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

Everyone is different and enjoy different things about their dolls. If you aren't a storyteller, then that isn't your thing and you have no need of a story. But if you love writing stories and enjoy dolls and want to shell your characters or be inspired by your dolls to make more stories, then it's natural to do that.

It's like, if you love designing clothes and sewing, it makes sense that you are going to do this with your doll. Or if you love creating characters, really specific ones that you have ideas for, then it's likely you'll be an owner who is modding and customizing your dolls.

But no one just automatically does any of these things because it's part of the bjd world! Owners do what they enjoy doing with their dolls... not just because other people are doing it.

I love dolls, but I'm not shelling characters. I DO enjoy writing and stories, so some of my dolls will have more of a story, but I don't do this for all my dolls... just the ones that inspire stories.

I don't sew, so I don't make a lot of doll clothes! I am an artist, so I've tried faceups, but I'd have to practice a lot more to be any good and it's not quite something I'm good at or really want to do all the time, so I doubt I'll ever be a faceup artist (not all artists can do every kind of art! We have certain things we are good at and want to do, just like doll owners and everyone else!).

If you most enjoy having a doll to play with, then that's what you should do. There is no right or wrong way to interact with your doll. If you wish to just have a doll sit there so you can look at it, that's fine. If you just want one and are content to keep it safe in a box, then that's good, too. Only have a story or do a faceup if that's what you WANT to do!

 

I completely agree with april! I love writing, but it's mainly fanfic and I don't have an urge to shell those characters. I do, however, like to create characters out of BJDs and then write stories about them if they inspire me. It's never struck me as odd for dolls to have stories, because companies use stories to market their dolls quite often (the Iplehouse Carved Heritage series has a pretty in-depth company storyline, Soom creates short stories for their dolls, Granado has a blurb about the character at the top of each doll page, etc), so by creating my own story for them it just makes them feel more personalized to my taste

 

I have stories for all of my dolls (and some dolls I don't yet have, but want.) I think the stories are completely optional, but as an aspiring author, I love to see my characters come to life as dolls (and sometimes get inspiration for characters from dolls.) I couldn't bond with a doll I couldn't write about, but that's just a personal preference.

 

I think creating stories for your dolls is a good way to bring your doll more 'to life' and make it seem more....real? I don't think theres anything wrong with creating stories for your dolls... most dolls on shelves in stores now have stories aswell....Barbie, Monster High etc

 

My first doll I created a story around, then another 3 of my dolls were characters in that story before buying them. So buying them was a way to bring my characters to life in a way. My last doll I already had a story for him way before I got into dolls, so he was brought to life too.
I make up stories because I have an active imagination and I absolutely love to write and create new characters all the time. It's a hobby. If a doll is not already part of a story, I make one up to make them have more character, at least that's the reason why I do it.

 

Anthropomorphizing animals or inanimate objects seems to be something we, as a culture, like to do, and I think it has to do with the fact that we have histories and memories and moments that shape our personalities, so we think these dolls need to have them, too.

For me, it's a way to bond with a doll. A doll without a definable personality (I don't do full-fledged backstories unless it comes into play during a picfic or some such) is less likely to make an impression on me, and more likely to be rehomed to make room for another with more personality potential.

 

I don't have a story so much as a 'world' which my dolls/characters are a part of. They all have back-stories, their own intertwining stories and lives, but not a specific written story. I think this allows me a bit more freedom as I don't have the motivation to write, but have the desire to create characters and relationships between them without obligation, if that makes sense. I really do admire people with a set story, but I feel that it would take some of the fun and freedom out of it for me personally - I might write mini/short stories based on some of them, though, when I get the motivation.

 

When I was a kid I played with toys and dolls and they all had personalities/characters; it's no different for me now.

 

I'm not the type who write stories, but my dolls sort of do have a character. Sometimes I tell stories in my mind, but I don't know how to turn them into photostories XD

 

I'm not a writer, but a LOT of doll owners are. The worlds and people they create mean a lot to them. A lot of writers really like having physical manifestations of the characters they've loved and devoted their time to for years.

Developing personalities and stories for the dolls you get can be fun too. Makes them even more unique and fascinating. Also helps that owner-doll bond that you hear many people talk about.

 

I don't necessarily "create stories for my dolls," as such; my dolls are 3D representations of characters who already have stories behind them. Without the dolls, I'd still have those stories--I got my first doll in 2008, but he's shelling a character I created in the early 90s, and with or without the doll that character and his story would still exist to me. It makes it fairly easy to "develop" the look and style of a new doll, as well as create poses for them when doing a photoshoot, because I have all that backstory behind the majority of the characters--and I think those parts are key to why anyone has a "story" behind their doll, whether created long before getting the doll home, or based around the doll itself. It gives you a baseline to work with, a way to say "Does this dress work for her? What kind of shoes should I get them? How will they pose in a scene together?" It makes the difference between having character in their look and in photos, and having "pretty dolls plopped down in a scene."

 

I hadn't made up any stories for my dolls, though I did imagine personalities for them. But the other day my friend came over to visit. She doesn't own any dolls, but she likes mine. She is a writer, and when she saw the new outfit I'd sewn for my Genesis (5S Tumnus), she said he looked like he was ready to go hiking. She then made up a story about him being an archeologist. I got in on it and together we created an entire history for him.
I really enjoyed creating a story for my doll. I can't wait to see what kind of history I can create for my next doll.

 

I guess there's no reason "why you should" create a story for your dolls, unless you feel like you want them to have one, or see something of a story you already have in a particular sculpt.

My initial interest in BJDs was basically to have a nice-looking model for photography that I wouldn't have to talk to, or coax, or pay...! With maybe some personality to guide me.

But since I've seen a doll that just put a story in my head, one that even gave my current doll a story where he didn't have one before...so I'm now working on getting him, while working on world building and a plot for photo stories or comics too...I didn't really ever expect to do that hahaha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

i used to think this way but creating a story for my doll has made me love her on a whole other level, she is beautiful now and has developed since she told me her story now she feels so special to me and i really know she's mine.

 

I find that I can "bond" with a doll more if I create a background for them. I don't write about it, but it's nice to just think about them having some sort of story to go along with them instead of just a very pretty piece of plastic on my shelf.

 

Some people are just collectors and they don't need to create stories or characters for their dolls. I think if they like displaying their dolls as they would any other type of collection, that is a personal preference. For me, personally, I enjoy creating characters for my dolls as a way of bonding with them. I like the idea of creating specific characters that distinguish them from each other. Otherwise they would feel lifeless? Or just ordinary? to me.

 

It is the exact opposite for me. A lot of characters I've had in my head since I was young and I enjoy making up stories for them. What better way to bring those characters to life than through dolls? Personally, I think it makes it more fun if you give them a backstory, personality etc.

 

My dolls were supposed to have a story, but then I got rid of the story because it wasn't working, one of my dolls has a character and a back story, but I don't know what is ahead for the character so they don't have a current/ongoing story, the other doll sort of has that but I feel like it's off and he needs more work in that regard. So they are kind of weird for me since they're not what I had planned at first and it is making it a lot harder for me to work them out, I think they will have stories in time though.

My future dolls, however, are all going to be from existing stories that I'm currently working on, I write and I always have so I'd like to have the characters around me in a more physical form as well as written down. Plus, it seems easier to have somewhere to work from, I am not very good at working things out as I go and that includes having a character before a doll so that everything is all planned out first, I find the planning process so exciting.

I really think it's fine either way though I like looking at dolls, regardless of whether they have their own story or not, I do feel more attached or interested when something has "a life of its own" in a way though, like it has all of the complexity and personality and such that a person would, but I'll like a doll even if it doesn't have that because at the end of the day it's still a pretty thing that's taken a lot of time and effort.

 

I agree with others on here. Having a story usually is an existing character. This character the doll is representing is now physical through the doll.

 

My dolls represent characters I've had for a while. I can't personally get attached to a doll if it doesn't have some sort of persona to it since I like to treat them like small people.