Writing doll's character/backstory

I don't deliberately set out to create a backstory for my dolls.

As with the character itself, it comes gradually as I get to know the doll and for some it's more detailed than others. Sometimes it's a vague idea, sometimes a little more fleshed out, and somtimes a lot more detailed. Some remain very basic until another doll joins the family and they begin to interact.

For example, Nesta was just occupied the role of snarky-older-sister in the family and not much more was apparent about her than that she was a bit of a fashionista and closely allied with sweet, quiet, Cressida. Then Hannah arrived. She's the tomboy child of the family, who resented having to wear dresses and preferred plainer/unfussy styles in colours that didn't show the dirt. Hannah was just the foil that Nesta needed for more of her background to become apparent. She's a popular girl at school, despite her sometimes sharp tongue, and desparages Hannah's lack of interest in clothing, fashion, "ladylike" behaviour, or social standing.

Likewise, Nesta and Hannah's clashes allowed Cressida to emerge as the little peacemaker between the two.

I tend toward mundane with a slightly fantastical edge for my dolls backstories (having a touch of fey in the family mix will do that). My main group of SD sized dolls are the children of a large, extended, Victorian family (ten girls and five boys, plus some younger kids). They're siblings, half-siblings, and cousins, but some of them are elves or half-elves, rather than fully human. It just sort of turned out that way.

Teddy

 

All my dolls are in the same "world" setting: they're angels who happen to live in my house. I keep things pretty simple for them: a bit of world-building to provide a setting and consistent clothing/styling direction, and that's about it.

I keep it simple because I prefer to discover their personalities as I dress, play, and take photos of them over time. Because dolls are material objects and have physical presence, I find that the sculpting, faceup and styling influences the personality a lot, and sometimes that personality ends up departing from my preconceived ideas. I find it a lot of fun to just go with the personality I "see" in the doll sculpt, incorporate those traits into the character profile (every doll has a character sheet and they're constantly evolving documents), then keep on playing with them and see what new dimensions of their personality I can discover. I kinda think of it as collaborative character development between me and the doll.

I also don't develop much backstory beforehand, for the same reasons. I've structured my worldbuilding so that my dolls can have somewhat blank-slate histories when they arrive, and then I play with them and have them in a kind of living story that's being developed in realtime. Surprises do happen, and it's really delightful.
Eg. Two of my doll characters got into a romantic relationship. How did it begin? "Hmm, I wonder how they'd look if I made them hold hands." The rest was history. This wasn't planned at all, and I doubt I'd ever imagine them to be a couple if I made a pre-developed backstory. But it works, and I think it's much more fun than planning everything beforehand.
My doll characters have also picked up hobbies, or developed likes/dislikes, because I was taking photos of them and started thinking, "what props can I make/buy/commission that fits their worldbuilding AND looks good in photographs?" And "oh, this doll looks great in X photoshoot location - maybe they're a personality who enjoys being in X setting."

I think it's fun to hold all of my character development loosely, and discover my doll characters over time. I love telling a living story like that.

 

I have an unfair advantage here... I'm a long-time tabletop RPG player and GM, and the majority of my crew are the resin avatars of my tabletop characters or roleplayed MMO toons. I'd done the "hard work" of naming and figuring out who my dolls were and all that before I ever had the resin versions.

Their worlds were already out there, too... Exalted's Creation, Ars Magica's Mythic Europe, Seventh Sea's Thea, City of Heroes' Paragon City and the Rogue Isles... and all the bits and pieces that my game groups added to them over years of play.

The difficult part for me has always been getting the resin avatar to look the way I want them to. Eyes, hair, outfit, props... They don't need to be an exact match for the original's look, but the... let's call it "the feel"... has to be right. A happy-smiley hunk of a muscle-man doll in spotless formalwear would never work for The Scribe of Sorrows, for instance. (He's one of my Exalted Abyssals and was always described in-game as a tall, thin, mopey scarecrow of a guy dressed in tattered black traveler's clothes. The resin version of Scribe is a Doll Chateau Dolores in a custom made outfit that I did a lot of trial-and-error ageing/wear with.) Finding the *right* sculpt and then giving it the *right* goodies to represent the existing character has always been the challenge, much more than detailing the character itself.

The ones who AREN'T game-character avatars? There are some of those in the gang, too. Characters who exist only as dolls... With them, I don't really stress the character business, honestly. I just play around with them when I get them.

These dolls of ours just have so much personality to them right out of the box that finding out "who they are" is almost inevitable. Just tinker with them. Play around. Put them in front of your camera and start taking pictures. Try out different outfits and every wig and eye set in the house. Eventually an idea will come up. Sometimes it'll just be a vague impression, and sometimes it'll be a whole new world in one LIGHTBULB! second of inspiration.

Either way... don't sweat it. It takes as long as it takes. Don't stress about it or worry you're "doing it wrong" if you don't have a hundred-page backstory and a George RR Martin-level elaborate world done for your new resin minion five minutes after you hit the Buy button. Think of it all as a process, and if the doll doesn't end up being a particular character in the end? That's okay, too. Not everyone does the character thing. Having a doll who's JUST a pretty doll is also a perfectly acceptable way to go.

 

Most of my dolls are pre-existing characters, so they tend to have pretty detailed information and story to them. However, making them look like the pre established character can be very tricky, as Brightfires had mentioned. The important thing to do is to accept that things will never be 1:1 with your shell vs your preexisting character, and that’s totally fine.

Of course, the most important thing is that they develop naturally if at all, because a doll that’s just a doll is just as okay as a doll with lore. Don’t feel pressured to make a character, only do so if you want to do so. Don’t give into peer pressure! Do what makes you happy.

 

When I started, I searched for spreadsheets with loads of questions to know about your character (in terms of politics, religion, family, habits, etc.) but I ended up giving them up because I felt they didn't fit what I wanted to know about my doll at all, specially when trying to complete a fantasy doll's personality. In fact, in the last years I've given up on truly human characters as they do not bring the same amount of joy to me so it's all fantasy for me now.
But it kind of depends on the character, really. I usually have a certain character already in mind when I buy a doll, but in any case, my strategy when trying to write down the facts about them is the same:

• I start easy with name, age, birthday (for dolls it's always the date I received/completed the doll just because is easier to remember that way), category (fantasy race, with brief explanation if needed, or human), realm they live in, job or role in their community (if they have one) and general style of clothing with favorite colors/accessories if it applies.
• If I'm satisfied with the general idea, I write a simple overview of their background listing any relevant episodes from their childhood to the present day in their story including, for example and if necessary, family relationships, role models, how they did in school, friends, teenage phases, dream job, accidents, etc. In general, I write there anything that you can think of that could be relevant to make them who they are today.

For some special cases, I've written whole stories (and even novels) about them that I felt better explained certain points of their past, present or future, or that I simply wanted to explore at a deeper level but then, I like to write a lot.
I think you should do as much or as less as you're comfortable with.

 

My dolls typically are roleplay characters before they are shelled as dolls, and some of them, I play several times a week for years. So their backstories and characters get very in depth. I have details on them that I don't even know about some of my closest friends. In fact, my doll characters are more important to me than the dolls themselves--a strong character might last decades for me without being shelled, but a pretty doll with no character or a very shallow character isn't going to stick around long, regardless of how gorgeous the doll is.

 

So far, my two dolls have been made to shell pre-existing characters that I already have formed attachment to based on the source material they originate from. They already have their personalities and stories written, but by creating dolls of them I am able take what I already feel and know about them and make that existing bond even stronger through the physical construct of the doll, similar to making fanart or fanfiction (which I also do from time to time). I can take the traits I enjoy most about the characters and sort of imbue them to the doll as I interact with them and let my imagination run wild

I have quite a few characters I like from video games and anime that I would consider making into dolls someday, providing there are dolls available and I have the funds. I do also have a few of my own created player characters I might shell one day. For those characters, it is a similar situation for me as premade characters where the world and story already made through the context of the game and I simply build my character's story and traits as go based on my experiences in that game. In terms of character writing, I think the most basic thing for starting a character is beginning with general concept, like their look and personality. Once you have that in place and can imagine their world and how they would interact with it, that's when their story starts to unfold and they take on that life of their own in your imagination. In my experience it is a gradual process, and may even take years to fully flesh out and fully appreciate a character.

 

I have two that are like this, but I didnt set out to do that when I got the first of the pair. As I got to know her she emerged as a favourite character from a childhood favourite books series, and then I had to hunt out a suitable doll to become her sister!

I don't like doing that, it's too much faff and too hit-and-miss. It's not an enjoyable process for me. I managed it in the end, but it's nothing I can see myself doing again. I'd rather buy dolls that visually appeal to me and get to know etheir character once they're home with me.

Teddy

 

All my dolls except my Doll Chateau Charon are characters from a story my friend and I are working on. They all have very complex stories. One day I would like to have a doll for each character.

My Doll Chateau Charon has no story I bought her because I love arthropod people sculpts.

 

I think you'll find there are lots of us, I've seen many a mention of it over the years I've been on DoA. Two of my gaming group are also members here, for example, though I don't think any of us have put our D&D characters into dolls, although one has considered having one of her dolls cosplay a D&D character, I think.

I hope it's not a "cast-of-thousands" story then or it could get expensively overcrowded for you...

Teddy

 

I love magical/supernatural elements in stories, so it shows up in my doll backstories as well. As for what I think is important for writing about OCs, that'd be anything that brings you closer to the doll. Like it's easy to think of hair and eye color and age and birthday, but if you want to go more in-depth, definitely go in-depth. And if not, don't feel like you have to. Since most of my dolls I've ended up writing stories about, they get pretty detailed. It depends on the character, but most of them are detailed.

 

*waves hand* Here's another one.

For my dolls I mostly come up with character and backstory as I go.
For my very first BJD I did have a bit of a pre planned story for her, but when she arrived I realized that she is further along in her life than I had expected. Ever since that I have avoided to make any rigid plans. Instead I let things evolve on their own. This means that the dolls I have owned for a while does have rather detailed backstories and peronalities. I rarely write it down, It's not evolved to be an entertaining story, just something for me to enjoy playing around with and something to base decisions on when styling or making things for them.
I do often have a vague idea of the charachter I am aiming for when buying a doll, but I am prepared that plans may change and I never over invest in clothes or props before I know who the doll wants to be. Sometimes they seem to have radically different ideas than I do.

I never really merged my roleplaying hobbies with my BJD hobby, but I DM a game where one of the players sometimes brings a doll dressed as her charachter to the table as a visual representation.
And of course, a long life of writing, larping, role playing and generally making up characters in different ways does provide valuable experience and does make things easier, no doubt.

 

I only have one doll so far who shells a character I created. She's based off of a TTRPG character I play/played. Most of her backstory is bare bones. What's important to me is getting one or two distinct traits and a core belief.

I have another doll incoming to shell a different character whose story is much more developed. I've written almost 100k words about her and posted it elsewhere. (Shh, it's a secret...) She technically wasn't even supposed to be a "character" but I kind of fell in love with her and her story.

 

My dolls are pre-existing characters, so the character comes before the doll. Some are from IP's that I really enjoy, so their stories are already set and determined, I just like having dolls or tangible things representing my favorite characters.

For dolls that are OC's, their backstories kind of depend on the game they're from. My dnd characters' backstories are in some ways shaped by the campaign. With my current one, who's going to be my next doll project, i don't actually know all the details because i left a lot of it open for the DM. What I do know are key personality traits, aesthetics, and how she's developing as the story progresses. Of course, I'm also terribly sentimental and since I want to make her, I also want to make her backstory npc friend, who she's looking for in game, so that she's not lonely ;D I don't know what's happening to him in game, but she should get to have her friend in some universe, even if that's just my doll shelf xD I know even less about him, since the DM created his backstory, but they're still a pair in my mind.

 

Some are shelled versions of existing characters from RPGs and fictions I've written. Others are those that whisper to me "Hey, you need to buy me. You need an "X" in your gang; I can be that. You'll need to buy this short list of 100 items for me and I'll fit right in!"

 

For me so far, the doll comes before the character. It actually took me years to come up with something I genuinely liked for my first doll, as I adjusted her appearance, story and personality until I had something good in hand. For the second I'm waiting on it's been the same, I've been thinking of the character I want her to be as I get new things and wait for her to arrive. Would probably be open to making a doll based on a pre-existing OC one day though, if I ever come across a sculpt that fits perfectly. Most of mine are fantasy based too.

 

Since childhood, I’ve always had an overly creative mind when it comes to characters. So of course I don’t have a problem creating them for my bjds. I just “see” characters everywhere. So no character, no doll…that’s my #1 rule in this hobby. Sometimes a character just introduces themselves to me right out of the blue, and then I’ll go in search of the perfect doll to shell them. (This can be a painstaking process and some have taken me an entire decade to find the perfect doll!) Other times I’ll see a doll and wham!…their character just comes to me immediately, requiring me to buy them. When I began this hobby years ago, I decided early on my dolls would inhabit an imaginative fantasy world somewhere beyond the hedgerow of an old victorian estate. This left my choices entirely open for both human and fantasy sculpts…a creative built-in diversity for all sorts of fascinating characters which has worked well for me over the years. For many years I had intentions of writing all my characters down in elaborate stories. But I eventually found putting it down on paper was just too limiting for me. What worked best was developing an elaborate backstory and then just leaving their exploits open-ended and flowing through my imagination, where they could interact with one another and develop in a more fluid manner. It is reminiscent of how a child plays really, but it truly works for me.

 

It really varies on how much I have written. Two of my dolls (Kora and Tacet) have an old former backstory that extended about 132k and is one of the only full length pieces I’ve ever finished, and a current backstory that sits around 6k. In the mid-range we have characters like Vidania who was my dnd character, who I’ve written probably somewhere around 20k about in different projects, and her sometimes-lover Cole who I’ve written about 12k on. On the other end we have The Count, and abaddon who I have virtually nothing written on, but nonetheless a clear sense of character for them. So the level of detail is pretty wildly variable.

as for fantastical versus mundane, virtually all of my doll characters are from magically-based universes, whether that’s vampires, flight and other planes of existence, or they’re DND characters. I write very little that isn’t fantasy/paranormal/supernatural. In fact the one piece I wrote that’s ostensibly realistic fiction may actually have a poltergeist in it that may also be a metaphor.

finally, as for what I find important in a doll’s backstory—largely it’s a reason for their character. Sometimes that reason is “I wanted this story back and it needed this role” but usually it’s something internal to the character. Amor is important because she’s the twin that got unlucky in a deeply unethical twin study and she has a lot to say. Valentine is important because he pirated vampirism essentially, to get out of an impossible situation, and he’s stubborn enough to keep surviving and build his life. There’s something about the character that resonates, that keeps them going as characters that lets me keep writing them, and understand who these dolls all over my room are on a different level.

 

Like Teddy and others have said up-thread, there are quite a few tabletop gamers here. There are also a fair number of free-form role-players among the doll-folk. It's not at all unusual to see dolls that are avatars for roleplayed characters.

 

I think a doll's backstory is only as necessary as you find enjoyment in focusing on it. If knowing that information is going to help you bond with/enjoy your doll then I say it's pretty important but if not then you shouldn't worry about it too much.
My dolls had only a name and the most basic of details (hair/eye color, style they wear) for the longest time, they still have very little backstory and that's not an issue for me. I get to know them better as characters by having them around, dressing, photographing and playing with them so coming up with a super detailed backstory right now is totally not a priority. Their very minimal, simple story thus far will maybe someday reveal more details as time goes on.

 

I’m a big back-story person. All of my dolls have very specific characters, family history’s, styles, etc. it just makes me enjoy them a lot more. My dolls with less developed characters tend to get a bit less “play time”. My collection is kind of split in two, with my hyper realistic looking dolls (think like the Raccoon doll girls) live in a more realistic, non magical world, but then my more stylized dolls live in a world with magic. They don’t really ever cross over cause the difference in their proportions looks strange to me. I typically try to have a character pretty fleshed out before ordering a doll, but sometimes they get here and my plans completely change, so I try to remain flexible with it, that’s part of the fun.

 

I vividly remember when I was a kid I used to create storylines for my barbies, each one had their own personalities and such. I feel like that and my love for drawing set me on the path to become a professional artist. : D
Nowadays it's backstory first. I'm fairly new to the hobby as far as owning actual bjds go. So it started off as me wanting to have my OCs in physical form. I have a couple of stories in my head, some details written, some shared with friends. My goal is to have my favourite characters as bjds.
I'm also a tabletop rpg player, so that's a thing as well. Next project is making my partner's DnD character as a bjd.

 

It tends to depend... Like, I haven't really written out Marigold's or Vince's story in prose form anywhere, thought I know who they are and in Marigold's case, have an idea of the whole magical world she lives in. And with Vince I don't feel the *need* to write out a story about him. Jack, on the other hand, has about a hundred pages of who he was and what he got up to prior to his adventures with my old D&D group, or any adventures I might write him and Deanna going on together, PLUS I've written a lot about his modern day self.

 

I really want to create a back story for my dolls but unlike most members I am not creative.. I am not a writer, artist or play RPG so I don't know how to go about it. I know its okay not having one but I really want to create one. I love how everyone is so creative and how you guys go about creating it.