Hey,
To be perfectly honest I havent read all of the posts in this thread 'cos damn they are just too long
But have you ever tried World Building?
Basically you create the whole setting before you even plan a plot. You also write histories of the world and the individual cities/towns. etc. I find that this is an excellent way of getting a good idea.
Start with drawing a map, grab a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw roughly three/four circles anywhere... they can be main cities, now draw a coastline, big squiggly line. Draw in upside down V's for mountains, create at least one major range. Have rivers come from the mountains outwards, not too many... and have at least one of them go all the way to the ocean.
Divide the land into about three countries, dotted lines. And now write about the places. Deside what type of culture they have, make sure it is believeable though. E.G a snow bound landscape isn't likely to be the home of a sombrero-making, fiesta loving people now is it? It's more likely to have rougher people, herders that barely scratch out a living in the snow.
Make sure you write down important details like why the countries are three different places rather than one; i.e what differences are there? What views do the leaders have? What type of leaders are they?
Now this is a very BASIC run down of world building. Haha, if you need a better explanation then search World Building in google, it's what I first did.
NB: You can also do city-building. Draw a map of the main cities, decide the different quarters/areas, give the people things to do, places to sleep, eat, work, play... and watch the story jump out at you.
