Young Writers Society

So, I'm writing a story and basically, it's about a girl named Wren who is a social outcast. Her dad is literally the only person who likes her and they have a close relationship because her mom left out of nowhere a year ago, taking her younger brother who is only ten years old with her. They haven't seen or heard from them since, and her mother left no clues as to why she left.

It's set in the summer, and a boy moves in next door to Wren. They become friends and just as things are finally going good... I either want them to somehow find her brother and find out her mother died or her mom to come back, really drunk and distraught. She'd be muttering to herself like crazy and not making any sense, saying stuff about their younger brother, who died. So I can't decide! Help?

So basically I either want the mom or the brother to die, and one of them to come back.

Try writing both and see which works better overall. You might even come up with a different alternative that works even better during the process.

Okay thank you.

What Kyll said is perfect; this will help you get your own feedback. More than that, another thing you could do is to visualize Wren. In some way, be HER. What would Wren do when she finds out her brother died? How about her mother? See, she'll have different reactions with each death. She might be closer to her brother, so she'll grieve because of his death and start hating her mother, adding another plot twist.

One thing you should put your concern is how you would feel when you have written the two versions. You felt so sad in the version wherein the brother died, and then you felt angry in another where the mother died. There, you could choose the emotion you and Wren felt. Sad or angry? This depends wholy on you now.

Good luck