5 November 2003

The Joy of Rapid-Fire Readings
by Nancy Jane Moore
home.earthlink.net/~nancyjane

Nancy Jane Moore's short fiction is currently available in three anthologies: Imaginings, Mota 3: Courage, and Imagination Fully Dilated: Science Fiction. Her stories have also appeared in other anthologies, several magazines, and on the Web. A 1997 graduate of Clarion West, she also attended the Milford writer's workshop in England in 2002. She is a member of the Broad Universe Advisory Board and SFWA.

Why would a writer want to only read a five-minute snippet of her work as part of a group of ten other readers?

How about because:

• group reading can draw an audience of between 25 and 50 people;
• new writers get to read alongside well-known ones;
• big-name writers often come to listen; and
• someone in the audience is likely to come up to you after the reading and ask "Where can I get a copy of that?"

Broad Universe has sponsored these kind of group readings, dubbed rapid-fire readings, at several conventions, with a great deal of success. Not only did we draw a large crowd at both the 2002 and 2003 WisCons, we've also read to good audiences at other conventions, both small and large.

In keeping with the makeup of Broad Universe, our readers have included well-known writers like Suzy McKee Charnas and Pat Murphy, new novelists beginning to make a name for themselves like Wen Spencer, writers like Cynthia Ward and Carrie Richerson known for their short fiction, and writers who have yet to be published.

Our audiences have included some big names, too. At Readercon in 2002, the con guest of honor Octavia Butler came to hear us. When we did a Broad Universe reading in a hotel room at the small Pittsburgh con Confluence in 2002, our audience included William Tenn (aka Phil Klass). At both those cons, we had audiences of about 40 people.

The first Broad Universe group reading was an ad hoc affair at the 2001 WorldCon in Philadelphia. We set up a reading space in a corner of the dealer's room, and by word of mouth drew an audience of around 15 people in addition to the readers. In 2002, we got better organized. Our first "on-program" group reading was at WisCon in 2002, which drew about 50 people. In addition to the successful programs at Readercon and Confluence in 2002, we also did a reading with a much smaller group—only four writers—at PhilCon, and still drew a nice crowd. We packed a party room with the WisCon 2003 reading, and managed to go through a half-dozen bottles of wine and finish off a stack of cookies as well.

Previously participation in all our readings was open to any woman SF/F/H writer who identified with the purposes of Broad Universe. However, beginning with the planned reading at Torcon (August 28 - Sept. 1, 2003), Broad Universe readings are now restricted to level-one members. This doesn't appear to be limiting the number who want to read: We have 13 readers signed on for Torcon. To find out how to become a member, visit our member page.

There's another asset of Broad Universe group readings: They promote the organization. By showing off the talents of Broad Universe's member writer, we demonstrate the value of our group, and of women science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers in general.

Not only that, but you're likely to discover other writers you'll want to read. After every reading, I've added a new writer to the list of people whose work I seek out. (And I hope I've been added to a few people's lists myself!)

If you want to organize a Broad Universe group reading at a convention, here are the steps to take:

1. Contact Broad Universe at info at broaduniverse.org to make sure no one else is already doing that convention and to have an announcement put on the member announcement list.
2. Contact the convention committee and get the reading put on the program. Be sure to tell them that you will send them the names of readers, and that they should not let others sign up, because you want to make sure all readers are members.
3. Try to recruit at least one well-known BU writer for the group to help draw a crowd. Make sure all the writers you recruit are level-one members.
4. If you have time, do a flyer or written program giving the bios of all the readers, so that the audience will have a list of authors to take with them when they head to the dealer's room.

Even if you don't want to organize a reading—or even participate in one—come out and listen. Bring your friends and have a great time.