Do you ever have a solid beginning, and a goal in mind for an ending, and still have no idea how to get from one to the other? Sometimes I have a very clear idea how the saggy middle of a story needs to go–a, b, c, d, surprise, ending. Or something like that.
In the story I’m working on (read, forcing into submission one stinking paragraph at a time), I have a great beginning. Great, as in, I know what I’m trying to set up and I think I did so. I have a pretty cool ending idea–an HEA that lets everyone get what they want. I have some ideas for a surprise or two. But getting from here to there is proving more difficult than usual. I’m so desperate for the plot to move I literally added the “man with the gun” (well, in this case, the man with the knife in his boot, the bastard). I’m not even sure why my trio got attacked yet, I just hope that adding some action will help me get further into the story.
What do other authors do about this struggle? Especially pantsers–this very issue is why I’m not a member of that club. Any story I don’t plot out, at least a bit, ends up like this, saggy and meandering without any road map. I’m curious how the other half lives 
