Here are some proposed ideas in order to improve magic "Yin". It is not meant to be an all-inclusive list -- meaning, the aim should not be to pack every single Yin enhancer into the effect. There's only room for so much.
* The effect is clear and unambiguous. Refer to Dai Vernon's ideas of a good effect: "I put my foot on the card, and then it changed." vs. "Well, he took four Jacks... or were they Queens? No, they were Jacks, and then he put them in the deck and shuffled, or maybe I shuffled? Can't remember. And then he started dealing some cards and they... oh well, it was very clever, whatever it was he did!"
* The effect is inherently meaningful, or made meaningful in an appropriate way. For instance, the meaning in doing a pickpocket routine where you steal a card from a sealed card case, will not be as strong as actually pickpocketing possessions from somebody.
* The execution is of an entertaining style. In other words, there are aspects of humour, sex appeal, aesthetic beauty, lyrical beauty, metaphorical depth, etc.
* The audience is educated by matters that are interesting to them. For instance, if an audience goes to see how gambling cheats operate, then all things being equal, they will enjoy the experience more if they are given more information. First corollary: By with-holding, you can stimulate their imagination. While this can also be entertaining, if their aim was to learn (or, at least, their aim to learn outstrips their desire to be entertained), they will leave frustrated.
* The atmosphere is appropriate to the setting, the character, and the effect. Relevant and authentic details are added to build upon the atmosphere, and irrelevant and inauthentic details are discarded. The Yin will be strong with a clown doing spongeballs. The Yin will be weak with Criss Angel doing spongeballs (This is also a function of style). This can also be aided if the atmosphere borrows from schemata as it figures into the real world, so long as it is appropriate to the effect.
* Props are chosen so as to highlight important points of effect. For instance, if you want to make two things switch places, it works best if the two things are not identical-looking. Switching a coin and a poker chip is better. Switching a crumpled-up dollar bill with a sugar-packet is better still. (Switching a man with an apple, better still?) This incongruency can also work with numbers (eg: Four Aces switching places with Two Jokers).
* The props are easily-recognized, or else easily-introduced to the audience. The audience should not be unduly distracted by props that feel foreign to the proceedings.
* Movements are kept to a minimum. Punctuation is used to create start-stop gaps that isolate sleight-of-hand movement from the revelation of the effect. While there can be actions, they must point towards the effect (or the apparent cause of the effect), and not towards the actual method. Things should stay within frame.
* For changes, the location of the effect is kept static. If a coin vanishes from within the same space we just saw it (ie: Fickle Nickle), the Yin is stronger than if it vanishes from a different hand where we saw it last.
* For teleportations and/or transpositions, barriers and/or distance are used to make the transposition obvious. Corollary: If the distance is so great that we have feelings of the Too Perfect Theory coming into play, then the problem is not one of Yin, but of Yang. Also, the points of vanish and reappearance should be fixed. (see previous)
* Also, for changes, we get to see the change as it happens. Barring that, we get to see the change in stages. Barring that, we get to see the change instantly. Barring that, we get to see the change as quickly as possible. If the change is a natural-occuring one (eg: a growing plant), then speed instead is highlighted. This might also apply to vanishes and/or productions.
* For productions, given equal level of convictions, bigger is better, and if you can produce something from a container that is too small to carry it, even better.
* Texture is added to ensure the potential for breaks in monotony. We do not do fifteen pick-a-card tricks in a row. However...
* Theme and consistency are both present. We do not do 17 arbitrarily different tricks that are all completely unrelated to each other.
* There is a strong (apparent) causative agent, and the agent is well-dramatized and fleshed out. A performer who simply names what somebody is thinking of is employing weaker Yin than a performer who strains a bit and can get key details, but not always a perfect match. Paradoxically, failures can create strong Yin. Furthermore, the effects chosen should illustrate the cause as explicitly as possible. For instance, "I can change cards magically" will be better illustrated if the cards can change without any excessive handling, or better yet, with the cards in the control of the spectator. An example of Yin-weakening could be the following -- the performer makes the claim that he can read minds, and then does so by using a book test with a long and complicated page-choice procedure involving lots of math.
* Further to the above... If this strong causative agent is in play and under the control of the magician, then there is a magic moment. If the causative agent is NOT under the control of the magician, then the magic moment is a surprise to everybody, including the magician.
* The causative agent is inherently meaningful. This can be helpful in making the effects meaningful.
* There is situational meaning in the effect. For instance, there is conflict that has been brought about between opposing forces, or (and?) jeopardy if the performer fails. For instance, having a performer timed to unlock a lock is weaker in Yin than having that same performer trying to unlock a lock that's keeping him chained to the ground right below a massive car that's suspended by ropes that are on fire.
* The audience does not have their status lowered from a given mean. (Sorry if that sounds unnecessarily abstract) It's worth noting that a performer could establish himself and raise his own status over and above that mean, and thereby create a large status gap between himself and the audience. However, the audience (or representatives from the audience) are not made to feel like fools, are not put in danger, do not have their possessions destroyed, are not insulted, etc.
* A corollary to the above: If the environment is one of comedy, that rule may become blurry. Malicious hecklers can have their status lowered, or else a borrowed bill may end up soaked in lemon juice. These things can have positive effects on Yin.
* Through a contract between spectators and magician, all normal matters of Yin are set aside, so that the audience is knowingly focusing on Yang. Paradoxically, this can be made strong in Yin because the audience is aware of why there are none of the usual dressings-up of Yin. They do not feel the lack, and understand that any normal matters of Yin would be an unwelcome distraction.
* Also, if the Yang is terribly weak, this will dilute Yin. It will keep the audience from being able to accept any claim made by the performer, since the implied cause will be transparent and rendered false. Remember, Yin and Yang are not mutually exclusive: Yin gives meaning to Yang, and Yang gives credibility to Yin.
* Resources that are good studies for Yin... Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic, anything by Robert Neale and Eugene Burger, Pete McCabe's Scripting Magic, Henning Nelms's Magic and Showmanship, (more to come later?)...
Note: This is a first draft, and is liable to change.
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