There is always a bit of a lull in activity on Friday nights in Cambridge. But as Hannah Kaner, the face behind the new Fireflies story slam showed us, there are ways to fill the silence. An intimate crowd gathered on the top floor of The Fountain for the first of many story-telling events planned by the newly-formed creative writing network Chameleon. The dynamic chatter of voices and clinking glasses set the tone for what was to be a raucous and revealing evening.

Settling into a ramshackle array of chairs, Hannah introduced herself as the "weird" sort whose Geordie accent bubbles to the surface when she’s nervous, who talks to strangers on trains and who delights in learning about the lives of people she meets. She had brought us all here to take turns to tell five minute long true stories to the room. She had been inspired to arrange this get-together after a summer adventure in New York, where she had indulged in the story slams of a US non-profit organisation The Moth.

And so, aptly, these stories were to fit to theme of ‘Wanderlust’. Speculation about this puzzling little compound word filled the room on my arrival: was it about the desire to travel? Was it about the desire to wander in mind or wander through physical space? Or maybe, as one cheeky story-teller later came to suggest, maybe ‘Wanderlust’ is all about that steamy love affair that happened once upon a time in a far away land.

All this speculation was soon put into order. Despite the informality of the occasion, it was tightly organised. On arrival, the audience were given discounted drink slips which also doubled up as pieces of paper on which to write an anonymous quip about an exciting thing that happened once on holiday. No doubt, a little alcohol was to trigger memories.

These shorter stories were read by Hannah in between each of the ten main stories selected at random from volunteers, meaning that even the more shy attendees got a chance to share their anecdotes.  On top of this, three judging panels were chosen to assess the stories on the basis of length, application to theme, delivery and structure. Admittedly, as the evening went on, judgment seemed to be based more on sheer enjoyment than anything else, and my neighbour delighted in waving her scorecard triumphantly at every opportunity.

The sparseness of The Fountain’s upper room proved ideal for story-telling, with no distractions from the spoken word except the occasional clink of a bottle opener and a murmur of laughter. However, the dim lighting illuminated the room with such a dingy glow that the story-tellers struggled to read their scripts. In a way, the hazy light was quaintly suited to an event named Fireflies. Next time however, a venue with slightly better electrics would perhaps smoothen out the delivery of some of the tales. Having said that, the stories were well kept in time as Hannah curtailed them by playing her harmonica, and with readings of the paper slips slotted in between the main stories, the audience enjoyed a pretty much continuous flow of sound.

The stories themselves ranged from tales of pig slaying to the slimy green thing that lives in the garden pond via crab-catching. This variety is where Fireflies triumphed. Unsurprisingly however, the theme of ‘Wanderlust’ did bring back a few clichéd gap year memories with Nepal featuring heavily, maybe too much. Perhaps at the next of these story-slamming events, a slightly broader theme will avoid any topic crossover.

Nevertheless, I was impressed with the way that the story-tellers interrogated the theme. As Edd Bankes mused, it wasn’t about the desire to travel, but the desire to find a the best place to stop. His thoughtfulness crowned him with first place, followed by Jeremy Wikeley’s ‘green slimy thing’ effort.

As for the others, I felt a distinct sense that as they took to the floor, they also let off steam. Lauren Oxley laughed herself silly as she told us of her journey to university, and Hannah blushed as she coyly admitted her habit of inventing personalities for hunks on the Underground. What made Fireflies such a compelling evening was to watch this process of liberation, and welcome those speaking into the audience’s fold with our attention and applause.

In her interview for Varsity, Hannah stressed her belief that story-telling is both revolutionary and revelatory, an act that removes barriers between people and allows us to discover something about them. Her thesis proved true. To join the story-telling gang, look out for the second Fireflies story slam happening in the next few weeks, and revel in wine and words.