Every Trick Needs a Story

A method answers the question how. A story answers the question why should I care. Your audience never sees the method, but they live inside the story.

Strip a trick down to what happens, and it’s usually small. A card goes from here to there. A coin disappears. That’s a puzzle. Give it a reason, a character, or a feeling, and it becomes something people remember and retell.

Find the story in three questions

1. What does the audience think is happening? Not what you’re doing. What they believe.
2. Why is it happening? Because you’re reading their mind? Because the card is stubborn? Because they wished for it?
3. What does it mean to them? The best tricks are about the person watching: their choice, their name, their luck.

Make it theirs

The strongest moment in any trick happens in the spectator’s head, not your hands. Let them choose, cut, sign, think, and hold. Every bit of control you give them makes the impossible feel more impossible.

Suggested patter: “Don’t tell me. Just think of it.”

Know when to stop

A great trick ends at its peak. Resist the urge to do one more. Leaving people wanting more is the oldest rule in show business.