I attended the Japan Writers Conference 2020 online October 10 and 11. Although I’m teaching online during the pandemic, I had not attended a virtual conference before. I was relieved that there were no big technological hiccups. It was extremely comfortable sitting in my living room watching the presentations. The one major drawback was that I missed being with the other writers. There were online happy hours, but I wasn’t willing to jump in and be convivial. That’s generally true for me even in person, but I found it more difficult online.

The conference had three main tracks: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. I stayed in the fiction track and enjoyed hearing from some excellent speakers, including David Brennan (Playing with Voice in Fiction), Michael Pronko (Structuring Blues: Long Fiction), Barry Eisler (Write a Killer Opening), and Charles Kowalski (Creating 3D Villains).

There was one speaker, though, whose presentation was so good that I took notes. Steven Wolfson, a screenwriter and teacher, talked about Cinematic Storytelling. His talk was so full of useful advice that I have gone back to it time and again as I have prepared for the coming National Novel Writing Month. One of the best insights he shared was the importance of recognizing that dialogue is action. I hadn’t thought of it that way before, although I have always enjoyed writing dialogue. Now I have a better idea of why I like it so much and the role in can play in the novel.