A ‘Thirst’ for Creativity with Oliver Meech!

What is fun about being a creative person, generally other creatives seem to find their way to one another through conversations, sharing ideas and also in the writing and reading of books.

I remember when I first got into magic, my good friend George Bleeks (my librarian and adopted father in all things magical) loaned me two books to help spark some creativity in me. These were; The Plot Thickens and Plot Twists by Oliver Meech.

Upon reading these books I was literally bubbling with ideas and from that moment on I became a real fan of Oliver and his work. It is also where I discovered the wonderful ‘Out to Lunch Principal.’ And if you don’t know what that is – READ HIS BOOKS!

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Eight years on from that, I began writing this blog and somehow through me putting out my ideas for creativity into the world Oliver was drawn in to my world. And during Covid we began sharing and talking about thoughts on ideas. Since then we have followed each other’s journeys. We finally met properly in person at The Session Magic Convention in London feeling like we’d known each other for years!

Fast Forward

A while back Oliver messaged to tell me that he was in the process of publishing a brand new book – which I was very excited to hear. He then continued, asking me if I would like to write the forward to the book on creativity in magic.

Having never been asked to do this before now (and also by the person a few years ago I was fan girl-ing over haha) I of course leaped at the chance!

However, I found there was a lot more to think about when writing for someone other than oneself.

Believe it or not, it’s a lot more difficult to write something for another person because you want to portray your thinking in a way that relates to what they want and also what ‘their’ readers wish to see and read. I suppose in a sense it’s just pressure to fit in with what the author had in mind.

I decided rather than worry about it just to put pen to paper and write what I felt from the heart expressing what I believed creativity is to me, in the hope it would apply to another creative. Thankfully, with just a few changes, it did!

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To celebrate this joint adventure and journey with Oliver, I want to help him publicise and get this book out to the masses.

Also I thought that you, my creativity seekers and readers might be interested in finding out a little bit more about another creative person who I find inspiring.

I enjoyed doing this much that I just might do some more, if you might be interested in this too as a part of my blog?

For now, here is my interview with the Enchantingly Effervescent, Oliver Meech.

Cue Intro Rock music!

Meeting the Meech!

Nikola: Hey Oliver!!! I wanted to make a future blog post about your publication of Effervescent and put together an interview with you. Would you be up for it?

Oliver: I’d be v happy to do an interview with you.

SOME FIST PUMPING AND EMAILING LATER…

Nikola: In just three sentences tell us who you are?

Oliver: I’m a magician, writer and speaker. As a performer, I’ve enjoyed two sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe. And as a creator, my tricks have appeared in The Jerx, Elixir and MAGIC Magazine.

Nikola: Are you a full time/part time magician? If part time what do you do with the other part of your time?

Oliver: I’m currently a part-time magician, working towards becoming more full-time. When not magic-ing, I’m a Conceptual Copywriter (i.e. generating ideas and crafting words for businesses and organisations). I’ve recently gone freelance so I can devote more time to magic projects, like my new book.

Nikola: How did you become interested in magic?

Oliver: When I was about 16, ‘Paul Daniels Adult Magic’ caught my eye in a bookshop, and I devoured it. At the back was the address for Davenport’s Magic. I started going there most weekends, hoovering up every trick I could afford. One day, Paul Henri, an excellent demonstrator and great guy, invited me to join The Demon Club for teenage magicians – and my fate was sealed! I also became friends with other members who are still doing great things in magic, like Oliver Tabor, James Pritchard, Angelo Carbone and more.

Nikola: Why did you decide to begin to publish your ideas? 

Oliver: Because books are brilliant! My walls are filled with overflowing bookshelves. Since I’ve always loved reading magic books, it felt natural to write one myself. Also, as you’ll know as an author yourself, when you create something interesting, you get the itch to share it with others. The urge to publish a book just wouldn’t go away, so I went for it. Thankfully, I got some lovely feedback for my first book, The Plot Thickens, which helped squash my self-doubt and encouraged me to keep doing it.

Nikola: Do you enjoy coming up with new material?

Oliver: It’s one of my favourite things to do. From an early age, I’ve always been thinking up ideas for inventions, games, or whatever. Before I discovered magic, I tried doing art as a creative outlet, but found it frustrating, as I didn’t have the skill to turn what was in my head into a good picture. Whereas with magic, if you like problem solving and know enough methods, you can usually find a way to make your idea a reality.

For me, the process of creating is like having a playground or a games console in your head, that you can access anytime, anywhere. In spare moments, whether I’m out walking or waiting for the kettle to boil, I’m usually pondering a potential trick.

I enjoy almost every aspect of creating – from the initial spark, to exploring methods, and even wrestling with problems (well, most of the time). And the feeling you get when something you’ve created works really well is hard to beat.

Nikola: How do you try out new material? Is it fun, hard, enjoyable or is it a necessary evil?

Oliver: It depends on the type of trick, really.

When I was developing lots of stage routines for Edinburgh Fringe shows, I’d often try them out at open mic comedy nights. More recently, as I’ve got back into card magic, I usually subject my wife and kids to the first try-out, which they’re very understanding about!

It can be scary to try new things, but as long as you get clear feedback – good or bad – then it’s worth it. I’ll often start with an initial ‘proof of concept’ version, to see if there’s something in the idea, before I invest a lot of time in it. Then, if that goes well, I’ll flesh it out with nicer props, a better script, etc.

Nikola: What type of magic intrigues you?

Oliver: Anything that’s different from the norm, or that extends outside of the magic bubble. I’m drawn to magic that connects to other areas of life, whether that’s robots (e.g. Mario Marchese), character comedy (e.g. Carissa Hendrix’s Lucy Darling) or perceptual illusions (e.g. Matt Pritchard).

Nikola: Who do you look up to in magic?

There are too many to mention, but here are some: And anyone who throws themselves fully into projects, like your good self!

Penn & Teller for never performing a standard trick in a standard way.Paul Harris, Jay Sankey, Tom Stone and Christopher T. Magician for being prolific, wide-ranging creators.

Kayla Drescher and Carisa Hendrix for their empowering podcast, Shezam.

Noel Britten for forging a career on his own terms.

Luke Dancy for encouraging magicians to treat their peers and audiences with respect.

And anyone who throws themselves fully into projects, like your good self!

Nikola: Where should people look to find inspiration in coming up with new ideas and magical concepts?

Oliver: What’s interesting is that, from learning about other magic creators, everyone seems to have their own approach. So it’s not about finding the ‘one true way’, but rather the way that works for you. 

Certainly, if you value originality (and I appreciate it’s not a priority for everyone), then I’d recommend looking for inspiration outside of magic – a book, a film, an object, whatever – then thinking ‘How could I create a trick inspired by this?’ and see where that takes you. 

After all, when you start somewhere new, you’re more likely to end up somewhere new. Whereas if you head down a well-trodden path like, say, ace assemblies, it’s harder (though not impossible) to find a fresh angle.

Nikola: Do you work alone when you create? Or do you have people that you can chat with and explore materials with? 

Oliver: I generally create alone, bouncing ideas around in my head, then trying them out in hand to see if what I’ve pictured is possible. That said, when I have had input from others, like Liam Montier, I’ve really appreciated it, so I’d like to do more collaborating in future.

Nikola: When is an idea finished? Are ideas ever complete? Do you continue working on ideas or stop at a certain point? Or are ideas infinite?

Oliver: Ooh, good questions. Logically, you can always tinker with an idea more, but pragmatically, there comes a point where you may hit diminishing returns.

There’s also a trade-off in terms of time. Imagine a graph of a trick’s ‘goodness’ over time. It starts going up steeply, as you can get from Bad to Okay in just hours or days. Then it flattens out, as it can take weeks or months to get from Okay to Good. And then years to get from Good to Great. The usual conclusion taken from this is that we should always put the time in, and if it takes a year to improve it by 5%, then so be it.

But, given that we all have finite time in life, this means that you’ll end up developing fewer tricks overall. In the same time it takes to make one great routine, you could make many really good routines. 

Comparing it to movies, Stanley Kubrick spent ages on each one, and they’re regarded as great. By contrast, Steven Spielberg spends less time on each one, and while they may not all be seen as great, there are lots of really good ones. Both are valid approaches, so once you acknowledge this trade-off, you can choose accordingly.

It also comes down to your personality and what you enjoy doing. Some magicians love honing the same 10-45 minutes of material for decades. Personally, I have an overactive brain that craves novelty. So I’ll usually hone something for a bit, then when it hits a plateau, I’ll switch my focus to something else – but leave the door open in case I have another epiphany later.

Nikola: Tell us a little about your new book?

Oliver: Sure thing. It’s called ‘Effervescent’ because my brain is always bubbling away with ideas, and they’re usually about magic. So it’s a hardback magic book that celebrates creativity. People can expect fresh plots, streamlined methods and playful audience interaction. Several of the tricks are also ‘scalable’, so they can play in both close-up and parlour performances.

Inside, there are 19 tricks and 11 ideas (mostly cards, with a few exceptions), plus 2 essays on creativity to inspire people’s own thought bubbles.

As I say in the Introduction, one of my favourite bits of feedback I got for my previous books was that people’s brains were whirring with ideas afterwards. So hopefully this book will do the same.

Nikola: Where can people get a hold of your work and the latest book?

Oliver: My new book, Effervescent, along with my previous ones, are available from Lulu.com on my author page at: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/olivermeech

They can also download a free sample of Effervescent from there, to get a taste of it.

The book will be available soon from selected dealers as well, so look out for that.

Nikola:  If people want to find out more about you, where do they do that?

Oliver: They can head to olivermeech.com, sign up for occasional email updates at:

https://oliver-meech-magic-creations.ck.page/74c9fd33ba

Or just find me on Facebook.

Nikola: Finally, tell us one fun fact about you that isn’t necessarily related to magic?

Oliver: I don’t enjoy the gym so, for exercise, I do street dance instead. It gets me out of my head, and my teacher (the fab Lady Kat Smith: https://www.instagram.com/ladykatsmith/) encourages play and individuality, which suits me to a T.

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Huge thank you again to Oliver for taking time to answers these questions and write this amazing new book for us all to enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Perhaps you may see more of these in the future but for now, see you in two weeks with a brand new topic!