Learn Magic Tricks by Creating a Story - Link Your Magic Tricks Together

When you learn magic tricks, do you consider creating a story that the set of tricks will communicate?

For many magicians, their magic act is a collection of unrelated magic tricks. Each magic trick gets great reactions but doesn’t flow into the next magic trick that the magician presents.

If you learn magic tricks without thinking about the act that will contain them, you miss out on one of the most powerful ways to lift yourself above the level of an average magician: The Story.

Magic Tricks with meaning

Creating a story will give your magic tricks a purpose other than fooling the spectators. They give your magic meaning. Stories engage and draw in your audience.

Everyone loves stories. Humans are hard wired to seek them out and remember them. It’s how we learn and bond as a society. Information without a story is just a collection of facts or trivial. The tale binds information together, giving it a value greater than the sum of its parts. Don’t present your magic tricks as pieces of trivia. Improve them exponentially by creating a story to go along with them.

The story first.

Creating a story can be difficult. Here are some ideas to help spark your imagination:

A life experience you encountered.
Something to inspire people.
A cautionary tale.
A fable.
A proverb.
An urban legend.
An event in your past.
A story about a spectators experience.
A story from your past.
A story from their future.

Instead of a set story, you could form a story made on the spot by the magician and spectators together. A piece of improvisation, structured by the tricks.

Select and learn magic tricks that will, by being placed together, create and focus on communicating the story.

Do This:

Write down a few plot ideas, for stories that would suit your persona.

Mark out ‘events’ or focus points in each story that could be communicated with magic.

Learn magic tricks that will fit into those points

Over time, build up the collection of ‘meaningful’ magic tricks to create a piece of close up magic theater.

Learn Magic Tricks with Context and Meaning