December meeting footnote

If you missed the
December meeting, well, we’re sorry, because it was spectacular! Not
only did we have the annual holiday cookie contest, the book swap, some
creative caroling, and a bit of comfortable mingling, but we also
welcomed back our own Joni Sensel to SCBWI-WWA. Joni presented a talk
titled “Here Abide Monsters,” which was based on her Vermont College of
Fine Arts MFA thesis, about using in-between spaces to create tension
and suspense in our writing. Joni explained that spaces that are
between–such as hallways, stairs, cliffs, even graveyards and key dates
and times–make us uneasy because danger can come from more than one
direction and the rules we are used to following may be in flux. They
can also, however, represent opportunity or freedom, so there’s a
natural tension between risk and reward. She presented advice, examples,
a handout, and an exercise to help us think about applying these
concepts to our works in progress. I know many of us went away inspired
to put these new ideas into practice!