The jigsaw puzzle analogy

I keep running across people who think that there is One Right Way to write a story, and who tie themselves in knots trying to force themselves to write "the right way" when it doesn't suit their particurlar mental processes. Somewhere, somehow, they've gotten convinced (usually because some authority figure like an editor or highly respected author or influential teacher told them) that the only way to come up with a Really Good Book/Short-Story is to do X.

Usually, "X" is something like...