Opulence. Opulent.

Reeks of student writer. What did the room look like? Opulent. /eyeroll

The biggest culprits I'm guilty of in the list (so much so that these are the words I weed out upon proof-reading) are:

even
just
as (especially starting a sentence).

I'm also extremely sensitive to "just." One of the best tidbits of writing advice I ever received was to always question its use...

I'm a writer.
I'm just a writer.

Unless you're Nike, "just" can really undermine a phrase's strength.

WTF? How is "and" an overused word??

@Daveed - try taking it out and you'll see. In a script "and" is redundant 90% of the time and just slows the pace

Try taking it out: you'll see. In a script "and" is redundant 90% of the time, just slows the pace.

Further explanation about "look" and "walk." Sometimes they are the appropriate word. However after years of reading scripts where writers use those two words over and over and over and over again in their scripts -- as if those are the two default words for the act of eying something or physical movement -- I have pretty much gotten annoyed by them.

To me, they cut against the grain of what I call imagematic writing which is where a writer uses strong verbs and vivid descriptors to convey a sense of what's happening in the moment.

Remember: Script readers hate scene description. Why? Because it slows down their reading process. Therefore as screenwriters, we must do whatever we can to make our scene description as engaging and entertaining as possible. Even simple word choices -- verbs and descriptors -- can make a difference.

So if you'll excuse me, I have to walk... er... lumber away from this thread to look at... um... peruse some more comments.

Does anyone know of a macro or something to get a script program to mark these words?

I know I always do a pass to make sure I'm not repeating strong/noticeable words more than once or twice, but something to help spot weak writing would be awesome -- anybody know of anything?

-O