Ooh ooh was I helpful was I? (Takes a bow.)
Starting Out? Page 10
Damnation! I was away from the site for the most entertaining spat in a long while. I agree with those who say that Jake is probably harmless - an irritant at times - but not probably malicious. However, he does seem to have been crossing the line in regards to his website and using members' details (myself included). As to his writing experience and talent, I think we can all come to our own conclusions. What I will say is that it is right to hold people to account over their claims to writing experience/success, because new writers come here for advice and support, as did I, and (without sounding pompous) we should make an effort to retain credibility in the writers' section. (Apologies to Mark/Aaron/SlagA for bringing the matter up on this thread again.)
Ha ha ha, Jakey Jakey! I still don't know whether he's for real or not, but he's funny, even when he's sex mad and obsessed with b*** j**s lol!
Anyway, with writing comedy, I often see or hear people advising others to watch sitcoms etc from a writer's perspective, analysing what they did there and how they did that. From a purely personal point of view I would advise against this strongly. I really believe that doing too much of this will stunt your creativity - you may be left with a greater knowledge of form and structure, but when it comes to the humour itself you may well be left looking for the mathematical formula that makes a gag work, and of course such a formula does not exist.
Imo the jokes should be allowed to come naturally, and if this never happens then I would start to think about writing for another genre.
Almost every day at least one idea I consider to be funny pops into my head. My advice is, if and when this happens to you, for god's sake write it down as quickly as possible. This will all be 'natural', not contrived humour, and after a while, if it's all been written down (don't shrug anything off and convince yourself you'll remember any of it later) you'll have a notebook full of jokes and very very possibly, from that, the seed of an idea or situation that will only need the gaps filling in if you already have enough material.