I rather enjoy puzzles. I like them a bit of a challenge, but not too challenging. 500 to 750 pieces is about right, usually brightly colored with lots of interesting things going on in the picture. There’s a satisfaction to fitting each piece exactly where it goes. To seeing the picture slowly come to life. To picking up each piece and looking at the juicy bright colors, the hint of the picture, to wonder exactly where it goes or what it is, and see how as soon as it goes in its place, the lines and colors expand to have a new meaning in the context of the pieces around it.
But sometimes I end up with a puzzle that’s harder than I like. Usually this happens because I shop for all my puzzles second hand (who wants to pay ten bucks for a puzzle when you can get it for one dollar or so at a second hand store). Which means I’m far more interested in finding pictures I like than paying attention to other details like the size of the puzzle. While I know 1000 piece puzzles (especially in limited colors) try my patience, I end up falling in love with the picture as something I just really have to try. Dragon puzzles are especially bad for hooking me like this. I am not sure why all dragon puzzles seem to have to be in the 1000 piece range.
So, I start out hopeful, thinking, perhaps this won’t be so bad. It is a very splendid dragon, after all. And at some point am reduced to the frustrating and tedious process of filling in large areas of indeterminate color completely by shape. Which means trying a piece in ever possible opening until it either fits or gets set aside for later, once the edges are more filled in. It’s long and frustrating and means the puzzle ends up taking weeks instead of a day or two. I get bored and have to do it in short bursts. And I mutter to myself about if the dragon is really worth it. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when I finish it, but still!
Usually by the time I see yet another dragon puzzle though I’ve forgotten all about this and just have to get it. Sigh. And it happens all over again.
My novels though, bear a striking resemblance to puzzles. There’s a lot of pieces, they’re supposed to fit together into a coherent whole. Some of those pieces are delightful and interesting, some of them indeterminate and difficult to place.
Unfortunately my current novel feels more like an 1000 piece puzzle, or maybe a 1500 or 2000 piece one. And worse, unlike a puzzle, there’s more than one way to put a novel together, it’s just a lot of those ways are bad. I suspect on most of my books I don’t wait for all those pieces to fit perfectly together, instead I cram them into fitting, particularly all those pieces of sky and background, because they’re too boring to get just right.
Except this novel, it’s one of those magnificent dragon puzzles, I think. I think it has a picture that’s breathtaking, if only I can get it together. And so I’m reduced to trying each piece, blindly by shape, to see if it fits. Taking each scene and writing it, rewriting it, rewriting it again. I think I will have written at least 250,000 words for a 75,000 word book by the end of it, maybe more. But this is one puzzle, I really want to get right.
I never really thought of writing like that, but yes, you’re right. Might explain why I find it so hard to write in a straight line. I tend to write little bits and join them together as I go…just like I do jigsaws.
I *love* that dragon jigsaw!
Me too! I just had to have it, never mind it was a whopping $2.99 (unopened at least so I knew all the pieces would be there) and looked hard. The black in particular was awful and took me a week to finish at the end of it. But it was worth it. It came with glue, but a glued puzzle always makes me wonder why I can’t just have a poster instead, so I took it back apart and will brave it again sometime when I feel like a challenge. The first one that’s not finished makes me think of your illustration style though, actually, it has dragons too. I should take a picture it finished sometime for you.
That’s a good analogy. I write my novel is pieces too, scenes, little ideas that come in the middle of the night, and after I had a good many of these, it was time to start piecing together. and filling in the missing spots.
Makes me want to rush out and buy a puzzle!
I always get the full idea for a novel in a blast, usually when I wake up in the morning, and then just fill in the blanks, which don’t always come that easily.
What are you working on now?
Just had two of my YA novels edited and am sending out queries. Almost done with a YA romance.
I really enjoyed reading your post, Ardyth, because you opened up a new prospective on both building puzzles while piecing together one’s novel. I can’t tell you how much time I spend on maybe even just 1,000 words or so of writing. I haven’t begun my novel yet, but I do try to journalize each day. And when I have chosen an entry to elaborate on my blog, it takes me forever trying to piece together thoughts and words so that it all resembles a beautiful picture for someone else. I can only imagine the work I will have cut out for me once I begin writing my novel. Children’s books are easier for me to tackle, but still take the skill and patience to play around with my rhyme since most of my stories are written in that form. Such an wonderful post!