I CAN ALWAYS IMPROVE MY MOOD AND FIND GOOD VIBES BY…

Blasting music in my room, dancing around and pretending I'm a rapper or singer on stage in front of a big group of people. I was doing that this morning and I do that probably every day if I'm feeling tired or down. It never fails to get the blood pumping and get me excited.

THE HARDEST MAGIC TRICKS I HAVE ATTEMPTED SO FAR ARE…

Tricks with a lot of maths involved, since I'm not the greatest at maths or counting. I was just practising a trick where you need to do this weird mathematical equation in your head, while talking to a person and shuffling the cards. There's a trick called ‘Any Card, Any Number’, that's a hard one.

MAGIC AND PRANKS ARE A GREAT COMBO, AND I HAVE…

Honestly pulled so many pranks with magic – there are heaps on my TikTok and I always do them with my dad. There was one where I tried to prank my dad with replacing the cream in a cookie with toothpaste, and I did that to him but when I wasn't looking, he switched the cookies around and I ended up eating the toothpaste cookie instead. I love doing videos where I’ll do a magic trick and the person watching the can see how it’s done.

AFTER READING REAL MAGIC, I HOPE K-ZONERS…

Find the passion and energy inside themselves to do whatever they want to do, whether it's magic, or be a singer, or review Minecraft toys - literally anything, as long as they do it with their whole heart and don't care about what other people think. Don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd and do what you love, even when other people might not agree with it or give you bad vibes, focus on good vibes and be true to yourself.

REAL MAGIC HAS GREAT ADVICE FOR DEALING WITH ANXIETY. IF YOU ARE FEELING ANXIOUS… 

It's very different for everybody, but be kind to yourself and know that you're not alone. If you're feeling anxious, whether it’s about the basketball game at school, an exam, an assignment or something else, you always build it up bigger in your head. At the end of the day, a lot of the time, some stuff doesn’t mean that much. I was always really anxious about exams and what people thought of me at school. But everybody's thinking about that, everybody has anxieties at different levels, and some people care more, some care less, but everyone's sort of focusing on themselves, if that makes sense.

THE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES IN PERFORMING MAGIC IN FRONT OF A CROWD COMPARED TO A SHORT VIDEO ARE…

That you have the advantage of being on camera and you can hide things outside the frame. I came from the background of performing on stage and for people, so I guess the main thing for online videos is that it has to be super snappy and quick. You need to get the person's attention instantly, otherwise, they're not going to watch the video. Onstage, if you're doing it live for people, they're sitting down, maybe they bought a ticket to the show and they’re there for more of an experience. You can sort of drag things out and put more detail in. There are good sides to both.

OTHER THAN RELEASING THIS BOOK, THE PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT OF MY JOURNEY AS A MAGICIAN SO FAR HAS BEEN…

When I performed before COVID, doing shows, and we used to do quite a few at Westmead Children's Hospital and the Starlight Room there. There’s a room where all the patients can go and play games, find toys and stuff like that. They have guest performers and I would always go and perform for the kids. That was always a really fun thing that I liked to do with Lucas. We also did a tour of India a few years ago, and traveled around to the different like areas, schools and orphanages in India, and taught kids how to do magic and tricks. That was an inspiration for the book, talking about finding good vibes in everything that you do. These kids had a massive smile on their face and loved every second of it.

MY ADVICE FOR READERS WHO WANT TO BECOME A MAGICIAN BUT AREN’T SURE THEY HAVE WHAT IT TAKES IS…

That my book is a great place to start. I teach some really great tricks in there for beginners, a lot of the tricks I first learned that sparked this obsession of mine. Research, and check out my social media as I teach tips and tricks on there. When it comes to seeing if you have what it takes, anybody can do it, you just have to practise and you're gonna fall in love with it. Even if magic is not your thing, if you're trying to find your passion in life, try stuff. Try magic, if you feel like that's your thing. If you love it enough, go for it. If it doesn't tickle your fancy, then move to something else. Try snowboarding or juggling or something like that until you find something you really love. I talked about that in the book quite a bit, about finding your passion and trying new things until you fall in love with something. Do your thing and just practise, practise, practise.

Want to read more of our interview with Ash Magic, Aussie magician and social media star, and see a sneak peek of his new book Real Magic? Grab the October 2021 issue of K-Zone, on sale now!