolls in the same stories with mine!) know about my stories. Though, hubby loves to tease me about how tortured most of them are! XD "When is the happy ending????" Other than that, the only other people that know I have them only care about the aesthetic of them. If they ask me about a specific doll, (which they haven't yet) I would tell them the story. But I might censor some things about them. Like violence and abuse, because I know it might bother some of them.

 

It's weird because my family are the only ones who know my story and I just never talk about it online maybe I would if I make a youtube channel one day but i'm a gymnast so I spend a lot of my time training so that's not likely...

 

They know of my dolls but really only my partner , @Alaia , knows the full character or depth of any of them. We share our ocs together and the ones I have by myself, I definitely bounce the ideas off them and gush about.

Some of my friends know the basics of some of their stories, but usually not the updated version or the full story. It is probably better this way lol

 

Luckily my close friends also collect dolls and it's them whom dragged me into this hobby. =)

 

My family knows all about my dolls' stories! I even went as far as writing a novel with my dolls' characters, and my parents and I discuss about the plot and the characters almost everyday!
Most of my friends in real life know about my dolls to an extent, but not their stories. However I do have a lot of doll friends (online and in real life) that I'm happy to share with!!

 

It's kind of the opposite for me. My dolls really don't have names or stories. I swear you can feel the disappointment when I tell people that, especially if it's a non-doll person walking around at a convention asking everyone about their dolls and they all have these gorgeous names and amazing stories...and then they get to me. Oops!

I do love listening to all of the creative things people come up for for their dolls, but if you're uncomfortable sharing, you shouldn't feel the need to just because everyone else is doing it or people insist on it! It's perfectly fine to be creative for just your own enjoyment.

 

Yep, my best friend & my family know the stories. The characters began life in a series of novels I wrote, so they existed before I knew of BJDs. I’d talk about the stories & characters, as well as draw them, so dolls of them seemed a good progression. My mum calls them her “fictional grandchildren” because she knows I don’t want kids!

 

No one irl knows about my doll stories, not even their names. My husband however knows the story I am working on but he doesn't know that my dolls are meant to be the characters in that story. Maybe because he doesn't really care much about my dolls so I didn't care to tell him either

 

Only the ones who would be interested.

Why would I bore the ones who aren't interested with details that they don't care enough about to remember? They don't talk to me about sports, politics, cars, or anything else I wouldn't be interested in, so the least I can do is show them the same courtesy.

Teddy

 

My parents don't know, but my girlfriend is interested in the hobby and so are most of my friends!

 

Some do, some don't. Some know the stories of some but not all. In general, it's hard to get me to shut up about my characters and stories, so if anyone lets me I can speak about them for five days straight.

It doesn't help that some of the characters are the protagonists of my book(s). Once that's released it will be hard to keep their story hush hush in the first place, you know?

 

A few of my dolls are based off of video game characters, so my husband and some friends already know their stories. (There's also the matter of my mom fussing at one of my modded dolls. The modifications are a major part of her backstory!) As for the rest, I haven't been inclined to share their stories with people I know. No one has asked, and I haven't volunteered.