As I've also mentioned, I've been inside and out "How to write a novel" books to the point of dissection...
Still - I found myself going nowhere in actual progress on any novel.
The Solution? Throwing the experts out the window and just write. I don't need charts and graphs and pictures and zodiac books surrounding me at all times. Perhaps I haven't found my niche yet, but it doesn't mean that someone else's ways should necessarily be mine.
SO my new method? Write - write whatever I think about the subject. If I hit a wall - write about a different part of the novel. Could this amount in many many many many ad nauseum wasted hours of re-writes and self-loathing? Well it's possible, but it's also possible that this may be the way to get to a finished product. We'll see how it goes.
Anyone else out there going against the grain these days?