For pick-up-and-lay down change of direction casts simply start by pointing the rod in the direction you want to cast and perform an overhead cast. The pause will sort it all out for you. Effective up to 90 degrees change of direction.

That was easy!

However for changes approaching and exceeding 90 degrees I'll corkscrew (snake roll) the line around so that it lays in the new direction before overhead casting. This takes slightly longer that the first method but allows greater control of the overhead cast.

What I won't do, is to false cast the line backwards and forwards, changing the angle a little at a time. Life's too short.