Craft Talk on Building and Rebuilding Stories: Are stories just a bunch of stuff that happens? This dynamic, informal craft talk will discuss the differences between stories of plot and stories of character. The talk will be broken up into about two dozen brief essays, shuffled by an audience member in random order, and read aloud by Michael Martone as he discusses the benefits of and differences between character-based and plot-based stories, including what each provides to the reader. Martone is currently a Professor at the University of Alabama where he has been teaching since 1996. He has been a faculty member of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College since 1988. He has taught at Iowa State University, Harvard University, and Syracuse University. Presented in collaboration with The Center for Literature and Theatre at Miami Dade College.