What a good thread.
There are a few ways to script based on your style.
For me, I love story telling. So I think about what makes a good story. Then I can either tell a story, or act it out.
A character on a journey that arrives at a destination. They encounter problems on the way that must be overcom; A character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.
This thinking leads to my favorite tricks.
So think about a magician in trouble plot. This is you acting out the story. You run into difficulties on your way to accomplish something. This makes for a really engaging presentation.
Using the cards parallel to a story can also work (think Sam the Bellhop)
Or perhaps take people on a journey through the same structure. Instead of saying, wow look at this card – it’s so ambitious! Create a story about the first time that you saw someone cheating at cards, or how you cheated at cards once, or how it’s a greater metaphor of something else (like overcoming adversity or something – being buried, but rising to the occasion).
Another way is to tell story like a parable, or lesson, or even tutorial formats. Presenting the challenge that they can relate to (Never having enough money), then how you learned to overcome –or how they can learn to overcome it (pulling coins out of thin air or turning ones into hundreds). (My ambitious card is a ‘teaching’ them how they can cheat at cards plot. I take them down a journey that they are invested in.
Then, presenting in a way that’s genuine and engaging to the audience – not cheesy or contrived.
Now, to have a ‘good’ magic show, you certainly don’t need story for every effect, but the audience won’t remember. Most of it. However – when you take people on a journey and they are rooting for the win – they are invested emotionally. (To hijack an old saying) People won’t always remember what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel. And storytelling is one of the best ways to get emotional investment.
