Quote: Seefacts @ December 6 2008, 7:01 PM GMTI think writers and people who want to be writers have an aptitude and can pick everything up from just observing comedy and reading scripts.
Yes but that's still learning from other people, as Lee Henman pointed out.
I think we're talking about two different teaching methods here. All humans begin life as blank slates. The most familiar process of teaching in our childhood is the teacher-pupil variety. However, the best form of teaching is the kind that shows the pupil how to learn for themselves, independently.
Some writers have mastered this form of self-teaching BUT there's a remarkably huge and unfounded leap to then imply that the ability to self-teach reveals an aptitude to comedy writing that isn't present in people who use the teacher-pupil form of learning.
Yes, agreed, you still can't be taught how to be funny but how people learn those parts of the writing art that can be taught, does not imply a qualitative difference in the underlying and prerequisite talent.
Surely no one here is suggested that their dialogue has never improved or needed to improve? That from the first moment they wrote dialogue it was perfect and needed neither editing or refining?
