I'm a bit late responding to this as Craig and Keo have already done a good job of it. Also, I'm not hammering on you, Oli, because I see you've already processed what they said and have an idea of what I was aiming for. My responses are just to provide my side of it.
1. Creativity comes slowly and for some people its more difficult than others.
If one uses crutches exclusively, they won't ever learn to walk properly. In this case, using someone else's material is the crutch. This is why we see so many cookie-cutter magicians these days. They see an act, duplicate it, and then say, "That's good enough."
2. The more magic you know and perform, the greater your skill set to use when creating.
Agreed. The problem is that when one focuses on copying routines they fall into a trap. That trap is this: You learn things in specific contexts. A perfect example is the Invisible Deck. It seems like everyone does basically the exact same thing with that gimmick. However, it can be used for so many other things that very few people think of, because most people only ever see it in the context of 'The Invisible Deck.'
However, if they were just handed the gimmick without any context, what might they come up with?
3. Its not like the trick in question is that new or original, its a take on a classic plot which many magicians perform.
All the more reason to avoid it. Why perform what many others are performing? I'm probably seeing things through rose tinted glasses, but it seems like a couple hundred years ago, each magic act was far more unique than they are now.
4. How much of your material is completely your own, new, original?
Actually, when doing a professional show, I try never to use a presentation I've seen someone else use. I don't ever want my audience to say, "That's great! Like what [Famous Magician] does!" While I use principles and gimmicks created by other people, I strive to present them in a way that is uniquely me. That way, if someone steals my material, their audiences will say, "That's what Christopher does.."
Do I succeed? Not always. I fall into the same traps as other people; I am human after all. But the difference I see is that I see this as a failing, whereas others seem to see this as success. Over the past month I've had some major epiphanies regarding performance and I have begun a process of tearing down everything I used to do and throwing out most of it. I am completely reinventing my character and performance style to be more meaningful for my audiences and satisfying to perform. So far, what I have performed from this new mind frame, I have never seen another magician do. Is it unique? Probably not. I'm sure there are mentalists out there doing it, but I've never seen them. Also, I'm 100% positive there are people who don't call themselves performers doing these things, but they are not in the world of magicians or mentalists.
[/quote]How many effects have you bought of T11 or another website or magic shop? - surely that isnt 'coming up with your own trick'.[/QUOTE]
In the context of my paid gigs, far fewer than you'd think. Lately, none. I haven't purchased a trick that I intended to put into my show in over a year. I buy things for myself, sure. I have an adoration of card tricks, and really enjoy learning and performing them for friends, but I don't do them in my 'professional' work. They don't fit the character. For professional work I have more material than I need already. In that context, I only buy stuff that teaches me theory and the performance skills that I need. That way I can hone my work to its utmost potential.