It's Puzzling by Lala Corriere
Imagine you have a colossal jigsaw puzzle. Now imagine you don’t know how many pieces it contains, but somewhere between 75,000 and 90,000. A best guess. It’s not labeled on the box. That’s what I have in front of me. A new manuscript. Pieces of rough outlines, scores of sticky notes and hundreds of untamed ideas. They'll need to be moved around and sorted, because I always start with the flat-edged pieces that I know will make up the border. For me, the border represents the foundation of my manuscript. It encases my growing cast of characters to include the protagonist, the nefarious, along with a slate of voices important to the story. Settings become clear. At the very least, a vague plot is formed. Whether I write as a plotter or a panster, I have to start somewhere. Some of the pieces don't fit quite right. I try to jam them into place to make them work. Some of the pieces go in smoothly and I can begin ...