Room Snacks: Three Words (And One Verb Form!) To Avoid

Make your outlines better with this One Weird Tip.

I’m an overwriter. Though I fetishize the spareness of a Joan Didion, I’m a maximalist in my own writing. I want words on words on words - too many adjectives! Repetition for rhythm’s sake! Cascading descriptions and an absolute tonnage of jokes! But, after reading a ton of outlines and scripts over the course of my career, there are a few phrases I try to exclude in outlines and action lines.