Dr. Dale Haskell, an English professor at Southeast Missouri State University, started the group.

Briana Welker kept the writers in coffee during the monthly meetings at Barnes and Nobles Book Store.

The bookstore seemed to be a place writers feel comfortable.

The writers group meets once a month at Barnes and Noble Bookseller, 3035 William St., and is open to everyone. It's next meeting is Saturday, April, 19, at 6 p.m.

With a mural featuring Franz Kafka, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Edith Wharton and other literary notables as a background, a group of aspiring writers discusses the importance of effectively recreating dialect and speech patterns in their stories.

"As a writer you've got to be able to manage lots of voices at once," says Dale Haskell, one of the group's informal leaders. "If you have everyone sound like yourself, it doesn't make it very interesting."

Spend time with people from a certain group to learn how they talk, says one person.

Walk around with a tape recorder to capture the spoken word, suggests another.

Show your best guess at a written representation of dialectical pronunciations to someone else and see if it says to them what it says to you, chimes in a third.

The general consensus: Do your research before you write.

"If you are a writer, and you fake things, you will be caught," Haskell warns.

Once a month, this same group meets at Barnes and Noble Booksellers to discuss, and occasionally argue, different aspects of writing. The group's next meeting is at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 19.

The group was initiated by the bookstore in August to encourage local writers. Though the store no longer has an official hand in things, the group still meets in the Barnes and Noble Cafe with the store's blessing.

As many as 16 people at a time have shown up at a meeting, and more than 35 different people have cycled into the group at times. At the most recent gathering March 15, nine people attended.

Anyone interested in writing is welcome.

"People come in if they find it rewarding," Haskell said. "There is no obligation or commitment. Sometimes people will just be sitting nearby and decide to slide on in."

Though the discussion is informal, a specific topic -- character development, overcoming writer's block, approaching publishers -- is usually planned as a starting point. Where the conversation ends up is anyone's guess.

"It's just meant to be a support group for writers in the community. We've had people who've published a lot, and people who've published nothing," Haskell says. "As a writer you need an audience and feedback. That is the real purpose."

The participants are a diverse lot in terms of background, education and age.

Michael Gurnow, an aspiring writer of prose, drives up each month from New Madrid.

"It's a very interesting and eclectic group of people," Gurnow says.

Most of the members are fairly well-read, providing no shortage of fodder for discussions.

"You can get a different outlook you never imagined existed. It's inspiring to a degree," says Gurnow.

Susan Swartwout, who like Haskell is a professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University and helps to informally guide the group, says she and Haskell are the only university people regularly involved.

She stressed they stay away from teaching.

"We do not want this to feel like a class," Swartwout said.

Instead, participants like to share their ideas, opinions and difficulties and read excerpts from their works.

"In that way we stay away from the lecture format," Swartwout said. "The idea of sharing is more important than someone being a teacher."