talkmagic.co.uk

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on here, so I thought I'd shake you up a bit with a notoriously difficult question!

How do you create magic? Is there a formula that you follow?

I get asked this sometimes, and I never know what to say!

Cheers,

Liam.

i heard it involves eye of newt, but i think they were lying!?!

i guess it all depends on the type of magic you are creating, atmosphere, attraction, skill, etc. I would say as all things generally do have a start a middle and an end, that always seems to work as a formula.

Formula. Hmmm
I would say make sure you use a high pressure sodium bulb, you need to make sure you get the right colour light and enough lumens per......
er, no wait, wrong forum

I am new to the creating side of magic but I find things come to me at really odd times.
In the shower or in bed I'll be thinking about something not connected and I link something I could use and get all excited.
I find if I sit and try and work something out from scratch my brain likes to remind me of how dumb I am.
If I have need to refine or change just a move to achieve something though I can normaly just work it through.
So in short, I wish I had a formula, or a waterproof pad and pen set.

Does anybody sit with a blank sheet and demand they create something here? Or is it random genius like me, though I'm sadly short of genius, as this post proves...

BaB

I am much the same... suddenly thinking of effects or methods whilst going about my daily routine... but I'm interested in why it happens... it certainly never used to.

And Bababoom, I've found recently that I can force it, and just sit down with the paper and refuse to get up again until it's finished, but I have to admit, they sometimes come out a little dodgy!

Anyone else?

as you get more into magic you see everyday objects in a new light, just the same as a store detective can spot a thief by the way he walks.

our brains are constantly reorganiseing the things we learn and as you are increasingly useing your creative side of your brain when practising tricks more things end up stored in that side of the brain, thats why we suddenly get inspiration.

my thoughts usualy go something like this coin, coin in bottol cap cap in bottle unscrew cap then push into bottle.
then several ideas about how to make it work

I rarely do any creating myself as I like others to do all the hard work and give me something to just practice and perform!

Having said that one of my most recent attempts was to find a new routine for Colour Chip Choose, which I have posted in the routines section. For that I just took the trick out to practice one evening, decided that it was unsatisfactory and came up with a new idea on the spot. I reckon it must have been fairly good since I got some positive comments from it but I didn't really push it.

Of course I wasn't creating a comletely new effect, just polishing an existing one so I'm not sure if I could do the same thing in other situations. I do know that If someone comes up with an effect they want to acheive I can work out a handling that will acheive it on demand though.

A slight side issue here but, to a certain extent, we're all creative inasmuch as we all tailor bought tricks to suit our own style until we're comfortable with it. I certainly couldn't do anything in the same style as David Copperfield (I'm far better looking for one thing) so I'd be changing some things around even subconsciously. If you check out the old postings for The Web, you'll see many different ways of using the props (or even ignoring most of them completely!) yet doing the same basis effect.

On this basis, It's perhaps just a short step to dreaming up something new because it's out of something which appeals and comes out of the way you change/do things. On other threads, it's been mentioned that a title or a phrase might spark the little grey cells into working out a new routine. I must admit, I admire anyone who can sit down with a blank sheet of paper and come up with a new trick - at the very least I'd need cards, gaffed and ungaffed, glue, sticky tape etc - and even then I'd end up just making a paper aeroplane!

IMHO, the creativity is something that cannot be forced. I'm a creative designer in my day job - and it's the case here that if we're looking for an idea for an advert to sell widgets, it's sometimes better to wait until something springs to mind - rather than brainstorming and forcing it out.

The same is true with magic. Sometimes, I'll be sitting with cards, practicing a sleight or a succession of moves - and all of a sudden I realise a way in which I can use this.

Other times, I simply at my computer, open a new Word document, type in the word 'Effect...' and dream up an appealing routine. THEN - once there's a credible story/reason for the effect, I try and use sleights/gaffs to achieve the means to an end.

I think the 'wrapping' of the sleights is most important, and as such, the 'blank sheet of paper' is my preference.

The actual route I follow from there usually involves the creation of a title (as mentioned here and in the other 'creative' threads of recent times) which can be unfolded... for example - I'm working on an effect in Word as we speak, called 'Reserved!' - inspired by a rather embarrasing instance at the weekend when our table for four 'reservation' got mixed up with another table. It's a simple no-gaff version of the old 'changing rooms' court cards plot, but it's rather a nice twist...

So, you get your title, get the 'story', and then write the effect. Whether or not it comes to fruition, who knows! But I've got a whole load of these 'Work in Progress' files left... without an ending...

What's the moral?

Well, this is MY OWN personal method. It's natural for me to progress this way, although others may not have the same feeling or method.

Apart from everything else, it's VERY theraputic - and as with all good design and creative process - at least 5 good ideas are cast aside to create 1 masterpiece - so don't be afraid to hit dead ends... just keep thinking. And re-visit your ideas often... you may learn of a new sleight which allows an old idea to become reality.

This is quite a nice website dealing specifically with creativity in magic:
http://www.brainpoke.com/

I think all magicians have some creativity, even if it isn't sitting down and making up a completly new trick that no-one has seen before. We build patter around a trick to suit our own style and we routine tricks to the way we believe they will work for us. Even down to costume. We create our own performances to tricks, even if someone has actually built up all the slights.

As far as creating material, it happens with me in a number of different ways.

Most often, I'll be going through a routine in a book and think, "This is a great trick but the handling could be a lot easier and cleaner" or "If the plot were changed just a bit, this would be my kind of effect" or "Hey, if I used this portion of this effect in the context of this other effect using this different handling, it would a perfect follow up to..."

On the routines that I have created that are not as much of a variation on other routines, they have typically come to me at odd times: as I was falling asleep, soaking in the bathtub, etc. But occasionally, I've just sat down and started playing around with the props and something has come to me.

With my sponge routine, it evolved over several years of performance.

Regardless, I feel that to create material, you have to read and think--a LOT!

Personally i seem to be able to "force out" a new trick if i try to sit there and create one but it is never perfect the first time and it may take weeks before im happy with it.
Normally my ideas come when im just playing around with my cards or practising flourishes.
I also keep a notebook on my bedside table in case i think of something brilliant whilst im in bed so i dont forget. problem is when i wake up and look at it i just see mad scribblings but they might give me a totally different idea.