Focus on the Novel: Antelope Canyon

I am about 4 weeks into the novel writing class I am taking. It has really forced me to up my game in regards to a novel I have been working on for some time. For those that I have briefly mentioned the project to but have only given you bits in pieces, here's a clearer synopsis of the story, based on an assignment I had to do for class.


Antelope Canyon

The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1879 is growing rapidly. The Plaza is rarely seen without new construction projects. Young sheriff Toby Hunter watches as his beloved hometown turns into something he no longer recognizes.

At the age of 16, Toby’s parents were killed and for a short time, he was thought to have killed them. A Navajo elder helps to bury his parents, a favor Toby never forgets. Now, almost a decade later, Toby is beaten and left for dead by an outlaw who could be the same person who murdered his parents. Hours before, the criminal killed a traveling magician who was staying at the Widow’s Saloon in Old Santa Fe. In order to finally clear his own name, Toby must track down the assailant before he has even recovered from a broken jaw and a couple of bruised ribs.

Toby sets out in pursuit of the criminal aided by a posse of close friends as well as his best friend and deputy, Logan. On the trail, they soon find out that the killer is a woman and she is stalking two young boys, one a Navajo, the other the Anglo son of Santa Fe’s only Baptist preacher.
Rabbit Ears, the Navajo boy, meets and befriends Lance, encouraging him to join him on a trip to a sacred canyon. Lance, having been ostracized from Santa Fe Baptist Church along with his father, due to the minister’s infidelity with an underaged girl, is easily persuaded to follow his new found friend.

On the trail, accompanied by Rabbit Ears’ pet bear cub Lakai, the two boys soon find they have much in common: they both desperately need to escape from the world of their parents. Lance finds himself profoundly conflicted with his own budding sexuality and a growing love for Rabbit Ears, a situation in great opposition to his family’s religious beliefs.

Meanwhile, on the heels of the criminal, Toby and Logan come to blows over Toby’s petty jealousy that Logan has brought along his girlfriend, thereby jeopardizing the success of the venture, in Toby’s opinion. Logan aptly points out that Toby is upset because he cannot openly love Carolina White, the wife of the current mayor and ex-sheriff of Santa Fe, the man who gave Toby his job as a lawman. Unknown to Logan, the Mayor, and others, Toby and Carolina have been having sexual encounters in the abandoned casita where Toby’s parents once lived.

In the open wilderness of the desert, Toby finds himself dealing with the loneliness and anger over his parents’ deaths for the first time since it happened. The parents of the young boy who has run off with the Navajo accompany the posse in fear that they will never see their son alive again.
As circumstances push them all towards Antelope Canyon, a violent storm brews on the horizon, saturating the ground with water causing a massive runoff to occur. Miles from the origin of the storm, the canyon lands seem peaceful and quiet but flood waters speed across the ground unbeknownst to the two boys in love, the assailant or Toby and his posse.

The boys reach the sacred canyon where Rabbit Ears leads Lance to a hideout only he knows about, while the criminal spies them from a distance. Toby observes the outlaw descending into the ground, into the opening of a slot canyon, and follows. The flood hits with a devastating fury, sweeping through the canyon slot, and taking everyone in the vicinity of the canyon along for the tragic ride.

With or Without Muse

One of my muses has always been music, particularly the band U2. As I am reading the book "U2 by U2" now, I am finding comfort in so many similarities related to the creative urge and the creative struggle.

I find this passage from Bono particularly interesting:
"The lyric [to "With or Without You"] is pure torment. One of the things that was happening at the time was the collision in my own mind between being faithful to your art or being faithful to your lover. What if the two are at odds? Your gift versus domestic responsibility?...I was at least two people: the person who is responsible , protective and loyal and the vagrant and idler who just wants to run from responsibility. I thought these tensions were going to destroy me but actually, in truth, it is me. That tension, it turns out, is what makes me as an artist. Right in the centre of the contradiction, that's the place to be...
"...If I had cut loose, what would have become of me?...All of the people whom I looked up to as writers, they'd all done the same. Nothing had stood in the way, they had acted with abandon, and had lost marriages, bands, friendships, all in pursuit of the muse. But the muse is taciturn and can abandon you, leave you with nothing. My muse makes different demands...
"So that song ["With or Without You"] is about torment, sexual but also psychological, about how repressing desires makes them stronger. The most important line is probably 'And you give yourself away.'"

Do you relate to the pull between domesticity and wild abandon? How do you manage that tension?
If you are an artist, has the Muse's need for wanderlust taken you to places you would rather not have gone? Was it worth it?