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<blockquote data-quote="jester47" data-source="post: 1343421" data-attributes="member: 2238">I have a theory of whats called &quot;the sandbox.&quot;&nbsp; The sandbox is required for sucess in creative endeavors.&nbsp; It is simply this:&nbsp; The limits that are imposed on an artist, writer, performer or some other person of artistic means.&nbsp; Who imploses them is of no real importance.&nbsp; They just have to be there for genius to work.&nbsp; The artistry is when you toe the line between out of the sandbox and inthe sandbox.&nbsp; Take the lines away and you get really bad art.&nbsp; (obviously that is subjective but I would wager that many many more people like art that pushes the barrier and sort of stretches it to a new perspective than breaks the barrier.)The closer to the edge of the sandbox your art gets without spilling over, the more people like it.&nbsp; And since the edge of the sandbox stretches when this happens, good art makes it move slowly.&nbsp; So eventually your cutting edge art becomes mainstream.&nbsp; I think this is what happened between the Hobbit and LotR.&nbsp; The Hobbit was right on the edge when it came out.&nbsp; So JRRT added a bunch of sand and went to work on a magnum opus.&nbsp; But the extra sand often overwealms the readers.&nbsp; With Dune (appropriate for the sandbox analogy, no?) the problem was not too much sand but getting out of the sandbox.&nbsp; The first two books are in the sandbox with the first streatching the sandbox a little and making room for the second.&nbsp; Then we get started with the third book and the work rapidly goes out of control and gets too weird for most.&nbsp; There are some interaesting concepts here:1.&nbsp; Epic quests that span several books where the beginning of the story and end of the story are in separate books are really just one book broken up like LotR, Sword of Shanara etc.&nbsp; 2.&nbsp; Episodic novels and short stories where places and people and concepts are reused but are self contained stories.3.&nbsp; Serials.&nbsp; These can be shorts ala the Three Musketeers or Foundation, or they can be big long stories like Robert Jordans current work.&nbsp; Combine these with the sandbox and you have a way of looking at the state of fantasy lit in such a way where we can see the terrain.&nbsp; Aaron.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jester47, post: 1343421, member: 2238"] I have a theory of whats called "the sandbox." The sandbox is required for sucess in creative endeavors. It is simply this: The limits that are imposed on an artist, writer, performer or some other person of artistic means. Who imploses them is of no real importance. They just have to be there for genius to work. The artistry is when you toe the line between out of the sandbox and inthe sandbox. Take the lines away and you get really bad art. (obviously that is subjective but I would wager that many many more people like art that pushes the barrier and sort of stretches it to a new perspective than breaks the barrier.) The closer to the edge of the sandbox your art gets without spilling over, the more people like it. And since the edge of the sandbox stretches when this happens, good art makes it move slowly. So eventually your cutting edge art becomes mainstream. I think this is what happened between the Hobbit and LotR. The Hobbit was right on the edge when it came out. So JRRT added a bunch of sand and went to work on a magnum opus. But the extra sand often overwealms the readers. With Dune (appropriate for the sandbox analogy, no?) the problem was not too much sand but getting out of the sandbox. The first two books are in the sandbox with the first streatching the sandbox a little and making room for the second. Then we get started with the third book and the work rapidly goes out of control and gets too weird for most. There are some interaesting concepts here: 1. Epic quests that span several books where the beginning of the story and end of the story are in separate books are really just one book broken up like LotR, Sword of Shanara etc. 2. Episodic novels and short stories where places and people and concepts are reused but are self contained stories. 3. Serials. These can be shorts ala the Three Musketeers or Foundation, or they can be big long stories like Robert Jordans current work. Combine these with the sandbox and you have a way of looking at the state of fantasy lit in such a way where we can see the terrain. Aaron. [/QUOTE]

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