Yesterday, while I was finishing up my post for my literary blog,
The T. H. Weingarten Miscellany, I realized I had reached the halfway point of my book, working title
Dada. In number of chapters if not actual length. I know I will have to add some extra details and such, but the main structure and plot points are there. When I first started writing this book, I didn't own a computer. I was limited to about thirty minutes or so to type each installment. Even though I have my own computer now, I still try to limit myself to no more than an hour of typing each time, so that each installment remains about the same length. This has caused some slip-ups in continuity, but the overall novel remains the way I picture it in my head. For those of you who haven't checked it out yet, here is a brief recap of what has happened:
Chris Burton is a twenty-seven single guy who works as an editor/proofreader for a small regional publisher in Lexington, Kentucky. When we first meet Chris, he is getting chewed out by his boss for his latest prank. He manages to get out of trouble due to his raw talent and the fact that he is well-liked by the rest of the staff. His day gets worse when he gets home to find a server informing him that he has to report to a family court judge the following morning. The next day, Chris goes to the judge's office and see a teenage boy who looks something like him being escorted down the hall. Chris knows for a fact that he isn't the father, and the judge conforms it. The boy, Sam, is Chris's half-brother. Due to a fatal car accident, Chris is the only relative who can be his guardian. Chris's mother divorced his father the day after Chris was born. She then fled with Chris, traveling from state to state for the next two years, changing their names multiple times before returning to Kentucky. Somehow, Chris was found just before the accident, leaving him in the position to take on Sam. After an awkward encounter at work to schedule some time off, Chris takes Sam shopping for new clothes before returning home (Sam is going through a
major growth spurt). That Friday, they set out for New York, but not before Chris meets up with Rick, a lawyer neighbor who also happens to be a friend of Chris's since high school, to check up a few of the legalities of what would happen if Chris refuses to take Sam in. Because of an unusual medical condition, Chris can travel in airplanes, so the two set on a road trip. Chris thought they would make New York by the afternoon to make an appointment with the social worker. Unfortunately, detours force them to stay the night at a New Jersey hotel. That night, Chris catches Sam performing an act that most teenage males(and honestly older males too) frequently engage in. That morning, Chris takes the cheaper route and winds up missing the social worker again. However, he does meet Carol, the young assistant to the family's lawyers. She shows Chris into the large family mansion (!?) that's been with the Burtons since the 1930's. She leaves with Chris still filled with questions. Why doesn't anyone else seem to be taking Sam's condition as seriously as Chris is? Why did his mother leave his father and still doesn't want Chris involved with the family? What happened the night of the car accident? Sam knows some of the answers, but he's not talking, and not just because his voice is cracking so badly that it hurts Chris's ears. The action heats up in the next few chapters, which occur over the next twelve hours and rapidly unspool many answers. Here's a hint of what will occur in Chapter 13: Chris meets up with a neighbor who invites Chris to a benefit, where Chris will see some of his art professor father's work. Trust me, this will change everything.
