Why make up stories for your dolls?, it's just a doll, right?

Actually, I, like a lot of other people, had the story before the doll. The dolls represent existing characters in a long running storyline between my friends and I, so to me, no, it's not just a doll

 

Same here :] I have a lot of characters that I created by drawing, and I love making some of them into dolls.

 

Just like Lulu, I had a story-world and characters living in it for more than a decade before I got my first doll to represent one of the characters from said story. For some of us it's a way to extend our creativity from something intangible (to some degree) like imagination/writing/art/RP etc and bring that character into the 'real world' as a physical representation - personally I feel a lot closer to those of my characters who have resin forms that I can style, take photos of or abuse by putting the 'big manly men' in silly floofy dresses than the ones who are still just kicking around in my head

 

Why get involved in reading a novel? It's just ink and paper, right?

Dolls are just another medium, one among many choices.

The story is the substance and the creativity for some of us. Other people express themselves in clothing or purely artful photographs.

 

why not have a story? my dolls all have stories, it connects them and of course keeps me creativily busy

 

Why not have one?

There are a lot of collectors in the community who don't play the "story/character" game with their dolls, so you aren't alone, OP. It's just an entertaining thing for a lot of us... simply another way to "play" with our little resin minions.

It doesn't hurt that these dolls seem to lend themselves very easily to anthropomorphism... Even if you have no intention of them being avatars for established gaming, media or fiction characters, they can easily seem to have personalities of their own right out of the box. I think it's just human nature to start wondering (and building-) around that. "Well, don't you look like a smug sort of guy, Mister School A... I wonder why?" can very easily turn into the core of a backstory, even if you never intended th edoll to be more than a pretty dust-catcher.

 

For me, it keeps me interested, it keeps my imagination active, and it helps me be creative. Writing a story around them helps me keep up with my poetry writing. It also helps when doing photostories to have some dialogue.

 

When I first got into the hobby I really didn't get making little stories for them either. I honestly didn't know what to say or do when I went to my first doll meet and everyone was like, 'So what's his story?' To me Reita was just a pretty piece of art that I liked having with me, I'd never thought about him having a story or a character... Though I still never plot character stories, they do sort of develop their own personalities after a while. ^ ^

In the end, story making for them is just another creative outlet they provide~

 

Well...I have ordinary dolls (art dolls, antique dolls, etc.) that aren't jointed and realistic and they just stand around and look nice. My resin dolls, on the other hand, can hold poses and have realistic faces, just like humans, and because they look so human, it seems natural to give them names and make up personalities for them. The little stories just grew out of the names and personalities I gave them. Besides, it's fun to play with them, just as I did with my childhood dolls, and they are a welcome distraction from the stresses of my real life.

 

I both buy dolls to be existing characters of mine and also to create new characters. I think it gives you a direction to channel the doll in fashion and photography wise. For me it also gives me an extra bond with my doll. If you're going to do photostories I think it's probablly really helpful as it allows you to understand what feelings the 'person' they are representing would have etc. That's why I tend to enjoy creating personas for mine anyway. :3

 

As some have already said, for a lot of us the doll is actually secondary to the story and is just another way of manifesting it. We've tried drawing these characters and writng about them, but having them manifested physically in this beautiful form seems to be as close as one can get to making them real. At least it is to me. I have had my central character since I was a child and very much enjoy having him represented in a doll.

That doesn't mean that someone who has BJDs but has no backstory is somehow missing the point. We have these dolls for a myriad reasons and they serve diverse purposes, all of which are valid.

 

I guess those of use with stories for our dolls are just more creative then those who don't. At least that's how I see it. While the dolls I have right now (and incoming) did not have a story until I got them, eventually ones I have will be characters I already have made up. I've always loved writing so I have a ton of characters to use.

It's like saying 'if it's just a doll, why give it a name?'
Everyone is different and our dolls mean different things to all of us.

 

Almost 10 years ago I wrote a fanfic for a Star Wars group, so the characters existed even before I had dolls to express them as. Having since gotten the dolls, it is just that much more fun creating the costumes and dreaming up "new" situations for them now that they are 3-D.

- ShadowHawke -

 

I have a mix of dolls who mean something as a character and dolls who are just pretty ornaments. I think it was mentioned upon about dolls seeming to have a personality just from the way they look when you first see them, I guess for my character dolls they happened to twig in my mind "Oh hey, it looks like <insert name here>..." and went from there.

Additionally I think the decision to try stick to character dolls is going to massivly help me not want to buy every sweet face and statuesque body I see

 

Well, for me one of my boys was an existing character with no name. He fit the character perfectly and so he got that personality. That's why he has a story and all the other guys I have really don't. I've been making up stories for them but so far nothings stuck. To me some are characters and others are just I like them. *shrug* I guess it depends on the person.

 

I can understand the original poster's question as I never had any stories or characters, I just like dolls. Sometimes a doll comes with a bit of a story from a past owner, or something develops as it is shipped to me or because it looks like someone I know in real life, but the whole "story" and "character" aspect of the dolls was very new to me when I first got into this hobby. To the extent my dolls have stories it's more along the lines of the Rumer Godden books about dolls, as dolls, than a story about a character such as a prince or a goblin and the doll is just supposed to physically represent the character that you tell stories about. The whole "reshelling" dolls because a character changes or you find a mold that's more appropriate was also a little odd for me to adjust to.

I don't think it's a bad way to play with the dolls or anything - if people enjoy these stories that's great for them. It's just something that never occurred to me and it took me some time to understand it. I even tried myself to make up a few stories early on, to see if I liked playing that way, but it really didn't feel right. I just like dolls, I don't want to have a giant evolving fictional novella going on.

 

Why not?

I've never grown out of make-believe, and I like thinking my dolls represent characters. Heck, I name my non-doll inanimate objects too and think they have distinct personalities (like the individual computers on my network all have their personal quirks).

I'm going to have to vituperously disagree here. I don't believe you have the right to judge who is or who is not more creative. I know doll owners who do not make stories for their dolls but are amazing face-up artists and seamtresses. Can you dare call that not creative?

 

Unlike when I was a child and all my dolls had detailed and complicated adventures (as my grown-up-with-kids-of-her-own niece reminded me just the other day) my dolls have more of a bit of a backstory that is revealed as their... personalities become apparent and not a lot going on other than everyday interaction.

All my dolls (whether BJD or not) and bears etc. take on personalities of sorts, based on the sort of "people" they look like to me and how I imagine them to be... but I don't actively make up stories for them to take part in very often. Sometimes little snippets of activities suggest themselves to me, but it's not something I deliberately set out to do for/with them.

Teddy

 

Yes, it would certainly be nice if everybody could accept that others have different tastes and ways of playing without making some value judgment about who's "more creative" than the next person. It's not a contest, anyway.