Giving your doll a story.

I always create characters, part because it's just a habit of mine, but also because it helps me pick the right outfits/accesories for them. It helps me give depth to them.

 

Before I bought Lily I was so excited about making a story for her! She was going to be all the things I imagined, but when I took her out of the box she started to take on a life of her own in my head. (I tend to have imaginary conversation with her ) I give her a bit of a story, but I don't want it to hold me down if I want to go in a different direction with her someday. I think if I buy anymore dolls, I'll do the same thing.

 

I do it the other way round and bring dolls home to house pre-existing characters I've had for years - it's a big part of the attraction of the hobby for me, and I don't think I'd be able to keep my interest in it if the dolls were only pretty pieces of resin with no sense of 'who they are' attached to them.

 

This is an interesting thread! I started off without a story, just thinking I'd have my doll around as a doll, but after a while I became bored with this and made up a whole story for him with other characters. Now, I'll have to get those other characters too wont I?

 

My first doll will be bringing an rp character of mine to life... err more so than he is already?! Haha. Because I love his character! My planned second doll is an original character that formed in my head as soon as I saw him. I'll get him more 'cemented' down as time passes and I already have a story for him. Same goes for my third. I think I just find it easy to do? -shrugs-

 

I think to give a doll a story its like giving their own live to them.

 

I do the same. When I receive the doll 'tells' me his story. Some dolls tell their story immediately, with some it takes a bit time. And I do alter stories if needed as well as add other characters i.e. friends and siblings-

 

I prefer to have a story in mind BEFORE my doll gets here. I can decide clothing, other traits and bond better with them when I do. Of course when a doll arives sometimes that changes and that's ok too ^^

 

While waiting for my first doll I wrote a story with her asa main character.
Ater I bought my second doll I had to write him into the story and after that the story grew.
Now I have 12 characters and for 9 of them I need a doll...

 

For me,I just want to have my original character in 3D so I bought a doll and put all of the story of my character to it,that's all In my opinion is quite necessary to give a doll background story because you can have a goal to collect them.

 

I never even thought about background stories before I read about it on DoA. I've never had any characters of my own either. It doesn't really interest me, and my doll is just ... his own ... not something I thought up. Does that make sense?

Maybe he's kind of like a pet ...

 

The dolls I have now all have stories, as they're based on pre-existing characters from a story I'm writing. I find it easier to visualize them when I have something tangible to look at and hold, so not only do I enjoy them, I find them useful that way!

I do have plans for a doll that doesn't have a story, though. I just want her because she's cute, and I wanna dress her up in ridiculously cute clothes. x3​

 

My doll that I'm waiting on is going to represent a RPG character I play. It's live action, and the organization I'm part of requires backgrounds of some kind. I've also been playing this character for nearly four years, so much of the history for the character is preset through my in character experiences. Makes it easy c:

I might create a whole new character for my next doll, but I'm kind of skeptical about it.

 

Nothing is 'necessary' for a fulfilling doll collecting experience. You make your own experience based on what you like doing, and if you enjoy doing things a certain way, no one's gonna call you out for "doing it wrong" or "missing out". After all, it is a hobby and for fun, not competition!

I'm a roleplayer, so it was only natural for me to make detailed stories and personalities for my dolls, that's how they become alive to me. In fact, it's a prerequisite to doll-buying -- no character for that sculpt? Not coming home. Just the way I roll.

 

I make up personalities and vague background stories for my dolls, but I don't actually write anything down or make elaborate photostories about them. I just think about them in odd moments to amuse myself and to invent reasons (or excuses) to buy new ones.

 

I don't think it's something necessary to others but all of my characters have a backstory. To me working on a character, make it grow and give him a body is one of the things I enjoy the most about this hobby.

 

I'm a world-builder by nature (That sort-of comes with being a long-time tabletop RPG player and GM. Par for the course, I guess-), so I do play the character game with all of my dolls. Some characters and storylines are a lot more detailed and extensive than others, but generally the dolls all have names and assigned personalities, ties to other characters in the collection, personal histories and at least the basic outline of a role.

Even though I don't post photostories, write dolly fiction or publicly do much at all with many of the characters or their worlds, I do enjoy the process of building them. Figuring out who a doll is and how they fit into their fictional environment is a big part of the fun.

Do I feel like that's required? For my own dolls, it's more a question of inevitability than requirement... Even if I didn't start out with that intention, it would still end up happening sooner or later. But I don't believe it's in any way necessary for everyone. I'm not going to tell an owner who doesn't do characters that they're having BadWrongFun, or that they aren't "doing it right". I can even see the appeal in *not* going the Dolls-As-Characters route. I just can't seem to do it myself.

 

I don't think it's really necessary to make a backstory for dolls, but it's quite fun to do so anyway.

It's really an issue of practicality and self-control, at least for me. Figuring out a backstory for them helps me control the urge of getting every single doll I fall for and pare down my wishlist to just those that I feel I'd really like all the more because they fit the world they're supposed to inhabit in my head and there's a way they're related to the other dolls in my collection. It helps control the impulse of buying them out of the blue. I look at the sculpt, and if a story forms, then that doll is a strong contender for a future acquisition. Then, while saving up or during production time after it's been fully paid, that's where I flesh out the story all the more.

 

I don't have stories for them when I'm choosing a doll only sometimes a vague idea like I want a rich boy or something. As soon as I click the buy button I start thinking of their background and such and that's how I usually get through the wait for them.