Character Motives and Language Difference

I was re-reading "Wolf Trek" last night and reviewing the ending.  I made a bunch of changes, who knows when, but alas, the ending is too much of a cliff hanger. 

Essentially, this piece wants to be a novel, so I wonder if I can shorten it somewhere and modify the ending.  Right now, it's 37 pages long or so, and that is not a short story.  That's creeping into a novella.

Anyway, I started focusing on my literary interpretation skills, which essentially are conducive to a great story.  One aspect of literary interpretation has you analyze the characters. 

What are the motives? Values?
What are their characteristics?
How do they interact with each other?

The character motives are clear, but some of the  young characters sound the same, so I am going to take microscopic look at the dialogue.

I am also going to plan out "Wolf Trek", even if I tend to word vomit, once I decide if I want to finish it as a longer novel.  (There is another project ahead of this one, once I finish this anthology.  A sci-fi novel I have rewritten and near finished twice before.)

This morning, I was reflecting on how different my children are, and the rivalry that emerges every now and then.  My son Antonio is the perfect age for this short story, but I didn't model the characters after him.  My little girl is advancing by leaps and bounds.  Below is a back shot of her locks, which she won't let me put in a pig tail.  The point is that all children are different, and the story should capture those nuances.

Well, here's to writing struggles and adventure.  Here's nurturing those abandoned novels.