Refreshing My Broken Soul.

 

sometimes what you need is plants, yarn, dolls, and an entire year and more off.

Sometimes real life writes the posts. Sometimes real life gets in the way for a year. 

Even the woke gotta rest up. 

American Girl Outsider returns October 3rd.

If you know, you know. And if you don't, you won't.

--Neth

Creating Original Historicals for Fun and Frivolity: The Right Doll for the Job

Charlotte had her look picked before she was bought.

You're still working on your Original Historical Character Creation. and, if you've been following my pattern, you've got a time period you like and a name that doesn't suck. So now another step: The doll herself.¹

Not every Historical Character created is going to have a doll, granted. But chances are, if you're into AG and you're creating an American Girl Historical, you probably want to actually bring your character out of the theoretical and into the actual. That's where dolls come into play. Some people buy the doll first and then create the character--especially if they get a doll secondhand or have one they own already they're turning to a Historical--but many times, a lot of things can be laid out before you actually pay for a doll. So some things to think about before you drop the cash on a character.

I'm just saying, if you're looking at a hundred and so dollars new, you might want to think more about it than "oh, why not her?"

Creating Original Historicals for Fun and Frivolity: Time Periods

Charlotte Tinsley, my 1840s Republic of Texas Doll

If there is one thing AG started out good with, it was Historical Characters. However, I really can't say that's true now, what with the retirement of Samantha (eh), Kirsten (boo) and Felicity (WHYYYYYY~) and some half assing of newer dolls (looking dead at you, illustrations for Cécile and Marie Grace).

However, there is more to making an unique Realistic Historical Character than slapping Felicity's dresses on a modern doll and calling her a pilgrim or putting a star of David on your white doll and sticking her in the 1940s. (Yes I actually saw some of that shit on my tenure as an AG message board member). If you want your character to stand out from the crowd, you are going to need to do a lot more work than that.

Let's start with the easiest and hardest part of any Historical: The Time Period.