Fantasy short story series idea

mr_mich

I've been working on a scifi novel for the past couple of months and have really made some progress. I was most concerned about my writing style, as I felt that the world I'd constructed and my plot devices were good. As a break from that, I thought about exploring fantasy for some other writing, both to hone the senses as well as try something new.

Anyways, I have an idea that I wanted to run by you guys for a series of short stories. I ran it by a friend of mine, who reads everything he can get his hands on, and he hated the idea...although I think that's because it wasn't really developed. So here's the idea:

Spoiler:

There's a kid who loves exploring, so as he grows up he leaves home in order to scour the world and see everything he can. By the time he's a young adult, he's seen everything -- the world is really small. He hears of a well in an otherwise forgettable forest, where people go and never come back. Having never seen it, and being curious, he goes to the well and ends up falling in.

The well takes him to another world, which he quickly realizes is different from his own. He meets an old man who makes dozens of little glass globes. Each globe appears to contain another world of actual civilizations and landscapes, etc. The globes change and develop over time to contain people, cities, etc. The kid quickly recognizes that one of the globes contains his world, and is weirded out.

The old man puts two and two together and realizes that if he goes through the Well, he can take this boy home to his world (in a globe) and also get a chance to see what his creations look like up close. Unfortunately, the Well is a one-way transfer, so instead of sending him back to the boy's world it sends them to an entirely different one.

Thus, each short story is them visiting a world, getting into shenanigans, navigating based on the globes (which the old guy brings with them) and trying to find a way to get home.

Eventually I'd like to have them encounter another guy who makes globes (I call them Sculptors) WITHIN a globe world, which leads to all kinds of mindfucking.

Thoughts? Is this an interesting/novel concept? I'm pretty excited for the flexibility it provides, as every world developed separately and can have its own history, rules, motif, etc.

Endless_Serpents

I will only except this idea if the boy picks up a friend in each world, I refuse to read a wandering Chosen One story any more. Other than that, sure, sounds fun! Directly as fun as you can make it I suppose.

mr_mich

Oh yeah, I realized it'd get really dry really fast if it was just some dude wandering around.

There's also the first sculptor that follows him around, his really bangable daughter, and I figure things can be spiced up if I pick up (and kill off, to keep party size reasonable) people every now and then.

Dbaron42

I get a distinct Dr. Who vibe from this outline. It's got some more bells and whistles on it, but the basic concept is very similar. Youngish Companion and Very Old Powerful Guy go world hopping? It's not that your idea is bad, because it isn't, it just feels a lot like something a fair amount of people have seen before.

Viva La Frenchy

I enjoy it. Especially as a vehicle for pointed sarcasm. But that might just be me.