Storytelling and dolls why

Why are book illustraters needed? Illustrated books have been around for a long time, and not just for children, as have graphic novels and comic books - a picture can tell a lot without needing words to describe every detail in it. A picture can free up the author from the need to use a lo of text to tell the story.

I doubt my dolls' stories will ever get written, the bits that have been written largely haven't been shared, except in parts in posts about the dolls backgrounds/characters/living situations.

I'm not a very good writer, I'm OK, but not great and I'm not prepared to put the work in to improve. I'd have the dolls without the story anyway, but th longer I have them, the more I get to know them, and the more I get to know them the more of each one's "story" I get to know. But I can tell part of the story in a picture that would take too many words to describe. Especialy if the audience already knows the background.

For example....

Background : Entitled Little "Princess," One of ten girls in a family with somewhat limited income


Never enough petticoats.

I don't need to waste words describing the room, the bed, the lamp on the nightstand, or the shelves and drawers overflowing with the petticoats she's hoarding in her room so her sisters won't be wearing them when she "needs" them. The viewer can see it.

Teddy

 

Well…

When we talk about storytelling, it goes beyond just books. Cinema, television, theater, manga, comics, graphic novels, photography, and more are all ways to tell stories.
And each medium allows an artist to choose the one that best suits their vision. We can choose, develop, and enjoy our own creative process.

As a metaphor: different languages, which you can use to describe same meanings.

 

Mind that visual storytelling is much older than writing!

You don't need anything, it's just play. I doubt that everyone who's shooting little photo stories wants to compile and publish that work. Dolls aren't needed for any other purpose as well, so you could ask the same question to someone who's just collecting. Written storytelling isn't needed either, you can get by in life just fine without Dostoevsky.

Yes it is, but limitations in a creative medium foster creativity.
I'll make a little digression: I was in comics for a while and I've had very similar thoughts about the medium at some point. Why not just an illustrated book? So many comic panels are "wasted" on characters just talking, and other insignificant actions, like someone pouring a drink, so why not just write that down and have illustrations for important events? This in comics is usually a full-page spread.
But using a drawn panel instead of a line of text delivers a much more precise idea, doesn't it? It's one thing to describe someone pouring a drink in a smoke-filled jazz club, another thing to show a picture of it. You can add a richness to a picture that would be pedantic in writing. In one case you leave things to the reader's interpretation, in the other case you deliver a clear visual of what you have in mind as an artist.
There's also an issue with poor usage of the medium. An example is a pretty bad trend of having a comic character with his mouth open and a huge balloon full of monologue. It's obvious that because you are using a visual medium, you should cut down on huge blocks of text and work with facial expressions and body language. Comics lend themselves much better to action-oriented stories (not in the sense of people punching each other, but a physical and expressive angle to storytelling).
Will Eisner published books on the subject and despite being about comics, I think that would help you with your questions nonetheless. The feeling of continuity you get in comics can be very movie-like (storyboards for movies are pretty much comics).
I mention comics because working with dolls is very close. You have a visual medium that comes with strong limitations, but dolls lend themselves very well to photography, and have a feel that neither real-life people or drawings have. I'm a fan of a wuxia puppet show called Thunderbolt Fantasy which is absolutely delightful; the puppets are so visually striking and their acting is very broad and expressive (to make up for the limitation of them being puppets), and the fact it's filmed live-action (rather than, say, stop-motion) with mostly practical effects gives it a very unique, theatrical feel that is difficult to find elsewhere. It wouldn't be the same as a live-action show or whatever other medium.
I think you could twist your questions toward anything. Why watch kabuki when you can watch opera, and so on. Now when it comes to dolls I think they do not work well in comic-style stories, simply because the dolls' limitations are not as complementary as drawings in that case. But for silent, moody storytelling they are amazing since they're tied with dioramas. Mind that most people make doll stories as a hobby, but think about stop-motion animation or the aforementioned show; they're using elaborate dolls for that. There's no real reason to write off dolls as a storytelling medium, it's just a matter of finding the right way of using them, much like written storytelling needs a foundation and awareness about the medium to be effective.

 

I could see where someone may feel using their dolls to tell a story could be limiting if it was the only way they were to tell a story. Up until recently though, the dolls never came before the storytelling. They came because I am fascinated and delighted to have a visual representation of characters that have grown near and dear to me over many years. I like that, should I want to, I could not only describe them, but I can also show them and hope that anyone who reads my work could share the same sort of mental visual.

It isn't strictly necessary, but as an illustrator myself, sometimes a moment of a story is so profound or meaningful that I crave a snapshot of it, be it a doll, a photo, a painting etc. Something that I can look back to and admire its beauty and allow myself a moment to feel those things again, especially as I reread something.

I could author my stories in nothing but words- I love to describe things. I am no professional writer by any means and I doubt I will ever really share the things I write with the world, but I would be lying if I said I have not dreamt since I was a teen of actually publishing my work.

Having my dolls just feels like having an additional medium to share my stories. I am an illustrator, I write for fun, I collect and admire these gorgeous dolls- to mean it feels more like being able to flesh out the world, the story I am telling by providing various media to enjoy it by.

 

I'm taking this to be about people who write stories about their doll characters, is that right? (Versus people who do photostories or roleplay their dolls.)

So, literature does not emerge from a vacuum. It always originates from the images in our heads - our heads which are filled with everything visual. Even the things we invent that did not exist before are born from what we have already seen.

Thus story writing - literature of any kind - was never just pen, ink and paper - it always needed a visual world around it to draw from. (Or, for example, if you do not possess the sense of vision, other senses that let you experience this world). Whether this world that a story teller draws from is inhabited by real people or by doll people doesn't matter so terribly much. But we do need sources to draw our inspiration from.

So for me, for some of my writing this inspiration comes from my dolls. For other writers it might be a real person they just had a lovely talk with on a train, or maybe their grandmother, or...

 

Purpose of photography in bjd hobby is not limited to taking shots of the story ones have. Some bjd owners may have themed dolls, for example cosplay of authorized character from some other person (anime, book, cinema, video game) etc.

For example I wrote a story about my characters, I do own some of them in bjd form, but I do not take photos that actually reflects the story. Quite an opposite, I use my bjd as models to my ideas, like any other photographer out there, it's just for posing I don't use people, but the bjds I have. Yes, these bjds have a specific look that reflect my characters and look completely the way I have written them, but they are models anyway. Does it put some limitations to me? Sort of, but finding a proper human for ideas is not that easy as well

 

Same reason I draw even though I'll never be a paid artist, I write even though I'll never be a published author, I make up worlds and characters that will never exist outside of my head: Because it's fun, and because I want to.

It's just a different form of media innit? Different stories work better with different mediums. Like stop motion instead of animating, or a video game instead of a novel: That's just how it feels right to bring the vision to life. Part of the fun is in the challenge. Could I draw it as a comic, or write it as a novel? Yes, but I don't want to and I'm not going to, because it's more fun to hunt for little props, or to push what a doll can do for posing, or to just spend some time browsing for that perfect outfit. Saying that the limitations of a particular medium somehow make it worse then a different medium is, to be brutally honest instead of tactfully honest, both short-sighted and a little insulting. Don't berate a fish for not being an eagle.

Ultimately what it comes down to is: this is a hobby. It's not a serious life course, it's not a burning desire to polish a craft or bring some deep story out into the world. It's me doing something that brings me joy in a world that really really seems determined to crush it at times. I want to take silly pictures of these little 3D representations of things that previously only existed in my head. If other people also like these silly pictures, wonderful!

Perhaps you might find it helpful to check out MBLilac's work? She has a website as well as a forum presence, and she's quite a master at using dolls as a visual medium to tell a story.

 

For me, there are certain characters I have that I am fine with only being in written form. But there are others that scream to be seen, and I don't feel settled until they're given concrete form. Whether that be doing a picrew or making a whole doll, or simply drawing them. It's very human to want representations of the things in our minds, whether that be art or architecture or carpentry or some other form of creation like 3D printing. We have always wanted to see the images or ideas in our mind come to life.

 

I don't have any dolls of characters from my actual writing projects, (at least, not yet), but the only way I can really see it being all that limiting is to the dolls themselves. Lemme explain:

If I had a doll of an OC that actually had a specific story in mind for, as in, something I actually planned to write out, instead of just a couple paragraphs of lore for that character specifically, I think I would feel awkward about having that doll be used for anything I did not feel "fit" the character. Meaning, I would feel a little bad putting them in scenarios and outfits and such (let alone actual doll choice and customization) that didn't match the very clear, specific picture of them in my head, which I feel would be very limiting, as I do, for lack of a better term, play with my dolls.

On the other hand, I think if I did bite the bullet and warp my little blorbos into the physical realm, I think that posing them and dressing them up and even just moving them could help inspire me to add more details or ideas to my stories! I find that my creative juices flow best when I actually kind of turn my mind off and just daydream, like during mild exercise. I suspect that goofing around with my dolls would actually assist me in my writing. Though I might be a bit biased, as most of the playing I did as a kid involved dolls or action figures of some kind.

Basically, the gist of it is, that, at least for me, dolls, especially customizable dolls like BJDs, are an extension of the owner/customizer/creator's creativity, much like writing, illustration, film, etc; and I think as such, they can be a great tool to use in the creation of these other art forms, and more!

 

What's the difference between using dolls in telling a story and having illustrations drawn in a book? isn't our concept of the look of Alice and other characters in Alice in Wonderland determined as much by the classic drawn illustrations throughout the book as by the text?

 

My writing/story telling rarely has anything to do with the dolls themselves: I do written roleplay with my sister and friend. The dolls aren't needed, but sometimes I do like to take pics that go with certain parts of the story. But mostly? I just like having the physical representation of the character. I have a very hard time seeing faces in my head, even picturing people I've known for a long time aren't very clear in my head. Having the dolls helps me "see" my characters better.

 

Sometimes it can help cement a character in your mind. Different brains work in different ways, and for some of us, having the physical doll we can see and hold and touch can even inspire bits of the story we weren't aware of before.

 

All of my dolls (I'm currently at 86 full dolls) are the characters in the novels I write. I am a published author as well. Do I need them to write the stories? Nope. It's actually a Doll Rule for me that no doll comes home that isn't already a character. And not just an idea of a character but someone fully fleshed out. For me, the characters come before the doll and despite the number of dolls I own, not every character demands to be in doll form (for which my wallet is eternally grateful). Oddly, I don't feel like I have much say in who does or doesn't ends up as a doll. It just kinda... happens.

While I do take pictures of my dolls, it's not often and almost never of a scene in any of their stories. When I first started collecting I did a few photostories but it just wasn't something that sparked much with me so I stopped doing that. With that being said, I will be using my dolls for several book covers of their stories as I've spent a lot of time and effort into making the doll into the character that lives in my head.

I have found a few things out about the characters that I have as dolls that I honestly don't think would've ever been a thing without them. Like the fact that Moswen hates red. Or that Khale prefers to wear white, black or pastels only with the odd exception of orange being one of his favourite colours. Or that Aischylos is pretty much the only one out of my crew who will refuse to dress without underwear on and insists on wearing multiple layers of clothes. They're small details, yes, but also something that I discovered after getting the doll, had not thought of while writing their story/developing their character and frequently something that ends up in the story.

 

Really good questions.

I've written stories without dolls more for my amusement then anything, and ran RP table tops making up intense stories for my players that as spanned years, and also without dolls.

When I started doing the doll photo stories, I wanted to do something to tribute 'Hana Yori Dango' or 'Boys over Flowers' I actually just started with one girl and four boys, but then I began to get dolls to fill in for characters that I didn't have that were in the story. Some of the not main characters were modified to fit my taste and the story is not exact to the manga, except for the story of the two main characters. The story part that was based on the manga is pretty much over. It took me a couple years, just to collect enough dolls to do that story.

In the continuation which is completely my creation, I have written new parts into the photo story and I have not had dolls for the roles, but then I have to buy the dolls to fill the parts. It is like sending out a casting call for the role, and seeing what doll would fit this new character. I can only see needing a few more dolls to have the complete cast that I need. Kind like a series with a limited cast and they just do crazy stuff together. You don't see new characters every week, and I don't need new dolls all the time because their roles are constant.

Part of the fun for me, when deciding on a new character for the photo story, is planning the type of doll that I want to get to fill the role. Sometimes I might make plans for one type of doll, and then a different doll catches my attention for the role, and I have to rewrite the character. I feel if a doll caught my attention enough to make me scrap an old concept, maybe the original concept for a character wasn't that good.

The dolls themselves actually inspire me to write the photo story, just looking at the one I am writing about at the time can give me ideas on how that character would react and behave in certain situations. "What would you do here doll? Talk to me!"

I don't feel restricted, because I can buy more backgrounds and get props for the dolls to suit a place or a situation. It can be work to decorate the rooms and do the photoshoots, but it's fun for me. I really enjoy watching the dolls 'come to life' in the story that I create for them.

 

Reading through this thread, and I have a few thoughts as a writer and artist.
I feel like it's counterintuitive to imply the idea that literature is not restricted by visuals. There are visuals, both conveyed through the writing and in the reader's mind. When you read a written story, you imagine what is taking place, and therein lies the magic connection between writing and image in my opinion. Even without any illustrations at all or sometimes even without a description in the work itself, you have an idea of what the main character looks like, what they're wearing, what their world looks like. Almost every human lives in a visual world, and so we naturally have an idea of what things look like.

That said, most of my dolls come to me as just dolls first, and I have fun thinking of what their story might be after. I recently got a cute pouty boy character who to me seemed very serious, and I built around what I think it would be fun for a serious young boy to get up to. I do have some dolls meant to be characters in a pre-established story, but that's more because I enjoy having something physical to represent the character, just like people like having merchandise for stories they like.

 

I think this is a pretty interesting topic.

I guess I don't need dolls for the storytelling, but it's what I have and enjoy to use in my storytelling.

Simply, it's what I enjoy doing with the dolls that I have. I also find it an interesting way to engage my mind to try to do something with these dolls. I also enjoy comic books, so my more recent stories taking on comic book style speech bubbles brings my dolls closer to that interest of mine.

It is very limiting! Especially with BJDs! Posing is a big challenge with BJDs, among other things. This is part of what I find mentally engaging when doing my photostories. I have to figure out all these little things to make a photostory work. Sometimes I have to make compromises in posing which sometimes results in compromises in the story itself. Regarding scale backgrounds, I pretty much decided I was going to not try to fight that fight. My scenery is usually not impressively appropriate. I've gotten more into scale props in the past few years which has been a nice positive change.

I could, but it wouldn't be doll photostories! I'd also be missing out on spending time with my beloved dolls if I was simply writing standard text.

It's just a pastime. I don't have any plans on publishing anything I do that's doll-related besides putting it on Flickr and on the doll websites.

I'll work with what opportunities arise for scenery, but I also have no problems just using whatever as a background. This is kind of to my detriment. I am trying to do a bit better with backgrounds. I know I've had some outright bad and messy ones.

 

I mean, comics/manga/graphic novels are a valid form of storytelling and there's no reason why the graphic medium shouldn't be photography. I'm a manga artist and it's not restrictive at all. On the contrary, sure words can paint a picture, but that picture is a lot clearer when drawn. With dolls, the range of facial and hand expressions is very limited, but there's still ways to set things up in an expressive and congruent manner.

Personally, I'm making dolls of my characters to inspire and motivate me to keep writing a story. Being able to not just visualize them in my mind, but look at them in real life, helps me get a more 3-dimensional, "touchable" idea of them. I'm a very visual person and pure text doesn't entertain or inspire me most of the time.
Having ADHD, a wall of text changes into a grey blur pretty quickly and I stop processing. Illustrations or a fully graphic medium help me process what's happening because the only text is what's actually being said, while tings that are visual in real life are visual on paper. For me, it makes a lot more sense that way. I take words literally, so the word "kimono" is just a word and I have to actively visualize a piece of clothing in order to process the sentence. This gets exhausting when it's pretty much every single word. Just show me the kimono, please.