“Beachwalker: Contemplating Sand and Sea”
by DS
Karon, Jan. A Light in the Window. 1995.
222 word count
Packed with dialogue
Characterization
Plot
Tension building
Nodal points
Setting
Autobiographical elements
Leaf symbols between scenarios
Insights and values
Similes e.g. belonging, some feel contrived
Elements of surprise, suspense
A list
Five senses
Dialogue
Culture
Humour
Coyote next door
Google report
“You can’t know how the living freshness of roses and lavender has rejoiced my heart. The whole apartment is alive with the sweet familiarity of their company, and I not so loath now to come home from the deli, or the newsstand or the café.”
“Suddenly we drove into a clearing. Before us lay a vast, volcanic lake that literally took my breath away.”
“Washing someone’s mouth out with soap was not a remedy he liked, but it had worked for him when he was a kid.”
“’Let God take care of the big stuff,’ a seminary friend once said. ‘It’s our job to fill in the cracks.’ Kind of like caulking.”
Tension
Plot thickens, lost ring
“Isn’t plain love more valuable than fancy education?”
Antithesis of practical theology?
Trust, compassion
List
Device – he can find out what is happening by asking others
Tension deepens
Theological questions here and there throughout
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God.”
Pop culture anchors the story in reality
Overdone
Not!
Low culture and list
Indirect device for climax
…
ShellseekerReflections 