Ask Lemmy

Start with the easy bits. Find anchor points you can build off of. If your puzzle doesn't have any easy corners, pick any identifiable reference point, try to understand roughly where it might fit in the completed puzzle. It's OK if you have to make some very broad guesses early on, you can figure out exactly how it fits in as you complete more of the puzzle.

Then, see what you can build around the piece or pieces you've identified. Try to build bridges between the anchor points, but keep in mind this may not be possible with the pieces you have. just keep looking for the pieces you need, and when you find them, see how they fit into the pieces you have. Try to construct a stable skeleton of the puzzle you are trying to solve that holds together on its own. Once you have a stable structure it becomes much easier, you can start to choose to fill in whichever gap you prefer, or whichever one you find the pieces for. Take care not to ignore entirely pieces you find that don't belong to the area you're currently working on. If you can place one piece of the puzzle it may lead to other pieces falling into place that you have been holding onto for a while.

While you're solving, keep an eye out for pieces that don't belong to the puzzle you're trying to put together. They get mixed together all the time. It may be hard to tell at first because all puzzle pieces tend to look as though they might fit together somehow, but sometimes they just don't. They may be beautiful and interesting puzzles in their own right, but if they can't fit you can't make them, and you may spend a lot of time trying to make them fit in vain. On the other hand, it is entirely possible to find a way to make to distinct puzzles fit together. This is both rare and, counter-intuitively, much more common than you might expect. The decision to try to integrate two different puzzles is a complex one and completely unique to the two puzzles in question, and there is no general advice as to what the "correct" decision is, you must trust your instincts. Sometimes you might get it wrong, and not realize it for a while.

While solving, it is important to step back at regular intervals and appreciate your work. This is especially important when doing modular puzzles because the puzzle is never really finished, you can just keep adding pieces on where they fit. It's important to enjoy the process of solving the puzzle, rather than save all the enjoyment for when it's finished, because almost all of your time is spent in the process, and those momentary flashes of having "solved" a puzzle are always just ephemeral flashes before you see the next bit of the puzzle that opens up before you.

A lot of people do puzzles in groups, some people do them on their own. I find it's easier to put together my own puzzles when I can talk about them with other people who are doing their own puzzles. I like sharing pieces with other people when I can, and I highly recommend it, just be careful of people asking for pieces that you really need for your own puzzle.

Occasionally pieces come apart or get lost entirely, which can be very sad, because the puzzle may never feel complete without those pieces. You may remember some of them fondly, you may wish to forget some of them ever existed. Some of them you will forget whether you wish it or no. Just don't let those wishes stop you from appreciating what you've been able to build, what pieces you still have, and what you might be able to do with them.