Pieces of the Puzzle

Everything can be a story or part of one. Stories – the good ones, at least – are comprised of many elements. Those elements must work in concert to effectively pull off the remarkable achievement; a good book.

My brother says golf is the most difficult sport. So many things have to be done correctly at the right time to get the ball where you want it – something I have yet to accomplish. With setting, character arc, dialogue etc., writing a story is no different. It all starts with a tiny idea. An idea with multiplying tributaries extending and connecting. The exciting thing about these is they can come out of anywhere – or seemingly nowhere. Lyrics or TV show storylines often inspire me. Today, a psychiatrist talking about the brain inspired me. Which is not my standard cup of tea.

And I use inspired loosely because it wasn’t a grand, inspiring moment that I would eventually build and create an entire story. Those are great, though, aren’t they? But it was just a tiny nugget that may be one paragraph or one sentence out of one hundred thousand words when all is said and done. I have discovered that I am that kind of writer – finding pieces here and there and fitting them somewhere in the puzzle. The novel I’m working on has been around for over twenty years. And I still find myself gathering pieces to plug into the story.

Daniel Amen talks in his book about how a SPECT scan can reveal so much about why and how a person behaves – or suffers through such as anxiety and depression. He spoke of a married couple he had met. They were fifteen years into their marriage. The first few years were terrific, and the last few had been rough. Their counselor even told them there wasn’t hope. The wife claimed her husband had become a jerk. Dr. Amen scanned his brain, and what appeared looked like a brain that drugs and alcohol had abused. However, the husband didn’t drink or have a drug use history. After further questioning, Dr. Amen learned about eight years ago, the husband started finishing furniture for his work. The room he worked in had no ventilation, and he didn’t wear a mask. According to the wife, the husband started becoming a jerk eight years ago. The fumes had changed his brain and therefore changed his behavior.

I couldn’t help to think about how this once happy couple was going to divorce over a damaged brain – something they would have never known if not for the brain scan. I thought about a story of a couple broken by divorce and later reunited after learning he had something he couldn’t control. It’s not a story that I’ll add to my list of ideas for my next novels, but perhaps I’ll add it to a list of writing prompts. It does make you realize how sensitive our amazing brains are.