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magicmonkey wrote:My nearest and dearest is exactly the same. She does not want to know how any of my effects are achieved. She would rather be able to enjoy them again. This is the point that many secret hunters do not get.

I wish more people were like this!! I have said so many times to the same people- listen to me you don't want to know how I did this trick, it would spoil it for you and I then wouldn't be able to do any like this again.

I have to admit tho, my housemate gets to see how some of my tricks are done. Not from me directly telling him but he usually gets to see the first draft of my new tricks which haven't been perfected yet so some things may be more obvious.

I understand I maybe shouldn't do this but I find it very helpful to show someone a trick in the beginning. That way any obvious moves or sleights will be highlighted early and can be corrected.

Lady of Mystery wrote:Dave knows some secrets and because I use him to test all my routines on I don't think that really matters.

I don't actually tell him how something is done but he knows enough to know the sorts of things to look out for. Which is great for me as if I can get something past him, I'll get it past any spectator.

This is how it works with me and my wife. She knows a little, just enough to know what to be looking for when I try something new out on her. This means she would recongnise some sleights if she saw them and she can tell me if I am making things obvious.

Other than that I tell nobody anything. I did a Simon Lovell transposition for my dad on Saturday which to me was very easy but to him it was "as good as anything I have seen on TV" to use his words. That entertainment value would have disappeared instantly if he knew what I did.

For any magician this question is actually a no brainer. There is nothing to gain and everything to lose by telling.

dino50011 wrote:Ive heard that some magicians tell some of there secrets to one or two trusted people, some not at all, sometimes only an assistant. Just out of curiosity, do any of you tell anyone any of your secrets? Im not asking for any pained confession, and i ask that anyone who answers be treated respectfully even if you disagree with their conduct ( i know this is a touchy subject, and rightly so). I would still like to know.

-As for me, i admit i tell some of my secrets to my closest and dearest. People i trust, and who prove that they hold on to the secrets by not telling anyone before or after i perform, even if its friends of theirs. I still dont even tell them my best tricks.

Id like to hear your thoughts

I do not tell anyone the secrets of how a trick is done I let them work it out for them self with no tips or hints and not even saying if they are right or wrong and I some time call the trick a different name so if they google it they will not find out how the trick is done we pay out a lot of money to learn how the trick is done I had people keep asking me please tell me how do you do that I say a lot of hard studying and practice and I just say no sorry I cannot tell you it is very tempting some time but I keep to my roles but they do not take the interest of magic as much as we do. They do not riles how much time and hard work that goes in to magic. Magic is like a singer you only see them sing the song you do not see how much work they put in to singeing to be come good at what they do . That’s the way I look at it

I would tell my brother justs so I no if I am getting better or not but I would say what can you see and if he say I can see another coin or somethink like that I then no I have to Practice more hes in to magic a bit any way so thats good then I go back to him when I study the trick more then some time he gos wow . sorry for my speling and grama is bad on the forum I am not the best at speling or gramma

goodluck

It aint what you do its the way that you do it... Happy Magic

Everyone needs someone to beta test their stuff on and eventually that person will pick stuff up. Fotunately they'll be so desensitised to magic by then they probably won't care enough to tell anyone else.

Occassionally if someone asks me how I did something I'll tell them outright but in a way that completely eliminates that explanation as plausible. For example I'll say in a slightly sarcastic/jokey way "I put it in my fake plastic thumb" and roll my eyes. Works a treat.

good point

i try all my tricks on my girlfriend. She gives me feedback on things i need to work on-- delivery... a glimpse of something she wasn't supposed to see... etc.

i don't tell her how i do any tricks-- but sometimes she can see. (naturally i practice A LOT before i'll go show her...)

I've told two secrets-- to my brother and my father. I can't remember what trick now-- but i remember thinking they'd be impressed with what i had to do to evade them-- but all i got was ... "oh... cool."

when you tell someone a secret- they don't care anymore. It's not exciting for them-- and they stop thinking about the trick.

haven't told one since.

a great thing about slip ups sometimes is that sometimes the person you slip up in front of may forget within the same day!!!

(this has happened with my mother!)

lucky break

I'm pretty sure my dad knows most of my effects because hes seen me perform them to his friends about 100 times. but I don't really care because I know hes not the type of person to shout out the explanation to my tricks as I'm doing them. Ive also shown some very basics effects to my best friends just so they can do one when their playing poker or something. (off topic: nobody lets me deal in poker anymore, maybe its because I got 4 of a kind aces 3 times in a row )

IMHO secrets should be shared among other magicians and mentalists but
with no one else. A presentation should never be copied. As my main interest is mentalism I am always looking for useful information. Regardless of the "secret" involved, when I perform an effect using the same method I assure you that the person who gave me the "secret" would not recognize the presentation as the same thing he conveyed to me. When we buy effects or books I believe we should go out of our way to ignore the instructions for an effect and create our own presentation just as though we were writing the instructions for an entirely different effect.

I never tell me secrets to anyone. The only problem is, sometimes I show them to my sister and she's so clever she guesses what the secret is even when I've practiced the trick until it's flawlessly done. It really grinds my gears.