Stephen writes: 'I want to develop my first magic act. How long should I aim to practice a magic trick before it's ready to be performed?'

That question has a very simple answer.. It depends.

There is no set time scale for any magic trick to be ready. The time it will take you to get the trick to a performance standard is different for each magician and each trick. However, My good friend Steve Shufton told me some simple advice that I would like to pass on to you now..

Whilst writing the instructions for the mind reading magic trick Ps I Love You Steve wanted to include a section about how long the magic trick will take to learn. He explained that the more experience you have in magic, the more you will understand the value of practice. PS I Love you is very simple to learn. You could start performing the magic trick in just 15 minutes. Many beginners will learn the trick and do just that, but in doing so, they are making a huge mistake. Experienced performers understand that the success of a magic performance has little to do with the simplicity of the method. The strength of the trick comes from the performance, and that comes from the skill and effort of the magician.

Do This: Don't assume that a magic trick that is easy to learn, should take less time to become performance ready. Use the extra time you gain from a simple method, to work on the presentation. Don't rush out and perform a new trick right away. Take you time…