Thanks for the advice. I think that my problem is mainly in the feeling that my audience won't remember each effect as its own Magical event but rather as a blur of card tricks with some fun dollar bill effects thrown in. But I completely get what you mean about being entertaining. I'll without a doubt take that to heart and work on it.
No worries! On what you said, allow me to share with you my favourite quote on theatre (which was my first love), that I think is very applicable to magic, and remembering magic:
"When a performance is over, what remains? Fun can be forgotten, but powerful emotion also disappears and good arguments lose their thread. When emotion and argument are harnessed to a wish from the audience to see more clearly into itself - then something in the mind burns. The event scorches onto the memory, an outline, a taste, a trace, a smell - a picture. It is the play's central image that remains, its silhouette, and if the elements are highly blended this silhouette will be its meaning, this shape will be the essence of what it has to say. When years later I think of a striking theatrical experience I find a kernel engraved on my memory - two tramps under a tree, an old woman dragging a cart, a sergeant dancing, three people on a sofa in Hell - or occasionally a trace deeper than any imagery. I haven't a hope of remembering the meanings precisely, but from the kernel I can construct a set of meanings. Then a purpose will have been served. A few hours could amend my thinking for life. This is almost but not quite impossible to achieve."
~Peter Brook, The Empty Space
Now the book itself is an excellent discourse on theatre - a compilation of four lectures he gave about the nature of theatre some decades ago - and is a book I strongly recommend to all magicians and mentalists to read. It is about theatre, of course, but I'm sure you can see how relevant it is to magic.
On the above quote more specifically, note what he says about how we process memories of theatre. We remember moments - images, emotions, senses - a picture - and nothing more. These moments will always stick with us. And when we recall them, we will recall those moments, and from those moments, we will create a meaning. This meaning will then affect us in some way, many years after we ourselves are forgotten.
I strongly believe theatre can change peoples lives. I know, because it has changed mine.
So take of this what you will, but based on your question, I would take away this:
-Create a strong central image with your performances (does not have to be visual images necessary - just a moment)
-Infuse your magic with definite images, moments, and meanings. Make sure that the moments lead to one meaning, and that the meaning, the theme, is clear, sustained, and uncluttered
-Allow them to feel based on the impossible
There is no doubt that the majority of what you do will be a blur in 10 years time. Very few people have memory that good. But if you do this right - they will remember a series of moments - an image, perhaps. One example that comes to me immediately is the final revelation of my Out of this World routine. They ALWAYS want to take photos - they want to remember that moment, and when they see it, they want to be reminded of how they felt. Because of this, this image now has meaning to them, and will affect them in the future. Another image I particularly like is one effect where the spectator holds my wrist in one hand and brushes my palm with her fingers of the other hand, inducing a visual hallucination. I mention this one to emphasise the point that when I say images, it does not have to be visual in the sense of a visual trick, but rather, an image with meaning (in this case, a moment of intimacy) - like what Peter writes.
Remember when I said that audiences want to convey how they felt, rather than what they saw? If you can allow them to remember a series of moments, they will remember them, they will remember how they feel, they will take from this some meaning that will affect them in some small way. This is the absolute pinnacle I think we can aim for. I certainly don't expect you to want to read more, since I tend to talk a lot - but if you are interested, check out the thread I created called "This is Magic - Aim High" - link in my sig - which talks about that pinnacle in more detail.
Either way, this, I think, is the process we need to aim for.
