An argument has erupted. Editors surrounded by piles of manuscripts are discussing the merits of a poem. One side of the room thinks it’s garbage, and the other side is trying to save the document from being axed.

If this sounds like a scene from a publishing house in New York, think again. This type of activity happens here at Hamline, where student editors are busy compiling a literary magazine.

As of Oct. 15, Runestone, Hamline’s national undergraduate student literary magazine, opened for submissions. Runestone is a national online collection of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry written by undergraduates and compiled by BFA students in Creative Writing Programs at Hamline University.

The editing done to the selected pieces occurs later in the spring during the higher-level undergraduate course “Introduction to Literary Publishing: Runestone.” This class collaborates between the faculty editor, three associate editors, graduate students, four assistant editors and an undergraduate student board to make the annual compilation of works. Katrina Vandenberg, Executive Editor of Runestone and Associate Poetry Editor of Water~Stone Review, shared her excitement at the beginning of the submission period.

“Opening the Submittable account for new work is always a hopeful time. It’s like throwing a party but having no idea who will come,” she said.

For Hamline students, however, submissions are not allowed to the magazine. Instead, Runestone publishes undergraduates from around the world, of which there is a diverse base ranging from Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois to Ann Arbor, Michigan and all the way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Not just spanning towards the coast, Runestone has published writers from nearby Augsburg College and St. Olaf College. For Hamline students interested in publication, Vandenberg offered an alternative option.

“[We] recommend they support Hamline’s wonderful in-house publication, Fulcrum, or other national magazines that publish undergraduates,” she suggested.

The collection is published onto the web strictly, which is something the publication announces openly on their webpage with the claim that the quality of in-print work is upheld in their digital format. Vandenberg said this cyber-based choice allows for greater access to the work and introduces the students constructing the collection to more online skills.

“We wanted Hamline to have an easily-accessible national presence in the world of creative writing, and we wanted our students to develop some savvy about how the online world of writers works. Our students write blog posts and learn how to use Twitter and Facebook effectively,” Vandenberg explained.

Runestone is actually one of a few national web journals at the undergraduate level. The web formatting is designed to be more than just text on an internet page, but visually appealing and engaging. Despite any possible downfalls of web-only publishing, Vandenberg portrayed no negative opinions towards the format.

“There’s no downside to publishing on the web that we’ve found. We do uphold the standards usually applied to print. We also act as if there’s a finite number of pages to maintain quality,” she said.

While Hamline students cannot submit works to the magazine, the project allows students engaged in the Creative Writing program a unique chance to read and evaluate the work of strangers to develop skills in a way a classroom exercise cannot compete with. Unlike work of professionals or pieces selected by professors or classmates, the work dealt with is a truly new level. Rebecca Drobinski, Assistant Poetry Editor and a senior who took the class last year, said the class offered a unique opportunity to enter the world of publishing—something she hadn’t experienced in other courses.

“Reading the raw work of a stranger felt altogether different. This was a one-way communication. If a piece was good but needed another draft or three, we couldn’t tell them how to fix it; we just couldn’t take it. It was frustrating sometimes, to see a poem gleam in one part and disappear in another,” she said. “I am also more sympathetic to poetry editors. It’s their job to reject authors, but they also need to protect them from publishing work that isn’t ready for the world yet. That would be a disservice to the author. Rejection does not equal failure.”

Runestone offers students a chance to experience the world of publishing. For anyone interested in viewing the journal compiled by last year’s Pipers, check out www.runestonejournal.com.