Hi all, after reading the thread "Finale Help" - http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......um=10&16
it sparked many of my thought on the topic and I'd like to take this chance to discuss with my fellow magicians.

I am constantly developing or improvising my own musical manipulations routine.
My problem is that I've taken the idea of "be your own self and not to clone anyone" too far and I've been too scared of doing conventional stuffs but this limits my choice a lot.

For example, I constantly tell myself to stay away from billiard balls and card manipulations things like that cuz too many magicians do them. Deep inside my heart though I like card manipulations and I think it quite suit my style.

In this case I started doin thimbles and I enjoyed it a lot however the audiences reactions is not as good as I expect. One of the main reasons that I've chosen thimbles is that not many people do them.

We often heard people saying "do stuffs that suit your own style" well, how abstract is that I mean. My style is like...believe it or not, a Glam rocker, I've got long hair, accesories everywhere and my friends refer me as a rockstar and I really did played in a band. So what suits my style?

I often see effects that I really like but I wasn't sure should I do them or not. EG. Fantasio Candles....appearing canes....how do I decide if it suits my style or not?!!? AAWWW it's driving me crazy . I never thought putting an act for myself could be this hard. And I don't want to practice one thing for years and then found out that it actually doesn't suit my style..

I wanted to be special. I wanted to stand out but maybe I think I've taken it too far and now I have a struggle within. Please shed lights to help me out in this frustration.

John

John,

This frustration is good and is part of the process. For what it's worth, my advice would be to write. Find a mode of self-expression so that you can better articulate who you are. You have to know who you are, who you truly are before you can express that. Only when you know who you really are, can you develop a style.

So just write: try to write poetry, try to write short stories, try to write your feelings - just write. Discover who you really are then develop the character you want to be on stage.

Listen to others and don't listen to others. Choose wisely who you listen to or you will get a thousand opinions and many of them will be conflicting. That will be another source of frustration. Choose a couple of people whom you trust (as far as their wisdom, knowledge of magic, and eye for theater) and listen to them. Filter out everything else.

There are no easy answers. The process is long and painful. If you are willing to pay this price then you are in for a difficult journey but I wish you the best. I hope this is helpful.

Peter

Thanks very much Peter, that definitely helps a lot!

"Listen to others and don't listen to others. Choose wisely who you listen to or you will get a thousand opinions and many of them will be conflicting. That will be another source of frustration."
---that's sooo true and that's what I'm experiencing at the moment.

By the way, I saw your Thimbles routine on youtube. It's fabulous! I absolutely loved your presentation to it!

John,

PM me your address and I'll send you a free set of my lecture notes. Part of the lecture is on finding and defining your character.

Peter, I saw your act at Bob Little's, you are a show stopper! Fantastic! It was the highlight of the convention for me.

Ben S

Ben,

What you saw was a transitional version of the act. That was during the painful, stressful, evolutionary process. It is sooooooooo much different than it was then. If you want, I can send you a dvd of what it is now. PM me your address.

Peter, I like your act too. It is really different from the rest of those manipulation performances. Great job. If I may, I don't mind having your dvd for my collection too.

Peter has a great act is right on with the character development. I would also add my book Theatrical Magic to your reading list.

Ditto.

I just had a chance to read John's book about a month ago. Good stuff!

Ditto. Good advice Peter.

Sean