Doll personalities and Character Development Curiosity!

How involved do you get into your dolls characters and back story?

I write books about some of my dolls, but I've found that this can get incredibly restrictive, so I've started calming down on this a bit. Some of my dolls are just names and aesthetics, and I enjoy them just as much as the ones that have extensive backstories. I bond with the doll, and the character comes second. A fleshed out character usually helps me bond more, but if the doll and aesthetic make me happy enough, a story for them doesn't really matter.​

Are you constantly working on their development?

The more complex ones are definitely built over months/years. Most of the time I start with a concept for the doll, and once they arrive I will slowly flesh them out more and more as I own them. Sometimes names come quickly. Aaron and Dimitri were named immediately after I had them in my hands, while Silas and Kieran took looking up name websites and Gray went through multiple names because I kept forgetting them and eventually changed his whole personality. As for how often I work on them, I switch off my stories and my dolls, since I have stories that aren't attached to dolls at all, so it's definitely not a process that happens constantly but does happen often.​

Anyway, I think it's important to remember that there's no wrong way to create a doll. Creating involved backstories for your dolls is also a form of play, and not everyone plays like that. Having dolls with extensive backstories or even just names is not required to enjoy the hobby or connect with other people in the hobby, so don't stress and feel like you're missing out if you're having fun already.

If creating in-depth characters is difficult for you and you want to do it, though, it IS a skill you can build that will grow easier with time. Character questionnaires, oc-prompt blogs, and looking at the media and interests you enjoy/like are all things that can help you build this skill. Knowing yourself and your likes/dislikes is majorly important, too. Don't bother fleshing out your dolls with things you think are "correct" but that ruin your enjoyment. Mary Sues are power fantasies like Batman and Superman, so like. Go all out and be indulgent. Try the Marie Kondo method. Add something to the doll or character and see if it sparks joy. If it doesn't, try something new until it makes you excited. This will help you build up intuition on what "feels right" if you've been having trouble coming up with things that work.

 

I am personally really big on giving my dolls names, personalities, backstories etc. It does tend to come to me naturally over time but definitely not all at once. I tend to work "backwards" when it comes to shelling characters as I will fall in love with the sculpt first and then decide the details later. It's such a fun process, though. It feels as if the doll is telling me who it wants to be. I like to spend times researching names and making them into lists then coming back to see which have stuck with me in my mind.
I have a strong inclination towards fantasy elements so it's easy for me to lean into that and just research all sorts of things until I put the themes together. I also draw most of my themes from other material I've enjoyed throughout the years like games, anime, stories, and sometimes also nonfiction history.
Overall, I would say the best way to find the story your looking for is to go and read up on things and let yourself be inspired!

 

My dolls are all faeries, and one of the most fun things for me is figuring out what kind of faerie they are - some are established parts of fae lore, like Knell, my leanan-sidhe, and some are types I imagined, like Cyth the Fear Trader. I rarely have any sort of character in mind while looking for dolls; generally, I'll see a sculpt I like and then build a character around it. Once I know their fae classification and their name, I'll try to write a little story blurb about them to sort of solidify it and connect with them. I also like to share little Fun Facts about their personalities/histories/fae classifications whenever I share a photo of them on Instagram.