A Puzzle and Biography Writing

I dumped out my biography puzzle several weeks into our 2020 sheltering-in-place.

I’d spent three weeks organizing my data, and the time had come to take a deep breath and begin.

The experience reminded me of starting a puzzle.

(We did that, too)

It appears I approach both from a similar mindset.

Here’s how they’re similar.

Start with the puzzle frame

Most puzzlers I know begin with the frame.

Some may sort their pieces first, but my family prefers to jump in and get started.

We pull out all those edge pieces and start snapping them together.

In writing a biography, I need to know the elements of my subject’s story. In this latest venture (I’ve written three family biographies and Mrs. Oswald Chambers), I put together a timeline of Lettie Cowman’s life.

During the first three weeks of our sheltering-in-place, I reviewed my 8 GB of data and placed the information in what became a 140-page timeline stretching from 1870 to 1960.

My husband taught me how to copy and paste from a PDF, which enabled me to place material I read into the appropriate spot on the timeline.

Theoretically, I just need to write my way through the timeline and will have the biography. Two weeks in, I’m writing the fourth chapter and am able to cite all the references into endnotes, effortlessly.

Sorting the pieces

We generally toss similar jigsaw pieces into piles–usually sorted by color or distinctive features–like flowers.

We do it as we go along building the edge pieces. Mostly, we’re trying to get them out of the way so we can build.

In writing my timeline, I put events into the time when they occurred and included the reference.

Sometimes a story that happened in, say, 1898, appeared in a 1908 magazine article. I copied and pasted the story into 1898. I also included the reference.

The last time I wrote a biography, I put some of the most important notes into a three-ring binder and then used post-it notes on the pages.

It sort of worked, but I spent a lot of time paging through hunting the specific story I remembered. (It would have been helpful to have used color-coded post its, but I wasn’t that organized then!)

This time, I just work through the timeline.

Putting together the easiest parts

Sometimes we don’t even sort the pieces before we start putting them together. That’s particularly true with letters.

It’s a great way of clearing all those pieces from the jumble and restoring order in at least one section of the puzzle.

While I usually write a biography in chronological order, sometimes an entire section is so easy to write, I just finish it while the information is at my fingertips. (Or the front of my mind)

I know I’ll need it eventually!

Let’s say I have detailed descriptions of a wedding. Why not write that part into a specific Word document. When I reach the date, I just copy and paste that detailed story right into my manuscript.

The hard parts of a puzzle

I think piles of similar color–like the sky or sea–often are the hardest sections to put together quickly.

A biographer often runs into troubling aspects of their subject’s life. Maybe their actions don’t fit the “frame” you’ve put together for their story. Perhaps ten years of their lives are simply normal living without anything of significance happening.

Dull? Potentially. But if my character, or my puzzle, needs them for background or for contrast, I just work at it.

Sometimes, though, I save those parts for last!

Puzzle pieces that don’t fit

My husband picked up three pieces as I neared the end of the last puzzle.

“How come these are sitting here? Don’t they belong somewhere?”

I laughed. “They should go right here, but I can’t seem to make them fit.”

That can be true of elements in my biographical subject’s life.

Maybe they did something. But maybe they didn’t. What if their actions don’t fit logically into their life story?

In the case of the puzzle, a closer examination of the pieces suggested I might not have “read” their shape correctly.

Notice how the lettering doesn’t quite match in the center piece.

When I pulled it out and reorganized the pieces–moved it to the empty spot on the right–all the other pieces went directly into place.

I have to do that sometimes with elements in my biography subject’s life. I ask myself questions or try to see their behavior from a different perspective.

Why did they behave like that?

What else was happening during that time and in their lives–historically, personally, professionally?

Turning the pieces in different directions often solves the puzzle.

Finishing the puzzle

My brothers and I always wanted to be the person to put in the final piece.

It’s so satisfying to snap the final piece into the final hole and see the entire picture spread out before you, completed.

(Some members of my family famously put a piece in their pocket and only returned when the rest of us were crawling around on the floor hunting the missing piece.

(“Finished,” my brother would cry as he slipped the piece from his pocket and tapped it into place. The rest of us hated when that happened.)

In writing a biography, typing in the final words to finish off a life story is also deeply satisfying.

You’ve framed the story, sorted the pieces, turned events around in your mind, written them down and ended with a sense of completion.

No life is ever really fully known–the biographer can only try to write the story clearly and completely.

The truth of how well the author wrote the book lies in the reader’s understanding of another’s life.

Similarly, a puzzle can be a satisfying experience when it’s fully done and the picture completely comes into view.

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