Hi Chrystal, I'll be the first to disagree.

Instead of trying to find your personality and your own show, we do need help either from our peers or, most importantly, books. I don't recommend videos if you realised.

I believe books are useful to set foundation for newser guys. Useful as a guide and reference. That's what I usually do.

I actually agree with Chrystal. I had never thought about it until reading her post, but that is exactly how my performing style developed. I established my show and the patter that would go with it. I tried and tested it, and then revised it time and time again until I was happy with it. By that time, my own personality had emerged.

Only recently have I started to read books such as Seriously Silly. I pick and choose which elements I can incorporate into my performing style and discard those elements that don't fit. But until you know who you are, this type of analysis isn't possible.

In fact, if you rely on such books too soon in your career, you run the risk of blindly imitating someone else. In many cases, such performances seem contrived and artifical.

Kent

On the commment about the show. I would never think of taking material that would not work for me. There are in fact too many magicians that just take the routine exactly as it is done and that creates cookie cutter magicians. I looked at Silly Billy's article on "See don't See" with the Peanut Butter and Jelly. I used some of it, but some of it didn't fit me or I didn't like it and didn't use it. The advice is not taken lightly however, and I am actually not just looking back at my kids show material but others as well to see if I actually am using routines "as is" directly from the instructions.

Again thank you for the feedback
Paul