How Can I Create a Routine?

Here's a ton of info, but I hope it helps:

1. Choose a Central Theme or Narrative:

• Build your routine around a story or concept that can tie all the effects together. For example, you could focus on the idea of illusion vs. reality, the power of the mind, or a magical journey.

This largely depends on your performing style and how you want to present it.

2. Organize the Effects into a Logical Sequence:

• Strong Opening: Start with an effect that immediately grabs attention, like the Vanish of a Handkerchief.

• Development:

  • Follow with card effects like the stripper deck and the rising card, which can be linked through card manipulation.

  • Introduce the hopping half to transition from cards to coins, showing versatility.

• Climax:

  • Use the Invisible Deck as your big finish.

• Mysterious Closer:

  • End with more subtle and mental effects like the PK touch and loops.

3. Create Smooth Transitions:

• Plan how to flow from one effect to the next naturally. For example, after producing a coin with the hopping half, you could transform it into a card, thus introducing the next effect.

4. Develop Engaging Patter:

• What you say is just as important as what you do. Prepare a script that links the effects and keeps the audience interested. Use humor, intrigue, and rhetorical questions. Again, this depends on your character and how you want to put your spin on it.

5. Maintain Pace and Variety:

• Alternate between visual and participatory effects. Involve the audience in some effects to boost their interest and create a more interactive experience.

6. Practice Your Techniques and Presentation:

• Rehearse not only the effects, but also the transitions and the patter. This will build your confidence and ensure the performance flows smoothly.

Try video recording yourself and watching it back to refine it.

7. Add Your Personal Touch:

• Personalize the routine to reflect your personality and style. This will set you apart and make your performance more memorable.

8. Ask for Feedback:

• Perform your routine for friends or family and ask for their opinions.

9. Consider Using Music and Props:

• The atmosphere can enhance the experience. Appropriate music and stage elements can add depth to your performance.

Or even a PowerPoint projection to provide a backdrop for the act.

10. Be Flexible and Adapt to the Audience:

• Observe the audience's reactions and adjust your performance if necessary.

Example Sequence:

• Opening: Handkerchief Vanish
• Transition to Cards: Vanished handkerchief revealed inside the deck
• Card Effects: Stripper deck and rising card
• Shift to Coins: Hopping half
• Showstopper Effect: Invisible Deck
• Mysterious Finish: PK touch and loops

This is just an idea, but you can use it as a template to create other things.

Good luck and get practicing!

Totally agree with @cdiaz. The only thing I find more challenging is how you're chaining together the effects you mentioned. It sounds like: do a trick, switch decks; another trick, another deck switch; then you pick up coins, then something else... Just keep that in mind, because if I were a spectator, I'd be thinking, "Why does he keep changing decks and not just use the same one?" Well, it's because it's a gaffed deck. I'm more of a "grab one deck and do everything with it" kind of guy, or I'll do a deck switch for a memorized deck, but the important thing is that the switch isn't obvious. As was suggested, you could perform a Stripper Deck and Rising Card effect together and make the most of the same deck. Then, while you're transitioning to coins, a silk, or whatever, that's your moment to make the deck switch. Here's a tip! I always try to leave a known card at the end and subtly flash it to the audience. That way, when I bring out the other deck and they see the same card, they'll assume it's the original deck.

Good luck!!

Hey! Just to add to what's already been recommended: choose your tricks by varying the magical effects. In other words, don't repeat the same magical effect.

(To clarify what I mean by 'magical effect' – I'm talking about what the spectator sees: i.e., levitation, production, restoration, mind reading, prediction, etc., etc., etc.)

This is important because if you repeat them too often, eventually, even if you have a great story or a strong sense of impossibility, the spectator won't be as surprised (and might even get bored).

In short: vary your magical effects and don't perform the same effect consecutively.

For an opener: a powerful, quick, and impactful trick. If it's visual, even better.

For the closer: another strong trick, but you can take a bit more time with that one.

Hope this helps!