A writer writes books. A pen, computer, paper, are all tools of a writer to bring the story to you. The book is made. You read the story. Why do you read it again? It's not because of the cover. Not because of the paper it's typed on. You like the story so much, the idea, the concept, the moral, and the imagination of the story so much that you'd want to read it again.

The book gives you the despription. The idea. YOU imagine it. YOU experiance it. The imagination doesn't happen in the book. It happens through you. Your mind.

This is how I view magic. I don't see magic in genres, or as things that would look cool. I view it as something I can give to people, not as something I can do. Because I con't do magic. Nobody can. Magic doesn't exist. It can only be imagined or thought of.

Magic is an IDEA. Not an action.

I am a magician. I give the IDEA of magic. A deck of cards, a coin, a gimmick, are my tools to bring the idea of magic to you. You perform with the deck of cards, coin, or gimmick. The idea of magic is created. The concept of magic it forced into the audiences mind.

You don't want a scream. You don't want people running away, or "freaking out". The best reaction a magician could ever get is that dead silence. Why are they silent? Because they're THINKING.

This is the point I'm trying to get across. Look at your magic differently. Think of the idea, the concept your trying to get across to your audience. Because in the end, after you've done all the thinking about the trick, it's the audience that's going to be thinking about the trick.

Your goal. You want nothing more than your audience thinking that what you have done was pure magic and nothing less than that. Don't focus as much on the trick itself, but what it takes to get into the audiences head that you just did magic right in front of them. Real magic. You don't say it's real, but you leave it up to your spectators to decide that.

Magic in reality doesn't exist. The real magic happens in the spectators mind.

Wow. That puts it pretty simply, a nice reality check. Coming to think of it, every time I get a silent moment, I usually try to break it to "keep the flow" of the performance. Perhaps that's the best time to end the performance, your reaching 100%.

The only thing I'd quietly disagree with is the "freaking out" or screaming part. Lots of magicians, and I am not an exception, enjoy frightening a spectator. I like to pull out as many emotions in a performance as possible. Fear is one of them. Note the name "Susto".

But you really do pose a good, simple point. Kudos.

Great idea. I guess I never really thought about it that way, but you are right. I really enjoyed reading this essay... then sitting here thinking about it for another 5 or so minutes. Good job!

SUSTO,

I see what your saying, but this is the point I'm trying to get across. You want your audience to THINK. Thinking makes the experiance last longer than just the performance and has an impact on them. That means it interests them. Therefore, they remember it a lot longer than they would if they just got shocked or frieghtened out of the heat of the moment.

Think of it this way. Think of a scary movie you've seen. Just a regular scary movie. Something like The Messengers or something. Now thing of a movie like Forest Gump or Saving Private Ryan or Radio. Which had more impact on you emotionally? Which one do you remember more of? Exactly.

You want to create an experiance, not a show. Something worth while instead of just something they saw. You want to create something that they will remember for a very long time...