We've covered a lot of basic vocabulary on this blog, but it just dawned on me a few minutes ago that I haven't touched on one of the most basic phrases you'll run into: on-the-nose (OTN). The first time I sent a screenplay to a Hollywood professional for review, it came back with those three letters written all per the place -- probably multiple times on each page.
On-the-nose means, simply, the dialogue is stating what the audience already knows. It's redundant, unnecessary, and off-putting. An example of on-the-nose dialogue would be having a character kick down a door, storm into the room, punch somebody, then say, "I'm mad!"
I did it. You did it too. If you're just starting out, you're still doing it. I've never met a writer who didn't do it. For whatever reason, it's a subconscious response that must be broken. It's also one of the first things a new writer must strive to purge from their writing in order to get better.
-The Illiterate Writer
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