10 ways to tell a story
With the announcement of as storytelling laureate and the fact I mentioned storytelling in a recent post I felt compelled to talk about about, you guessed it, storytelling! One of the best definitions of a story was in “Funky Business” and it described a story as something that converted “information into emotion” and that is essentially what a good presentation of magic should do.
Imagine the typical presentation from your “good” magician:
“Please take a card. Now put it back in the pack. Was that your card – Ta Da!”
I can imagine the rush for the film rights on that one.
Almost every trick is a story by default, it has conflict and resolution and our role as professional magicians is to turn that into something of value. I’m not for a moment suggesting that you start every ambitious card trick with a cheery “Once upon a time there was a card who knew he had more to offer than the other cards”, but with all your effects you should consider the “framing” of the effect. Here is a list that is by no means comprehensive or right – it’s just a list of things you could consider one at a time, or in combination but NEVER all together!
- Think about the emotion you want to evoke – start with the end in mind.
- Define the conflict in the effect – if you can’t then maybe there isn’t a trick and you’re just showing off.
- Build the conflict – foreplay.
- Don’t pretend. – if you haven’t been on a “recent trip to China….”
- Use your own experiences – but if you have……
- Don’t always try to overlay the story onto the trick. (or visa versa).
- Use a story as an introduction, or premise to a trick – and then just do the trick.
- Don’t talk complete bollocks – unless it’s obvious that you are talking complete bollocks.
- It doesn’t have to be “Bizzare Magick” – unless your name is Thoth and you are a wizard re-born.
- Offer a meaningful resolution – or you’ll need perform in installments.
Magic is a performance art and although there might not always be room for the art there is always room for the performance.
