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Stepladders & Demon Traps makes you a thoughtful, confident creator of your own magic.
Why do magicians ask people to say "stop" instead of "freeze" or "hold it"? Why do they pretend to fail a trick? Why does a routine include a magic effect at all?
Stepladders & Demon Traps advocates purpose in the creation of a magic routine. Countless choices are always made but not always consciously, so Nicolaj Christensen reminds us to identify a creative vision and actively explore and cherry-pick the most fitting ideas. In a nutshell, form follows function.
Teaching seven routines (close-up and stand-up, with and without playing cards), Nicolaj provides a case study of various choices he has made to fit the elements of each routine to its vision, trying to support what's at the center of each premise and clean out the clutter.
Five essays speak more generally about a deliberate creative process:
A summary of the routines as part of a larger vision.
A reminder that changes cannot be made in isolation.
A deconstruction of brainstorming as an analytical tool.
A helpful distinction between theme and premise.
A discussion of the kinds of subject matter that come with the territory of a magician. Nicolaj suggests that if a magic trick doesn't take into account the layers of meaning inherent to magic-as-magic, the work might be fundamentally out of touch with itself.
If you're the analytical type, you'll enjoy the message of Stepladders & Demon Traps. But if you mostly go by instinct, you'll love it even more for giving you new tools to create with.
"This is the best thing I've read this year." - Mark Elsdon
The OG perfect score was great and did its job for me for years , Perfect Score 2.0 outshines its original . Great tutorial going in depth on the mercury fold and even card splitting . 5 Stars !
The usual speedy delivery by Alex. Lovely props, and clever routine, although I haven’t used it in the trenches yet. Knocked one star off as the red poker chip had a minor chip (damage) in it. This is a product issue though and absolutely no reflection on Monster Magic.
Needs a bit of practice to get angles / timing down , but put that in and you’ve got a visual masterpiece in your hands . Instant reset , tutorial is fantastic 100% a worker
