By Kirby Robinson

Thanks to a new group on campus, college students can have story time, too.

Members of the newly created student group, “The Writers Rambling,” meet to read and discuss their writings and their own attempts at the next great American novel.

The Writers Rambling was formed in spring of 2005 by Rebecca Smoler and Josh Cristiano. both of whom are now seniors.

The group didn’t receive official recognition by the university until last summer because of the process of acquiring approval and funding from the Budget Review Committee.

Smoler and Cristiano, together with a core of 20 students, have worked to establish a writers’ workshop that allows fledgling writers of any major to present their pieces to fellow writers who, in turn, share their commentary and criticism. Students are not pressured to read their work, Smoler said. Some students simply listen.

“I enjoy hearing what students and young adults are putting out in the world and writing today,” said Smoler, an English and film major.

As for her own material, Smoler calls writing her “release of craziness.”

“I will feel successful when my books are on sale in the checkout lines of CVS,” she said.

Many of the group’s members present writing they may not be considering for a career. Lately, Smoler said she has been working mostly on screenplays that she presents to the group.

Each meeting gathers anywhere from five to 10 people in an intimate setting. Sometimes, they meet in room 335 of the Curry Student Center. Other weeks, they keep the meetings more casual, holding the meetings at the apartment of a group member.

Poetry and short stories are the main types of writing the members present, but any written word is welcome, Smoler said. Meeting other ambitious student writers has been an incentive to attend meetings for sophomore math major Rodney Dominique.

Mostly, he writes short stories, but he is also working on the rough draft of a novel.

Dominique said writers often fall into the trap of comparing themselves to other writers. In the group, though, he said the focus is mostly on critiquing work, rather than comparing it.

“If you want to be a writer, don’t compare yourself to other writers because everyone is different,” he said. “You’ll just be comparing apples and oranges.”

With the pending graduation of many senior members, Rodney is a likely candidate to become the next president of the group in the fall, Smoler said.

He said he wants to focus on fundraising and advertising promotion.

Each week, the group decides a theme that a section of the meetings focus on. Last week, each member was asked to bring a haiku to share with the group.

The free-form environment of the meetings allow for all types of exchanges and levels of critique, from structure to word choice to length, Smoler said.

The group’s long-term goal is to co-author a novel using a complex narrative framework reminiscent of two of William Faulkner’s great novels, “The Sound and The Fury,” and “Absalom! Absalom!”

Other future plans include weekly outings to poetry slams, traveling to hear speeches by noted writers and bringing such a writer to campus.

Some of the writers have already had their work published on various online publications, and in Northeastern’s literary magazine, the Spectrum.

The group meets on Thursdays at 6 p.m. The group has a Facebook group, called Writers Rambling. For more information, contact Smoler at [email protected].