Giving your doll a story.

The presence of so many creative people is what makes this hobby so very interesting. But, you don't need to make stories for dolls, and you don't need to have dolls to make stories. Still, I much prefer to have both. My BJD is the narrator and heroine of a novel I've been working on for the past 3 1/2 years. The character came before the doll, although it took me a while to connect them.

 

Well, the doll I am soon to be getting sorta started his own little story. I have no idea where it's going either. The story just built itself...and that's rarely happened to me.
When I get him though, be prepared for photo-stories, and lots of LOL-tastic episodes. I am already making some little things, and preparing a spot for him. He's a little guy, Soom Silt, and my first. I'm only getting the body, and will hunt around for a head mold that I like. (I may have to buy a blank and do the horns, ears, faceup myself, if I can't find one I really like.)

I am real excited about the little "head hunting" adventure we'll have. I have this "A Complete Guide to Special Effects Makeup" and there is this section on masks, and I am making him an "executioners mask". It'll take the place for his head until we get him a proper one. XD~!

Sorry...rambling off again.

 

If I'm ever able to purchase at least one, I'd like to create a background and a story for him or her . I do not believe however, that creating a background for a doll is mandatory.

 

I love stories. I always have- in fact, I think I spent the majority of my childhood reading. So it goes without saying that my dolls all have stories. Every single one has everything from a birthplace to a school life, to a street address where they live in the extensive imaginary world I created that ecompasses everything I will ever write ever. (lol-yeah not crazy at all right?)

I mean, I don't want to be a writer or anything by profession, but I love making up stories, and the imaginary world thing is no joke- I've been developing it (as a hobby) since I was 8. Every doll I've ever owned has lived in it, and it's down to a science now. Pick a race, a country, a city and everything else follows. Creating backstories for my dolls is 100x easier because of it, so I can get really really detailed. It's just a fun part of the hobby for me, and one of my favourite aspects.

I don't get dolls to match pre-made characters usually- it's too much work, and I really love letting the doll sort of grow it's own story and character. Doing all that though, is purely just a fun thing for me- it's absolutely not necessary to the hobby. If you can't think of anything, that's totally fine- even I get stuck sometimes.

 

I always want to base my dolls on original characters... So I have the story before I have the doll.. It's just a matter of finding the right doll for the character or the right character for the doll.
With my fist doll Letty, I decided I wanted a doll of the character, but for my second, Avery, I fell in love with a doll so I looked for what character I had that would suit the doll best. I wouldn't make a backstory to for a doll, though. It has to be one of my existing characters. I'm just wierd like that, I guess.

 

I've gone both ways. My first Obitsu, Megumi, didn't have a story or even a name until I held her in my own hands. Belle Fontaine, my other Obitsu, sort of grew and developed out of a germ of an idea I had about a swamp witch goth girl. Miyae's my oldest fanfiction character and has been through three separate doll shellings so far. Ashe is a longrunning RPG character I made up for whom I eventually customized a representative doll. Chae-ri is sort of unique even among my girls, because she's partly an established RPG character and partly a character based around the doll itself. I don't know if I'm explaining this properly, but Chae-ri isn't precisely the actual character she represents; that is, she knows she's a doll and she perceives things from a doll's point of view--or rather, I pretend that she does. She's Chae-ri, but she's not the RPG character, she's simply based on that character.

Does that make any sense to anyone besides me?

 

I didn't originally intend for my boy to have a story....but then it happened and as I've been waiting for him to get here his story just seemed to create itself. And it turns out that the story that he created is identical to one of my already created characters...So Soren got to be a BJD. I write. It's what I do. So I have no problem creating characters.

 

I don't usually focus on giving a doll a story -- mostly it's just a matter of "I want to have a yankii-type doll", or "I want a doll I can have around outside of the box". I do have a few characters of mine that I'd like to see in resin, but they're more videogame avatars than characters in a story.

 

I think The dolls bring out the art that is in you. I need to write stories about my doll characters. (I have no BJD's yet but have other dolls) Really the stories kind of write themselves. I need to take pictures of my dolls.
I would like to draw the dolls and make clothes for dolls. The dolls inspire me to try these avenues of art but I don't need to do these things.

 

About half of the time I have a story in my head, and find a doll to represent a character already formed in my mind. The rest of the time, I obtain a doll I really like, and their look and overall attitude/aura/feel/etc. suggests a back story to me. All of my stories will be connected in some way, although I haven't always worked that out by the time a character becomes "resinated."

I stop short of claiming that my dolls have souls, but they definitely have a very special quality to them that makes them feel like much more than expensive toys. They are great companions and wonderful canvasses for creativity of all kinds.

 

they star in a series of silly whimsical stories where they (seem) to go on great adventures (out to sea, on quests for the doll holy grail-a golden faceplate, to simple things like halloween)

 

I always think it's cool to see people who's dolls have a story, I think it adds to the 1,000 words each picture holds.

Personally, i'm working to get my own doll(s) which are actually going to be the two main characters in a story i've been working on for 2-3 years. So i'm super excited, but also harrassing myself with all the busywork of finding the perfect mold.

I don't think I would have ever considered getting a doll, if I hadn't come in contact with people giving them background characters. For some reason it never clicked in my head that it was a way to represent or create characters. I just thought it was something photographers and sculpters utilized.

 

I do give them their own unique characters, I think it is part of my doll collecting
they become real to me, and so as their characteristics became alive in my imagination...

 

Currently I'm working my way through a list of fullset dolls that I liked the look of. Being fullsets its unlikely that they'll have stories, or if they do it'll be over time (and perhaps with modifications). I do however intend to pop some stories out for my non-fullsets, mainly because I can't help myself :P (to me if I make a character the story will naturally come with it).

For example I had a dream just this morning, and suddenly one of the non-fullset dolls I intend to get has a story, personality, and now he also needs one of the other characters for the story (thankfully I will have a spare head for his companion, I'll just need to grab a body) and a whole, very specific room layout that came into my head along with everything else *grumble*

So a background and story aren't a must for me, but if I'm creating a look for a new doll then the I won't be able to stop the story coming along too.

 

This is such an interesting topic, and one of the things that drew me to this community.

When I was a child, I learned to tell stories, to construct narratives, by playing with the paper dolls I drew. I learned about character, plot, and world-building. I even learned editing, as my sister and I would play out the same scenes over and over again, refining them as we did.

As an adult, when I started collecting OT dolls, I found myself frustrated by them. They were beautiful objects, cabinet candy that I didn't even dare undress, since their clothes were so important to their look. They had no personalities, no stories. They were basically expensive, exquisite mini-mannequins. (And still are.)

Now that I have ordered my first bjd, I find myself back in the imaginative space I adored when I was a kid. My doll's story is growing by the day, before I have even seen her or held her. I know some of the people in her life. I know some of her battles. It's a fun story. She's a fun character. She is not going to be cabinet candy.

 

I've always made up stories since I was a little kid. Probably because of all the books I read =) One of the main reasons I bought a BJD and got into this hobby was to have another way to bring characters to life. I actually had a whole story, world and character made for my doll before I got her but when she got here she didn't want to fit into that world so now I'm letting her tell me who she is, but yeah, she'll have an epic story by the time I"m done =D

 

I started out wanting a doll for the sake of their beauty as a doll, and the fun of being able to do so much with them. When my first and currently only doll got here, he remained quiet for a whole month, being the cute little doll I had wanted him to be. But then I got thinking about how he should have a reason, a story, or at least a little bit of history. Around a month and a half after his arrival, he had a rather complete history.

Now I'm looking into making a doll out of a character, and I'm worried he might not want to be told who he is. I know this might sound silly, but I am a bit nervous about it ^^;

 

I want to write a backstory for my girl, but I don't know where to start! I know that writing stories super inspire me, though, and I so totally should, it would get me back into writing and reading and drawing more, because I go insane over characters. yes. You've reminded me of this, though, and I think I will! I can't wait till I get my girl's eyes, then she'll be even more herself and I'll get to know her better for her story

 

Maaan. I think it really depends I think.

I don't know if you can just.. GIVE your doll a back story. I think.. as you learn about the doll and their personalities etc.. it sorta just happens. Like meeting a new friend and knowing nothing about them. Then little-by-little it reveals itself.

My first boy Rox totally threw me for a loop haha. I kinda thought he'd come from a nice polite family. Lower-class but well inforced morals. Just kinda the first impression... THEN I find out.. jeeze. His dad is the leader of some big-time crime gang (kinda like a drug lord I guess lol). He's this spoiled rich kid with a bodygaurd. XD Talk about your total opposites. I love him to death though.

My other boy Gabriel... he's .. well we're still getting to know eachother. C: I have a little bit of an idea about him but really it's more of a feeling than a solid thought so I can't say much about him haha. I just know he's a real sweetheart.

I guess though, I don't find anything wrong with giving dolls histories. I mean.. sometimes it totally works out!! XD Especially if the doll is to be a previous character. C:

 

I got Lenore without a character in mind. After I got her, a story began forming in my mind. I also have a story for Ryu & Hayato. It was also after I got Ryu. Now my problem is how I connect their stories. And because I haven't figured how yet, I haven't finalized anything.