imaginary_golux

So I'm currently writing this series (which started as a one-shot smutfic, because my brain is just helpful like that), and it's made me think a bit about how I write. I was trying to explain it to Best Beloved, who is being awesome about my nattering on about this series, and that got me to wondering about how other people think about writing.

Perhaps it's because I like poetry and fairy tales so much, but when I'm writing prose, especially fiction, I almost feel like I'm putting together a puzzle. I know what the finished product is supposed to look like, I have the picture in front of me to work off of, but every word and bit of characterization is another little piece of the puzzle, and some of them are odd shapes and they all have to fit together. So I have to find exactly the right word, the right phrasing, because that's the only puzzle piece that fits where I need it to go.

Mind, sometimes the shape of the puzzle changes, too, so it's not a perfect analogy by any means.

Does anyone else feel like writing is like putting together a puzzle, or am I just strange? (Well, stranger than I already know myself to be.)