I’ve been reading Story Engineering by Larry Brooks and found this article about it today. His Six Core Competencies are a useful way to make sure you have all the parts you need to build a solid story.
Having written more than a few novels myself that stalled out midway through and never became fully formed books, I’m curious to see how well I can incorporate his ideas into future projects. I’m a decidedly messy writer though, and I’m not convinced I can reform myself at this point. But we shall see.
jamiesobrato.com 
It’s definitely a nightmare when you stall in the middle of a novel and you can’t figure out the reason why. Personally, I’ve found that it works best if I either write an outline or a checklist of events taking place in that particular book. I usually do it longhand so I can go wild with it and scribble as much as I want.
Joe, I agree, switching to long-hand can be really helpful! I sometimes forget to do it, but it never fails to get my creative thoughts flowing again.