Brian's twin brother, Ryan

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

I have noticed that a lot of people have read the novel Hatchet so I have been thinking about inventing a character to add to the story. I have always kind of felt sorry for Brian all alone there in the Canadian wilderness with just a hatchet for company, so I would invent a twin brother for him named Ryan. In other words, Brian and Ryan were taking that airplane together on the way to see their father. It says in the novel that Brian is a little overweight, a bit of a couch potato. For Ryan's appearance, I would make him really athletic, maybe the captain of the soccer team. He is really muscular and full of energy. Brian watches nature shows all weekend long on TV while Ryan is a Boy Scout who goes on camping trips. Since Brian worries all the time about his mother, "the secret" and his parents, I would make Ryan not care about those kinds of things at all. He even makes fun of Brian for worrying about it. He thinks all about the girl he was going out with that summer whom he did not want to leave behind. Every time Brian tries something new - finding turtle eggs, fishing, building a shelter, trying to hunt for meat - I would make Ryan complain about how Brian is doing it all wrong. If Brian had a twin brother in the novel, then there would be a lot more dialogue and conflict.