In early September, three Staples students, Carson Einarsen ’12, Carlie Schwaeber ’12, and Melanie Mignucci ’12, came together to publish a creative writing and art magazine.

They call it “Cacophony.”

“The word ‘cacophony’ means a mixture of voices, so we felt this would be appropriate for what we are doing,” Einarsen said.

The magazine will be a collaboration of writing pieces, like poems, essays, short stories, and reviews.

In addition, there will be cartoons and photographs.

The content will be created by a variety of people—a cacophony of voices, as per the title. Specifically, the magazine will focus on independent artists and unpublished authors.

The idea for the magazine came as a surprise.

“First I had thought it would be cool to start a magazine. Weirdly enough, Mel came up to me in English, telling me she wanted to start one also. That night, we saw that Carson posted [on Facebook] that he also wanted to start a magazine.

“It was a really weird coincidence,” Schwaeber said.

The trio later met up at the Westport Public Library and found that their individual ideas worked really well together.

They began planning immediately, finding ways to use as many of each other’s ideas as they could.

“When we first started working together, it was initially difficult, but we’ve all kind of found the flow,” Einarsen said.

“Cacophony” is meant for anyone from children to adults, though it plans to give insight into the teenage mind.

“I feel like there are a lot of people who have something so say, whether it is through writing, drawing, etc.,” Schwaeber said.

“I hope this magazine gives them a chance to publish that.”

The three co-editors agreed that there aren’t enough creative writing outlets for teens in other publications, and that “Cacophony” could provide a place for them to express themselves.

The first issue of “Cacophony” is still in the works, and nothing is concrete.

However, according to Einarsen, readers can expect to find a review of the graphic novel “The Meek” by Der-Shing Helmer, and a review of the independent film “Ink,” directed by Jamin Winans.

The co-founders are also discussing publishing artwork by local artist Zander Stefani ’12 and creative writing by Gabi Horowitz ’12.

“After the first issue is completed, we will be extending our collaborators and have more influence from anyone who wants to help,” Einarsen said.

They’ve decided that the first issue would be mostly their own work, so all three co-editors are doing all they can to get the issue done.

“‘Cacophony’ is still a baby and still very much in the works, but we’re working very hard to get it finished,” Schwaeber said.

Einarsen, Mignucci, and Schwaeber each keep a notebook dedicated to brainstorming and planning for the magazine and try to meet up to discuss the plans.

Schwaeber explained that she and her partners try to meet up every Sunday at Doc’s Café for a few hours to work on the first issue.

“We’re all very different people who are coming together to make something really cool,” Schwaeber said.

Subscriptions are not available yet, but anyone can check out the progress of “Cacophony” magazine by going to their Tumblr blog, at cacophonymagazine.tumblr.com.

The co-founders intend to find local places that will stock and sell the magazine in print.

“Because we are self-publishing, we have two options on how we are going to do it.”

“We will either print copies and staple it ourselves or order copies from the website comicpress.com where they print on demand for two dollars an issue,” Einarsen said.

“All we really want from the magazine is for people to just be heard,” Mignucci said.

Einarsen, Schwaeber, and Mignucci encourage all prospective writers and artists or anyone who want to hear more information about “Cacophony” to email them at [email protected].