Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

How much should you prepare for a talk?For her first talk, Utsudo wrote her script word for word and practiced in front of the mirror every day. With experience, she found that over-preparing leaves you unable to adapt, and reading from a script makes the atmosphere stiff. Now she keeps just a bullet-point outline and key points, leaving flexibility to interact with the audience.

The perfectionism of my first talk

　　I remember that before my first talk, I not only wrote out my script in meticulous detail, but also went looking for books on public speaking — like how not to be nervous on stage, or speaking techniques.

　　Say the talk was on 10/30 — I’d start being anxious as hell on 10/1, then spend at least half an hour every day practicing in front of the mirror, and in the last few days of the countdown practice for over two hours, until my throat couldn’t take it.

　　Yes, I’m the kind of person whoknows she’s scaring herself but can’t stop!

　　Apparently this is calledperfectionism（？

I’ve become zen now

　　Fast forward a few years to now: with a talk just days away, all I’ve done is discuss the outline with the organizers and prepare a summary of the key points I’ll roughly cover. At most I glance at it in my spare time and try answering questions in my head.

　　I think the reason I’ve become so zen now, besides accumulated experience, is another very important factor —I finally realized that no one knows what will happen on-site or what the audience will say, and you can’t fully predict it — especially during livestreams.

　　So if you over-prepare, you can’t react when something unexpected happens. Relying too much on a script makes you more nervous and less flexible; you often end up just reading aloud, making the atmosphere stiff and dull, and people don’t absorb it well.

A strategy for talks with moderate preparation

　　After several talks and interviews, I found thatmoderate preparation (keeping a bullet-point outline and key points) increases flexibility when surprises happen, ensures you cover everything you need to say, lets you adjust the pace as needed, and leaves room to interact with the audience.

　　From my own experience, if a talk or interview feels dull, people’s attention drifts away quickly and they don’t take anything in QQ

　　So I prefer talks or interviews with a lively atmosphere that are both entertaining and meaningful. I hope everyone can gain something while laughing — that would be wonderful~

Preview of the third creators’ tea party

　　Speaking of which, I hope everyone who joined the last tea party gained something. Let’s look forward to the next creators’ tea party!

　　This time we’ll invite the veteran (?) Cangli to chat with us about writing Taiwanese supernatural tales.It’s set for 8/7 (Sat)— this date has nothing to do with anything, please don’t mind this little detail!

　　Cangli is a writer I met at Fushigi Studio. Back then she hit on me super enthusiastically online, and I once thought she was a creepy old guy — later I discovered she’s a woman, and we get along especially well, so we occasionally meet up privately for afternoon tea and gossip (X).

　　She’s also a very versatile writer, and I want to introduce her to everyone. Besides that, we’d like to chat about supernatural tales in novels, and issues of tradition and innovation in writing — how can existing traditions keep up with modern trends and take root in people’s hearts?

　　It’s going to be a blast that day — see you there >w</

　　Here are the details~

　Time: 8/7 (Sat) 8:00 PM

　Where: (simultaneous livestream on two platforms) Follow or subscribe in advance so you don’t miss it~

　　If you have any related questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below~

　　One person can ask many questions, but which ones we answer will be up to our selection!

　　If you’re shy, feel free to DM, or message or email me anywhere you can find me >w<

　　Everyone’s welcome to join~~

　　Feel free to share the news too~ let’s all join in XD

Speakers:

UtsudoCredentials: Published 35 print books in eight years since debuting and sold multiple e-book rights (mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong); one collaborative game. Received a Ministry of Culture grant in 2011; experience working with over a dozen publishers large and small in Taiwan.

CangliCredentials:

Twelve years of writing experience, 23 print books published, including commercial works such as Genesis Codex Online, Descent of the Phantom Demons and Meeting Gods Along the Ruined City Walls, as well as other self-published works, with many years of web serialization experience.

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #89 (in Chinese)
• Next: #91 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.