Here I am, stuck in the middle...

How do you build a bridge without falling into the river and drowning? How to you make sure both ends meet in the middle? Apparently, writing has more than a few things in common with engineering.

I'm not the kind of storyteller that sets a scene and sees where it takes him. I like to start at the end. It's important I know where the story is heading, what kind of resolution I want, and work toward that ending. Maybe that's the software engineer in me speaking. You always need to know what the program is supposed to do, then figure out how to make that happen.

Outlining an ending isn't hard for me. Finding a starting point is a little harder, but still not too bad. That middle chunk, though... When you know where you want to end, and you have an idea how you want to start, the work is figuring out how to build the bridge between the two, and not fall in the river doing it. It's scary up here. Does anyone have a parachute and a life preserver I can borrow?