Writing Tips

I am a writer, I love it. I always have, and I always will. Currently I am working on a new piece of fiction, I have written one before, but it still needs work, and we will see weather or not it goes anywhere. I was thinking about books the other day as I was having some quiet time with my Jesus, and he said something that astounded me...
"The skeleton of a book is the story line, the muscles are the characters, the blood is the message, and the skin it the way that it is written."
What a good analogy! It works perfectly. So, as I am writing this new book, (which I am not going to tell you about yet) I have the skeleton, and am beginning work on the muscles for now. I am really enjoying this part, I always do, because the characters are so important (the muscles) they are what makes the story move and work. One of my favorite ways to begin to build the characters is to use what I call a Character Chart it is basically a chart that you use to write out basic things about your character. Here is an example :
Name: Ken
Age: 27
Height: 5' 11
Weight: 200
Hair: Brown, short
Eyes: Hazel
Job: Navy
Hobbies: Hunting, grilling, baseball
Likes: Dogs, guns, BBQ chips, baseball
Dislikes: Political discussions, people who think they can get away with stuff, whiny people.
Personality: Ken is a smart and strong man who enjoys life. He is a mans man, and plans on continuing to be. He is full of ambition, and plans on going all the way in whatever he does. He is a red blooded American patriot, and would do anything for his country.
You see how much you already know about Ken, his character, what kinds of decisions he will make, and in general, why. Of course you can take him many different ways, but you still have a strong basis on which to go. Once I have a good chart that is pretty full (this one is very generic) I begin to write "scenes" which will define the character, things that happen in the story where they must make a decision, or do something that will tell you who they are. Take Ken and put him in a baseball game where the umpire called an unfair foul, what will he do? Will he say something, get mad and keep it to himself, tackle the umpire? What is his character? What will he do?
So, there is just a little bit about how to begin writing a story...