Last year, I had a college writing professor who explained how writing is a means to an end; more specifically, writing is an excellent way to discover meaning and hone one's thoughts. In class, we applied it to essay writing. She would often say, just write down everything you think to say about a subject, look through what you have, find a thesis, cut out everything that doesn't fit with that, reorganize and then, POOF!, you have an essay.
This process of discovery through writing worked very well, so the following is my attempt at replicating such a technique with magic.
I've made this blog public so all can read, think, and maybe learn something from my own thoughts. So yeah, here we go.
I just finished reading Tangled Web by Eric Mead. I remember when this book first came out three years ago. I almost bought it then, but something held me back. But Joe Pon (owner of Misdirections Magic Shop here in San Francisco) suggested I read it, so I picked it up.
Now this isn't so much a review, as just sort of my thoughts on the book, and what it left with me. It's very short, and I finished it in like two sittings (then again, I devour magic texts. If only I could do that with my Econ textbook...).
There are some very good routines in here, particularly openers. Currently, I'm working on his "A Fine Howdy Do" close-up production of a quarter. Now this routine offers nothing revolutionary. At its heart it is a production of a quarter with flash paper, into a copper silver routine. However, the whole time I was reading the routine, I could just see how well this routine would play. Now, my approach in walk-around settings isn't bad, but this type of opening routine could obviously bring it to a new level. Honestly, I felt like I've been failing for not using such a powerful opener.
Also, looking at the script Eric provides with the routine gave me another insight. As script for his copper silver routine, he explains how truly impossible it is for him to make the coin disappear why the spectator is holding on to it. He explains that he must make the spectator forget about the coin in order to make it disappear. At this point Eric introduces the copper coin and comments on how his grandfather or father had given it to him, and that it was special. Then, Eric would pause, look at his audience and mention how he'd just distracted them with this little backstory. And yeah, then the coins are shown to switch places and all that jazz.
Here's the cool part: Eric just combined back story with plot progression in the most efficient way I've ever seen, read, or heard about. The back story about where the coin comes from, it's relevance to Eric, and the fact that he keeps it with him, all move to characterize Eric in the minds and hearts of his audience. Remember, this is still his opening trick, and he's already putting this back story into his performance.
However, the cool part is that this back story, true or not, is recited in order for the trick to work. It's a plot piece in the context of the trick, since Eric has to make the audience forget about the coin to make it disappear. That complexity is just genius to me. Back story in magic almost always slows down the performance, however this particular example shows that it can become a very integral part of the trick. I'm very excited to explore areas where I can apply this lesson in my tricks.
So yeah. Yay for flashpaper, and yay for plot oriented back story in magic.
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