Jigsaw puzzle

This short novel in the works feels a little like a jigsaw puzzle. I'm sawing the individual pieces now, the vignettes, and fitting them together. I have a certain "look" in mind so sometimes I have to make adjustments so the overall pattern of pieces doesn't become predictable or boring. Once the whole thing is laid out -- my goal for this term break -- then I will pick up each piece, one at a time, and carefully paint it, shaping each vignette just right. At the end of this step is when I'll have my first "presentable" draft. Then I want some feedback from a few selected readers whose judgment I trust. Then the polish and done. So goes the theory. I still hope to finish in summer, 2012.

This morning, for example, I had to saw a new piece, add a new vignette, to provide back story so something else down the road makes sense. The chronology of this thing goes all over the place, fifty years, from the 1960s to the present. There's a "present tense" dramatic thread, of course, but this is surrounded by other things that will impact its definition and effect. Most vignettes are a published page or fraction of a page. I think the longest so far is two plus. Definitely a dramatic collage of moments, ala Mrs. Brdige, which I admire so much. And it has the layers of the Dos Passos trilogy I also admire. Those are the two major literary influences that I'm aware of, formally, but the themes here are the things I've always written about. Whole cloth.