To craft a lasting story, a writer has to do more than check all the boxes. Does it have a compelling character? Check. Does it have a plot with a strong cause and effect? Check. That kind of editorial checklist will lead to a story that is merely competent. Why is this character in this particular predicament? How does an internal conflict manifest in an external action/setting? Those are the kind of questions that will lead you toward a story that will stick with readers. In this craft talk we will look at the connections between plot and character, between character and setting, and between setting and theme, etc., and strengthen the connective tissue between the various aspects of fiction.

Phong Nguyen is the author of three novels: The Bronze Drum (forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing, 2022), Roundabout: An Improvisational Fiction (Moon City Press, 2020), and The Adventures of Joe Harper (Outpost19, 2016, winner of the Prairie Heritage Book Award); and two short fiction collections: Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History (Mastodon Publishing, 2019) and Memory Sickness and Other Stories (Elixir Press, 2011). He is the Miller Family Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing at the University of Missouri, where he teaches fiction-writing.

Co-sponsored with the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library and the Eau Claire Community Foundation’s John and Betsy Kell Family Fund!