Build a Character, that is very important. A character that has it own personality. That is a huge resourse of creativity.

Scherzo

Go find some people who will really burn your hands like some high school kids or some drunken bar patrons. This will force you to develop the character / personality needed to create the necessary emotional involvement that natural misdirection requires.

Go on stage and don't be afraid to fail. Plan to fail, have some stock lines at the ready and also some comedy bits. You can always rely on comedy as an out as long as you don't take yourself too seriously!

Thanks to all for your valuable advice. There is some great food for thought in this thread. I myself am extremely new to the serious practice of magic and am at the stage of occasionally venturing out to bug my friends with the odd trick

As a musician who used to perform a fair bit, I never got stagefright and was insanely confident. I never thought of 'practising' my instruments though, but just playing them. So I'm reframing the drills and sleights of magic in the same way. Playing around with a deck of cards, with a thumb tip or a couple of coins... I get the mirror out and just have fun with it. And I don't dwell on any one thing to the point of irritability and exhaustion. I pick things up, put them down, mess about... It was just last night actually that things really began to click for me as a 'bedroom mirror magician' I was really getting 'into the flow'. I hope to be able to get back into that flow again soon. So maybe it is kind of like a Zen thing, Jhudsy. Or in other words, a nice, easy unconscious familiarity and facility with your moves and general approach.

I am also finding having outs and fallbacks to be good, eg) I got myself an Invisible Deck recently like most newbie magicians probably do. Knowing that it is on my person, as a backup in case any of my well-laid card plans go awry, gives a nice sense of security.

Magician audience's attitude is a bit different from that of a classical pianist - they will me much more critical.

Good advice guys. Thanks!

Hi,

Echoing the last few messages, I'd like to thank everyone who answered my original question in such detail. I've now been playing around with cards, coins, ropes, sponges and cups and balls (and IT and a TT to a lesser extent), and am having the time of my life.

I'm really thinking about this aspect myself a lot... I like, for example, the approach to performing mentalism that flatters the spectator and makes them feel like they have some weird ability that the mentalist helped bring out; essentially, the mentalist as facilitator and not so much the "I'm so smart" guy. One of my recent acquisitions was Robert Smith's Universal Impression, and I love his card presentation on the DVD where the two girls hug each other at the end, they're so delighted with the effect.

I believe that's called "Jazz". Jazz magic... I like the sound of that...

In Simon Aronson's free PDF: http://www.simonaronson.com/Memories%20A......This.pdf he briefly touches upon this possibility of improvised magic with a memorised deck. I hope to be good enough one day to 'jam' like that!

I recall, about 15 years ago, at university, I did actually invent a card trick on the spur of the moment that really impressed my flatmates I had dipped my index finger in the ashtray, and I surreptitiously brushed the chosen card as it went back in the fan, leaving a mark on the face. That was well cool, although my reveal could have been more dramatic...